THE NEED FOR WORK
Snt,—Fine words from your correspdndent, " The Need for Work," but clarion calls, from one obviously " well-shod " and, short of a miracle happening, never likely to be in a position of anything but complete security, who endeavours to visualise an army of 40 million people pulling as one, and everyone a true Christian, without any system of social security, are ridiculous. Millions have been longing for this state of affairs for hundreds of years, but we are still a long way from this Utopia, which will not be attained by complacent people who say " let the heroes of the war, on their return, after the defeat of Germany, build this paradise "—how would he like to build such a paradise after living on a few shillings a day, plus a " nest-egg " of £9 2s. 6d. per year?
We had his counterpart during the last war who talked of this country being one " fit for heroes to live in" when victory was achieved. Nothing was done, except talk, and what a chaos our heroes had to return to: the "dole," unemployment, lack of housing, &c. Here we have a Plan, designed to eradicate this, to eliminate the fact that for every pound the public spends on insurance, only 12s. 6d. is returned in benefit, to create work (possibly by the introduction of Government centres) which in turn will ultimately increase our exports. Rationalisation of industry has proved that it reduces overhead costs ; why, therefore, can it not he applied to public services to a greater degree to reduce the cost of administration of the Beveridge Plan? No one thought a few years ago that we could possibly afford to spend ,C14,soo,000 daily on the war, but we have.
But no, 'we have thousands of these complacent comfortable. critics, secure in their own small sphere, who decry any alteration which might have any detrimental effect on possibly their income or dividends, &c. We, the people, must see to it that they are not allowed to have the last word in the matter, and it is most gratifying to see that the Church, too, realises what a great step forward for this country will be the acceptance of the Beveridge Plan.—Yours faithfully, H. NICK SON. Runcorn, Cheshire.
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