ABSTRACT
This chapter explains the meaning of “mobilisation” in the economic field. It presents the direction of industrial resources of the nation from the uses of peace to the manufacture of war munitions and the maintenance of supplies to the armed forces of the State. The chapter discusses the relative merits and disadvantages of the three most important methods, or instruments, of economic mobilisation—taxation, direct control, and borrowing. It explores the form that our borrowing should take and the relation that Government expenditure bears to the growth of money income. The real economic burden of the war, as distinct from the money burden, will remain the same, even if it is wisely financed. The public are suspicious, and rightly suspicious, of theoretical schemes that show, or purport to show, that immense sums of money can be spent without disturbing the financial security of the country.
