War-time financial problems

WAR FINANCE CONDEMNED 229

costs but twopence; it is only a dozen pages long,
and it is described (if you want to order it) as Cd,
9182. In view of the many attacks that have been
made on our banking system—especially the Bank
Act of 1844—by Chambers of Commerce and others
before the war, it is rather surprising that so little
criticism should have been heard of this Report,
which practically advocates a return, as rapidly as
possible, to the practice and principles imposed by
that Act. It may be that peace, and all the pre-
occupations that have followed it, have absorbed
men's minds so entirely that questions of currency
seem to be an untimely irrelevance ; or possibly the
very heavy weight of the Committee's authority may
have silenced the opposition to its recommendations*
Presided over by Lord Cunliffe, the late Governor of
the Bank, and including Sir John Bradbury and
Professor Pigou and an imposing list of notable
bankers, it was a body whose opinion could only be
challenged by critics gifted with the most serene
self-confidence.

One of the most interesting—especially to
advocates of sound finance—points in its Report is
the implied condemnation that it pronounces on the
methods by which the war has been financed by our
rulers. It points out that<e the need of the Govern-
ment for funds wherewith to finance the war in excess
of the amounts raised by taxation or by loans from
the public has made necessary the creation of credits
in their favour with the Bank of England. . . . The
balances created by these operations passing by
means of payments to contractors and others to the

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