Evening star., 1948-07-07
'CrudIe-to-Gruve' in Brituin

The British this week have launched
the most ambitious and far-reaching
social-security program that the world has
ever seen.
1t is by no means wholly new develop
ment. Rather, 1t comes as the logical
completion of an economic and social
evolution which began under the LIBERAL
Radical leadership of Lloyd George shortly
before World War I, and which was fully
elaborated in the report of q Royal Com
mission headed by Sir william Beveridge
in 1912. AS now implemented by the
Labor government as part of its aim to
socialize, Britains national life, the pro-
gram provides an unparalleled degree Of
social security for every Briton, literally
from the cradle to the grave. No one Is
excluded The rich as well as the poor
are entitled to participate and are even
constrained to do so. This, Of course, i'm
plies a fundamental change in Britain's
social and economic life.
Here are some of the benefits any
Briton may demand: Free medical care,
disqualification, special service, dental
treatment, medicines, maternity care,
home nursing, eye and ear treatment,
artificial limbs and other physical aids.
He or she is likewise entitled to unemploy-
ment and widowheod insurance, retire.
ment and disablement benefits, funeral
expenses and death grants, plus baby
bonuses for each infant addition to the
family. And the individual Is scheduled
to get all this by an annual contribution
deducted from his or her wages or salary
which, on the average, will not exceed $52.
1t sounds wonderful. But there Is a
catch in 1t. The state will make up the
inevitable deficit between the programs
total cost and contributions from individ-
uals and corporate employers. That deficit
will at once amount to something like
81, 900 900 900 per year, tending to increase
as time goes on. And the money will have
to be found out of taxes, which are already
so heavy as to be almost confiscatory for
the wealthy and well-to-do elements of the
population.
Furthermore, this ambitious experiment
Is launched at a time when Britain's
financial solvency is threatened and when
its economy appears to be contracting
rather than expanding. 1t Is those basic
factors which differentiate this program
from the social-security programs Of
Australia and New Zealand, both of which
are countries still In process of expansion.
1t is no wonder that, under these circum-
stances, critics of the program predict
that it is essentially one of "share-the-
poverty" which will tend further to
stultify individual initiative and efficiency
those traditional incentives on which
productive progress has so largely
depended.
Perhaps the most incisive query is how
all this can be kept compatible with the
maintenance of political democracy and
individual rights and liberties. Far-reach-
ing social-security programs have been
established in Soviet Russia and are part
of the Communist recipe for its World
Utopia. In Soviet Russia, such benefits still
exist largely on paper. But even though
materially realized they will be bought at
the price of absolute individual subordina-
ton to despotic and all-powerful state.
Has Britains Labor government dis
covered golden mean" by which full
social security can be attained without
paying the totalitarian price? The future
will give the answer.