Evening star., 1947-04-27
Britain and the Future

=
In his address at Cincinnati
Thursday Lord Inverchapel, British
Ambassador to the United States,
had some effective things to say
against those who have been speak
ing OF his country as If 1t were prac-
tically buried as world power.
Although this funereal thesis has
had wide currency of late, and al
though some facts seem to give 1t
plausibility, there is more reason to
disbelieve than believe it. At any
rate, Lord Inverchapels reply to it
makes clear that the time to dig the
grave is not yet.
1t is true, of course, that parts OF
the old British Enpire-such as
India-are In the process Of liquida-
ton, though not necessarily in the
sense of being completely severed
from Britain. It is true, too, that
the United Kingdom is in an ex-
tremely difficult economic position.
As Lord Inverchapel declares, its
people must put up with more dis
comfort, more austerity and tighter
belts" in order to increase exports
to an unprecedented level. 1t is
urgent that they do this. It is
urgent that they produce as never
before, and sell abroad as never
before, to raise the foreign exchange
they need to pay for the vast guam
titles of imports that are essential
to their home economy. Failing in
that, then they will indeed suffer
collapse likely to end their great
ness as nation.
But Lord Inverchapels point is
thatsthe Cassandras are being much
too premature when they assume
that the British have already failed
and that they may as we'll be written
off right now. The fact is that they
are still in the first stages of their
effort to recover from the wars
devastating effects on their economy.
The further fact is that their past
record-the record of their spirit
and accomplishments not only In
earlier generations but during recent
years-can hardly be described as
the record of a people who have lost
their punch. The story of their great
struggle against Hitler is too familiar
to need reviewing, and the story of
what they have done since We day
"a less familiar story-is impress
sive enough to make talk of their
imminent collapse seem slightly
silly.
Thus, to cite but few of Lord
InverchapePs points, the British
have done such things as these since
the end of the war: Cd Wholly apart
from their military costs of occupa-
ton and their contributions to agen-
cies like the World Bank, they have
extended more than three billion
dollars in loans, credits and direct
relief to various countries. (2) They
have effected gigantic reconversion
Of their manpoWer to peacetime
work. 60 They have rehoused 100000
homeless families. And ~, doubling
their output and use of electricity,
they have produced enough to ex-
pand their exports-which in August,
1945, were only SO per cent of the
normal prewar volume-to about 115
per cent of that volume, an increase
of 80 per cent.
AS Lord Inverchapel says, coun-
try that can do these things cannot
properly be regarded as a corpse"
or dying ember" Years of hard
work will be required to restore
Britain to a sound footing, and even
then its old pre- -eminence will be
gone. But if they live up to their
past, if~they continue to act in the
spirit that has animated them up to
now, the British will keep on main
tanning themselves as one of the
worlds great peoples-a free and
powerful nation vital to the future
of democracy. Lord Inverchapel has
done well to call off the pallbearers.