Evening star., 1947-10-05
Britain and Private ENTERPRISE


Britain's Conservative Party has ended
its annual conference in somewhat hope
full mood. Winston Churchill has advised
it to be ready for new national election
"at any time this year or next" and with
touch of optimistic campaign oratory he
has declared that the Attlee Labor govern
ment now represents only "a substantial
minority and is ruling without the sup
port and against the wishes of the large
part of the nation" BY implication he
has thus strongly suggested that it is on
the way out and that if the people have
chance to vote in the near future, they
will put the Conservatives back in.
There is more than little reason to
question Mr.. Churchil's assessment of the
situation, especially as regards his party's
chances of being restored to power in the
months Immediately ahead. Nevertheless,
though they seem fairly well intrenched at
this stage, Prime Minister Attlee and his
Labor government probably enjoy consid-
erably less popular support than they had
a year ago. The fuel crisis of last winter,
the dollar shortage, the steadily mounting
"austerity' of English life and the overall
bleakneSs of the country's present outlook
cannot be blamed entirely on "acts of God"
There has been some official incompetence,
too-a fact that helps explain current re-
ports of an impending shakeup in the
Attlee cabinet In the circumstances,
many British voter must have no liking
for the "ins," and if matters grow worse in
Britain, it is at least conceivable that the
Conservatives may be returned to office.
If that should happen, however, 1t would
be mistake to expect any marked shift
from the Labor governments present pol
icy. The movement toward more and more
socialization probably would be checked,
but the Conservatives themselves have
made clear that most of the changes eff
fected up to now under Prime Minister
Attlee would remain in force. Thus, though
pledgirg itself to the encouragement of
private enterprise, Mr.. Churchills party
has adopted new charter emphasizing
that such enterprise must be circumscribed
in many fields. The coal mines would con-
tinue to be nationalized for example. So,
too, would the Bank of England, and public
ownership would dominate the railroads.
The Tory viewpoint has changed with the
times and the realities. In England today
the old way of doing things simply will not
work in such fields as mining. For one
thing-in that particular field-private op-
Grafton has been demonstrable failure,
and public opinion backs naturalization.
So the Conservatives, facing the facts, have
adjusted their doctrines accordingly.
No matter what may happen politically
in Britain-whether the Conservative
fore take it for granted that the govern
ment will continue to run business on
large scale. This is in keeping with a
world wide trend. Socialism, state capital
ism, or whatever name one cares to call 1t,
is overshadowing private enterprise in an
ever widening area. In fact, the only ex-
ception of consequence is the United States
We are kind of island among economies
that are either wholly state managed or
managed that way in an Increasing meas
ure, and even here the controls have grown
greatly.
Regrettable as all this may be, 1t is still
a fact that must be faced a historic reality
that cannot be exercised simply by singing
the virtues of individual initiative. Amer
lea, for better or worse, will have to adjust
itself to it. 1t is a relatively new condition
in the world, and our economic and politi-
cal interests demand that we deal with it
intelligently, not with emotion charged
slogans that can do little more than be-
cloud what is happening and misguide us
in our reactions to 1t.