The Wilmington morning star., 1947-02-14
British Lose Heart
Bv ANNE o,HARE MCCORMICK

A month ago in England people were saying
that conditions could not be worse than they
were. They could see the winter through, they
said, because they were certain this must be
the last of short rations and austerity clothes,
of queueing up in the streets and doubling up
at home. The cheerful front of the war years
was a little cracked, but they were patient
still, so patient that some Englishmen were
asking if patience had not ceased to be a vir-
tue and becomes a habit. The usual reply was
that if they held out and made things do
a little longer the hardest stretch of the long
road back would be over.
Now conditions are worse. The war dim-out
is back and the pre-War dole. The newspapers
have reverted to their wartime size. The
shabby homes OF England are darker and cold
err. Life is grirnmer for those who work by
candlelight and those who cannot work be-
cause the power is shut off. And the hardest
part isn't just the temporary cut in electricity
and fuel. Looking back from here on that last
morning in London, when the sun rose over
the Thames in a red haze and the view of the
gray old city from the Embankment seemed
so solid and unchanged, one sees that the
sense of solidity did not come from the familiar
outline Oh the Houses of Parliament, Westmi:l.
ster Abbey and London Bridge. 1t came from
the even pulse of the people.
But the pulse was slowing, and it is easy
to imagine how it talters now, for the coal
crisis means more than new privations and
restrictions added to an already heavy load. 1t
is a blow to the steady faith in themselves
that has supported the British people through
the most shattering decade Of their history.
1t has somehow been taken for granted, by
themselves, by ourselves and the world at
large, that they will continue to ,nuddle
through. The danger now is that they will lose
heart, and if the British lose heart it will be
an lncalculable loss, particularly to the United
States.
The present emergency is not merely a coal
crisis. Nor is it the consequence OF unprece-
denied cold weather or a failure Of the Labor
Government. While it is sure to diminish the
prestige of Labor, it is not likely to unseat it,
for the people as a whole seem determined to
give this administration a fair trial. 1t is the
climax of a series of crises, all s~ymptomatic
of what the war has done to Britain and to the
entire economic and political structure of the
Empire. British postwar policy of production
for export and nothing for the home consum-
er is a policy of d. %peration. 1t lessons incen-
tive to work and strains the spartan spirit to
the breaking point, but it is necessary If Bri-
tain is ever to be able to pay with her products
for the food and raw materials she is obliged
to import. Without world trade these islands
might as well be sunk in the ocean, another
Atlantis lost in the awful flux of the tides
of power.
No American can afford to take a spectator
attitude to what happens in Britain. In two
wars we have acknowledged that
our survival is linked with hers. In England
as in France, in Italy. in every country OF
Western Europe, voices are raised TO-DAY IN
question and protest against dependence On
America. They are as yet the voices Oh the
minority-the left wing of the Labor party,
the French Communists, the Italians in re-
volt against a treaty they think has left them
defenseless before their enemies. But such
voices are becoming louder, and they are
bound to gain force if Britain grows weaker
instead of stronger and the European balance
therefore tips toward the Russian side.
The British coal shortage is not alarming
in itself. Every country in Europe lacks coal
and the general shortage slows up the whole
process of recovery. That a nation sitting on
coal, formerly one of the great coal exporters
of the world, should not have a fortnlghts
reserve in midwinter is serious chiefly be-
cause it reveals a dearth of manpoWer, and
human energy, and thereby shows up the dis
order of a continent which is cursed at the
same time with dangerous unemployment In
some countries and lack of manpower in
others. The gravest aspect of Britains stu
alton is that she has no other reserves, and
this weakening of her economic power, tied
up as it is with the dissolution of her empire,
will affect her influence in the pending de-
cisions on which the future depends.
The German settlement, TOT instance WIZ
be determined by many factors, but lmmedl.
ate decisions will be taken on the basis OF
how long and in what force the United States
and Great Britain are willing to stay in Ger
many. At present occupation is costing 1e
British more than it is costing us, and com
plants against paying reparations to Germa'
n.y." as some protesters put it, are ALREADY
heard in this country. The chief object OF
Mr.. Hoover's mission is to save the tax
PAYER by finding. and publicizing, the level
of industry at which the Germans could De
made self-s supporting.
If this is true here. how long can England
afford to pay the costs of occupation? One
answer is that all the changes IN British poll
CIV in Germany, including the effort TO step
up production, the support OF an economic
merger with the American zone, the recent
abandonment of denazitication except in the
first categories, are attempts to tighten the
financial burden.
Thus on the question of Germany alone it
is. very important to us that Britain should
be able to play a strong role in the peace
making. The alternative is a reduction OF our
influence and an increase in that Of Russia.