Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-31

SOVIET Russia ana the Onltco SJeCeS.
Remains the problem Of getting this
or any other sort Of national plan into
operation. MusSolini needed q party OF
1000, 900, backed by 100000 bayonetS
and the support Of a bevy of frightened
industrialists and capitalists to put .
national reorganization plan into OPP
Grafton. Gen. de Rivera had to put the
Spanish provinces under the rule OF
me jor generals and suppress public
opinion in order to achieve even a par
tial economic reorganization of Spain.
Lenin and TrotSky had to destroy the
monarchy merely to break ground for
reorgs MIA ton which Stain Is now en-
deavoring to bring to fruition with the
aid Of machine guns and terrorism.
In order to put anything like this
British plan into operation England
would have to submit to a virtual die
tstorship. The planners envisage some
thing OF the sort. Sir Oswald Mosley,
another plan maker. has already boldly
suggested a cabinet Of fve who would
office. Away with Parliament" Is the
slogan OF tine younger generation.
Industry Has Plan.
Industry, represented by the big fed
Grafton. has meantime issued its own
plan, based upon an immediate general
tariff behind which a scientific tariff to
meet the specific requirements of each
industry can be worked out. Baldwin
ana Beaverbrook. now in accord with
Rothermere left In the discard) approve
this. Conservatism in general views
with distrust these national reorganiza-
ton plans, smelling Of relationships,
compulsion and the high-pressure
laboratory where economic doctrinaires
thrive. They seem to concentrate too
much power in too few handS-and pos
sibly in wrong hands. They appear to
discourage those human forces and in
SEPARATIONS which have built up the ex-
isting fabric and upon which 1t still
depends. They also suggest far-reach-
ing changes in the social order resulting
thsrefrom.
InduStrialists who want to run their
business without interference. and the
conservative elements generally. point
out that despite the unprecedented de-
preston in the basic industries. Eng
land is meeting the charges of the
worlds heaviest debt, standing q rev.
enue drain of $4,000 .000, 900. maintain
ing the worlds finest social services,
sustaining more than 2,5O0,0O0 unem-
ployed, and yet still remains q creditor
nation.
1Hcy say tIldI udIlOnal TcCOnSLTuC-
ton based upon new principles I'M
backed by experience is unwise, and
that what tho country needs most Is
strong national government which
will restore confidence, protect the nome
market, curb public expenditure. cut
emergency relief away from permanent
relief and stop penalizing industrial
efficiency by legislation which robs the
efncient Of the results Of enterprise.
Hit Partisanship.
More and more industrial leaders and
big bankers are streSsing the fact that
industrial success is essential to Brit
aims life and demanding that political
leaders sink party interests, forget per-
sonal animosities and unite in the for
nation Of a national government which
will be able to effect comprehensive
industrial reconstruction.
Reconstruction Of q sort Is under way
in some branches Of industry, but the
consensus Of opinion is that it Is much
too slow and patchy.
Politics, politicians and Parliament
are principally blamed, on the one
hand. for hampering interference of
a political character. and. on the other
hand. for making lavish promises to
secure votes regardless Of the nations
ability to fulfill them
Whatever course she takes, England
appears to be in for q rough and diff
cult passage before she reaches smoother
waters. She is staggering under the
accumulated weight of her imperial
conqueSts and acquisitions. She is over
industrialized and she is overpopulated.
She has piled up the worlds biggest
national debt, and her people are the
most heavily taxed on earth. She is
losing her export trade and is still far
from reducing her production costs.
Her enormous urban population needs
cheap food. and as tariffs would raise
internal prices at time when wages
are being cut, the forces opposing a
protected domestic market so far have
prevented the enactment of q tariff
measure even for revenue purposes.
Leadership Is Needed.
No great political leader has yet APP
peared to capture and unity the dis
contented elements inside the political
vote in the country probably totals half
the electorate. In these circumstances
1t is going to take more than q paper
plan to see England through.
1t Is worth noting here that some
thinkers hold that all national plans
are waste Of time. no remedy and
beside the point. The world has become
an economic unit, ana there Is no room
in it for so many competing national
groups. And they insist that our eco
nomic problems never will be solved
successfully until men make up their
minds to organize in q political unit as
big as the economic unit-in other
words, to have a world government con-
trolling the larger interests Of man
kind.
The authors of England;s five-year
Plan are fully informed upon these
views about the futility of national
systems and the inevitab ility of a world
order. but as mankind is not likely soon
to give up its cherished flags and ma
tional anthems and merge It's history
and Its interests, they have very prop
erly taken no cogniZance OF this; al
though it may be argued that the i'm
plicationS Of their scheme lead toward
rather than away from this biggest
merger of ALL which undoubtedly one
of these days. whether by force or sua-
sion, will come about.