Evening star., 1947-10-04
Churchill Asks
Early Voteto
Gust Socialists
Cripps Warns Of New
Reduction in Imports
To Conserve Dollars
By the Associated Press

BRIGHTON, England, Oct. A.
Winston Churchill demanded to-
day an "early" national election
and said such a poll would de-
stroy Britain's Socialist regime,
even as the government warned
of possible further cuts in dol
lar-fnanced imports.
"They (the governmenD make
mistakes which make things worse"
the former Prime Minister told the
Conservative Party's annual con-
ference. AS things get worse they
claim more power to set them right.
Thus they move ever nearer to the
scheme of the all-powerful total
itarian state"
At Cardiff, meanwhile, Sir Stat
ford Cripps asSailed vicious" criti-
cism of government economic pol
icies, and said:
My own view is that so long as
Mr.. Churchill will continue making
an occasional speech the Labor Party
ought to be able to maintain its
majority"
Warns of Further Cuts.
Sir Stafford, Minister of Economic
Affairs, voiced this warning on
dollars:
Every week that passes means
further drawings on our reserves
and if they fall markedly further
we shall reach point when we just
have to cut imports further if we
have not by that time achieved a
Grade) balance.
Even if we balance our total
overseas payments by the middle of
next year, which is our aim, this
will still leave us unbalanced so far
as dollar payments are concerned y
Sir Stafford said further cuts in
tobacco imports were possible.
Mr.. Churchill told his party fol-
lowers to be ready for new election
'at any time this year or next"
1T does not rest with us when a
general election will take place" Mr..
Churchill said in a speech to the
convention, but it is quite certain
that we should be most imprudent
not to be ready for one at any time
this year or next.
I'VE have every reason to believe
that the Socialist government which,
even in the hour of its triumph, did
not represent majority of the
electorate, is now substantial
minority, and is ruling without the
support and against the wishes of
the large part of the nation" the
former Prime Minister declared.
Election Seen as Only Solution.
Mr.. Churchill declared that the
economic crisis will not be mastered
except by the election of a new
House of Commons"
He said the Labor government
"has no moral right to deny the
electorate a free expression of their
opinion at an early date"
Experience shows that when gov
ernments or parties turn on the
doWngrade they very rarely recover
by clinging to office.
In the present circumstances,
when the consequences Of Socialist
spite, folly and f1oundering are
about to fall upon every home and
business in ever sharper form, we
can safely say that time is on our
side"
Mr.. Churchill, speaking as leader
of the Conservative Party, closed
the three-day annual conference at
which Tories launched drive for
a 1000, ,00O-pound ($4,000,00O fight
ing fund" and called for the election
of new Parliament to pull Brit
ain out of its economic crisis.
Conservative leaders have pre-
dicted that Prime Minister Attlee
will be forced to call an election
within six months.
Will Fight Communist Threat.
During today's session the Con-
servative Party called on its Execu-
tive Committee to form plans for a
fight against what it called Com
munist and Fascist threat to the
British way of life"
Mr.. Churchill declared "the ma
chinery for the totalitarian grip on
British society is being built up
and perfected"
He quoted Mr.. Attlee as. saying in
a speech last week: Some do not
understand the amount of freedom
which we rightly give to an opposi-
tion to criticize
THE word that struck me in this
sentence is the word give, he said.
so it is Mr. Attlee who gives us
our rights to freedom of speech
and political action = 80. thought
these same rights had been won
by our forbears in bygone genera
tions
Let him not be so folish as to
try to take them away"
Mr.. Churchill said every oppor-
tunity is taken to cut down the full
reporting of events by the newspa-
pers," and criticized the govern
ment's decision to make spot-check
examination of letters going abroad
to search for cash and valuables
The opposition leader said Sir
Stafford Cripps, Mr.. Attlees Min
lister for Economic Affairs, was "the
ablest brain" in the cabinet.
IF Sir Stafford Cripps will devote
(See CHURCHILL, Page. A-2)
Cholera Toll Reaches 268.