Page:Bankers and Credit (1924).pdf/271

 tion to suppose that by varying this one item a certain and prompt effect can be produced on industry's decision.

This assumption, however, Mr. Hawtrey not only makes without an effort but expects the rest of the world to take on the strength of his personal pronouncement. "Whatever other factors," he says (page 143), "affect the purchasing power of the monetary unit, one, the volume of trade borrowing, is amenable to human control. By its means the agency which exercises the control, that is to say the Central Bank, can correct the effect of all the others." Hence it follows that, whatever disasters happen such as—wars, plagues, pestilences and famines, trade will continue steadily on an even keel as long as the Bank of England makes appropriate use of its Bank-Rate weapon. "It is quite superfluous," our Mentor continues, "to seek for other causes of depression and unemployment when there has been so tremendous a deflation as to reduce prices by half in less than two years. . . . This does not mean to say that we do not suffer through the distresses of Europe. Our loss is heavy enough, but it does not take the form of Unemployment. Unemployment is due to a defect of organization, a maladjustment of the monetary machine. The