A wise course was to prevent or limit inflation by every prudent means of diverting goods and services from civil to military purposes.
The Government, McKenna proceeded, had made a great advance in recent years in the management of monetary conditions, and could determine the' degree, if any, of inflation that would be permitted.
it was possible that the moderate raising of the general level of prices would be no more than a healthy stimulus to the energy in supplying war needs.
Nevertheless, Mr. McKenna said, "we must not blind ourselves to the possibility that the war, if of long duration, might demand more drastic methods. Perhaps even the compulsory saving of all increases in income will be needed to secure a full, necessary diversion of spending power from the public to the Government"
Strain in 1940
The speaker concluded by remarking that the strain imposed during 1940 would be severe, "but our immense national resources, together with the high degree of ce-ordination between France and ourselves and the inestimable asset of high morale, left no doubt of the ultimate issue of the struggle.—Reuter.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.