Evening star., 1947-12-20
Brituin's Prospects

In his year-end review of Britain's eco
nomic situation, Sir Stafford Cripps has
drawn sober but hopeful picture of gains
already made and of the prospect imme
diately ahead. He has emphasized that
pessimism is unwarranted. In fact. in his
judgment, given American aid under the
Marshall plan and an all-out national
effort, the British can face the future
with quiet confidence" that they will sur
mount their present difficulties and win
through to the day when they will be back
on sound footing
Sir Stafford-virtual economic dictator
of Britain-is generally admired for his
congenital disinclination to sugar-coat
anything or to think wishfully. Accord
ingly, since it comes from him, the report
of a Frightening outlook is particularly
impressive, the more so because he has
backed it up with encouraging production
figures. Thus, for example, he has been
able to cite decided improvement in coal
output-the most important single factor
in the United Kingdoms economy. This
output, though still below the prewar level,
is we'll above last years and is increasing
at rate that may permit the export of
100000 tons during 1948, and 50,000,000
tons by the end of 1949 In other words,
within period of two years, the British
may be exporting as much coal annually
as before the war-a prospect Of great
significance not only for themselves but
for Western Europe as we'll
The quiet confidence" displayed by Sir
Stafford is further strengthened by such
other statistics as these: Cd AS a result of
mechanization and intense cultivation,
Britain now grows one-half of the food it
consumes, as against only one-third in.
prewar days; ca it is building more than
fifty per cent of all the merchant ships
under construction in the world 60 It's
power stations are generating far more
electricity than in 1898: (4) it is turning
out more trucks and automobiles than be-
fore the war; 90 its sulphuric acid output
"a key to the chemical industry-is aver
aging about third above 1898; and 90
its steel production has reached the rec
ord-breaking level Of over 100000 tons
a year, high above the 1898 figure. In
short, though still tagging In certain fields,
the overall British productive machine is
humming more today than in 1899, and If
that were the only thing that counted in
the national economy, Britons would have
relatively little to worry about.
AS Sir Stafford has pointed out, how
ever, the state of domestic production is
only one Of two important parts Of the
British problem. Britains external eco
nomic situation-its export-import posi-
tion-is the other part, and because Of it,
In Sir Stafford's words, Britons "still have
great cause for anxiety" They have to
sell abroad as much as they buy abroad,
and they must try to sell 1t in what he
calls the "hard currency" areas-the areas
that pay of in gold or dollars Otherwise,
their gold and dollar reserves will be ex-
hausted in the process of importing to
produce for themselves and for overseas
sales in order to keep their home economy
going.
In that sense, Britain's problem is pri-
marily problem of world trade In Sir
Stafford's opinion, it is difficult one but
it can be solved If the British do their
best and make the most of the self-help
aid projected under the Marshall plan
Their past history and their steadily i'm
proving production show that they have
the character, skill and industrial capacity
to meet the test. It is not for nothing
that Sir Stafford is confident of the
outcome, always assuming, of course, that
sufficient American help will be forth
coming under the European Recovery Pro-
gram now up to Congress.