The Wilmington morning star., 1947-08-03
Behind The News
britain Eqciino
Another Crisis
BY DEWITT MACKENZIE
Az Foreign Affairs Ap,IrI

Britain's economic crisis =
reached a point of such grsvi..
that the harnesses socialfg-
eminent is preparing to inaH S9s'
rate extreme re m scttn ,
forthwith. NN'Oa
We get a measure of tba ,.
BUSINESS of the situation y 'V IN
forecast that there will be flm,.t ne
large-scale slashes in the ,,e'
try's already scanty food yat eou0'
ouch a move would represaHt
pretty close to a last-ditab seAs
since John Bulls once evn9 9soaa'
glrth long ago gave wav To- 1o.
ness under wartime food sho p1'
ages. SDofE
This and other drastic actio,
expected to be announces ~
House OF Commons next Wedr I'
day when Prime Minister G+%E
presents the program for arsn s'
Ing with one of the grea,est ,yF
Dlems any British government g b.'
had to face. The public knows s 5as
mat the nations armed ~s+ren9tS
IS TO be cut, that the eeno9~t
standard of living is to be- %scsIs,
down and that labor will be- asEog1
to work longer hours.
Thus far the hard hit non7l,..
has taken the revelations IN strida
The conservative Yorkshire noS.
owned by Former Foreign Min7'
ster Anthony Eden's family. b.s
this to say about its friends +S'
political enemy:
Wants Bold Stems
1T is high time that thew IN,
government took tbs ston
Though it will mean a stiI moE.
austere way of life for evervona
We are eagerly waiting to see tSa
government take bold steps 10 ~
peal to the nations patriotism and
self-respect."
All these facts, and more, have
been widely advertised by author,
tative sources, which would seem
to indicate that the goverrme.
wants as much publicity as Do
BILE. One obvious reason is thai ,bo
British public must be prepared n
meet the emergency. However,
think we are safe in saying tba
things cuts a lot deeper, and ths.
Prime Minister Attic and HI,
cabinet r exceedingly anxious ia
register the facts in America. IA
whom they are looking For furthe,
substantial help.
The So, $50, 900, 900 which tia
United States loaned to Britain i
running out like the sands of an
hour glass-far faster than anvone
had dreamed would happen. These
dollars-noW reduced to 81, 0OO.OC
600 - may be gone by autumn or
a little later and the Marshall
plan for European rehabiIitatim
won't become { >ctive soon
enough to help Loat-n meet this
shortage.
British official quarters ysv
London is asking Washington 10
relax further the terms of the loan
agreement. England wants
change in the clause which pre-.
vents her from increasing imports
from her dominions at the expense
of imports from the United States.
The point OF this is that Britain
can pay for food and other sup
plies from the dominions with
English money pounds s%terling)
whereas she must pay for pur'
chases in America VITA dollars.
Meantime the British homs
forces seem to be getting set for
the grim work ahead. The miners
have pledged themselves to jump
in and work longer hours III order
to increase coal production, which
is the crux of the economic crisis,
The general public is waiting
calmly FOR Wednesdays official
bad news and gives every indica'
ton of standing by its guns as
usual in a national emergency.
And the British Press associa'
ton announces that the great con-
sentative opposition in Parliament
will not offer any motion of CEN
sure against the Socialist govern
ment next week. The conservative
attitude is said to be that the
prime minister will be making the
gravest statement since the dec
1aration of war and the occasion
will be too serious to justify har'
w. - ill., ~ ~