[To the Editor of THE SPECTATOR]
Sul,—Dr. McCleary's article on the refugee problem appears to me to be admirable as far as it goes, but not to go far enough to be really helpful. For the question whether we should regard refugees as a liability or an asset is surely only part of the larger question whether we should regard all human labour as a liability or an asset; and that question leads in turn to another, whether we should regard as final the break- down of the mechanism of exchange which prevents us turn- ing to profit so great a part of the products of our labours.
As Dr. McCleary points out, our ancestors were not afraid that refugees would create unemployment. But then in the seventeenth century the mechanism of exchange was, on the whole, working efficiently in England. A merchant could ex- change his goods and a workman his labour. So the more goods the better; the more labour the better.
As I point out in my book, The Master Problem, economic history often points straight to the solution of our present problems.—I am, Sir, yours faithfully,
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