Abstract

Great Britain and the Economic War

Ever since the publication of the resolutions of the Paris Conference, regarding an economic "war after the war," the question of the commercial and industrial relations between the Allied nations and the Central Powers after the peace has been increasingly discussed. In England, where the need for raw materials and shipping is joined to fear of "dumping" and "penetration," the discussion of the subject has been particularly active. The Committee on Commercial and Industrial Policy after the World War I, appointed in July 1916, under the chairmanship of Lord Balfour of Burleigh, made public last May, through the Ministry of Reconstruction, a report which goes further in its indication of necessary restrictions. The committee on the iron and steel trades recommend that, in order to restore the trade to "something like its old position," the importation of iron and steel manufactured products from present enemy countries be prohibited "during the period of reconstruction," and that no raw materials be sent to present enemy countries from any of the British Dominions.