Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-11-27
Britcin's Plight

Highly significant and, withal,
thoroughly alarming were two Asso-
ciated Press dispatches which came
from London yesterday through
British censorship. One quoted Rom
aid H. Cross, Minister of Shipping, as
announcing that Britain is losing
ships faster than she can replace
them under present shipbuilding
conditions. Losses averaged twenty
thousand tons weekly up to last June,
he said, but since Germany's acquisi-
ton of bases along the coasts Of
Norway, the Lowlands and France
the weekly average of sinkings has
tripled.
The other thought-provoking dis
patch was from seasoned A. P. war
correspondent, Drew Middleton. His
Startlingly peSSimiStic estimate OF the
immediate situation in England was
based on zone mans opinion"-his
own. But Mr.. Middleton long has
had the reputation of being a con-
sentative, fact-flnding, objective re-
porter. He wrote, he said, as one
who has spent great deal Of time
with the army, navy and air force
and, more important, with the people
themselves, not civil servants and
cabinet underlings." Mr.. Middleton
declared that Britain Is in her dark
est hours since the German panzer
divisions reached the Channel coast
last May and looked longingly at the
white cliffs of Dover" This is so, he
implied, because Nazi night bombings
are seriously damaging the Midland
war industries, because there are not
enough escort vessels to protect mer-
chant ships, because there are not
enough merchant ships to maintain
the supply lines and because England
is approaching "the end Of her finan-
cial tether."
1t seems unlikely that both Of these
discouraging dispatches slipped past
the censors through inadvertence.
The logical conclusion is that the
British, while still keeping "a stiff
upper lip" have decided to let their
friend, the United States, know all
the facts-the brutal truth" as Mr..
Middleton phrased it-about their
plight. This does not mean that
Britain has decided to feed America
dose of British propaganda. Mr..
Middleton is not a propaganda. 1t
may mean, however, that Britain has
arrived at the sensible decision to lay
all her cards on the table for her
American friends to see and ponder.
In those cards America may read not
only the fate of the British Empire,
but the fate of the world of tomor-
row, the world in which America
must struggle to work out its destiny
possibly alone. The prospect of
America fighting to exist, alone, in
world gone totalitarian is grim, in
deed
America has but one hope, the
survival of Great Britain; one honor
able choice in this, Britain's darkest
hour to render the about military
and naval aid which, according to
Drew Middleton and many other
competent observers, England must
have, Immediately, if she is to carry
on much longer. Why blind our
selves to the stark facts which are
coming from the weary but doggedly
defiant tight little isle"? Britain
needs more American planes to gain
mastery Of the air. more American
ships for her convoy life lines, more
American war supplies of sundry
descriptions. She should have them,
without stint and without hag-
Cling over finances. We should sup
ply them quickly and generously
even free Of cost if necessary, for that
sacrifice will save us from vastly
greater and vastly graver sacrifices
later on.