Evening star., 1948-12-22
No Suoor Plums for Britons

In its White Paper outlining tentative
four-vear plan for the United Kingdoms
economic revival under the European Re-
covery Program, the Attlee government
has offered the British people Christmas
message entirely lacking in sugar-plum
promises. In effect, the document ADDS up
to a stern notice that continued austerlty
is virtually inevitable for long tlme 70
come. The only note of cheer-lt IL can DC
called that's that there may be "sllght
imnroyement in the country's overall
standard of living by 1858.
Though it has just been issued In Lonr
don the White Paper covers the same
ground as the plan Britain submitted Oh
october l to the Organization for Euro
mean Economic Cooperation, the agency
in which all the ERP countries are Jolneo
in an effort to promote and attain tnelr
common recovery by the time the Marsnall
Plans projected four-year program OF
American aid comes to an END. AS lar as
the United Kingdom is concerned, the
White Paper makes clear that the sltua-
tion will be touch -and-go between now
and 1858, with export-import and DOLLAR
exchange margins too marrow TO permit
Britons to rid themselves OF ausIerlCy
standards.
The main objective of the British plan
and the plan itself, of course, can pc no
more certain than such uncertain 1actors
as world prices, European political develop
ments and the weather-is to achieve by
1853. a position in which the United King
dom will be exporting more than 1t IS
importing, enough so as to give the country
a trade surplus of $40O 900 for that
wear. as against its 1947 deficit OF $2,52O,-
600 600, In other words, what the Attlee
government hopes for is that four years
from now Britain will be well on the way
toward solving its dollarshortage problem
with trading stability enabling 1t to sell
at least enough abroad to pay for all the
vast quantities of things it must import
to keep it's domestic economy going ana
regain a comfortable standard OF living.
To that end, as set forth in the White
Paper the British plan calls for the fol-
lowing measures, among others, during
the next four years: % Holding the total
volume of imports down to the present
level, which is about Is per cent lower
than in 1888; (2) boosting exports at least
so per cent above 1888, or about 10 per
cent above the current year; CD expand
ing domestic farm output to an all-tlme
record, so per cent above prewar; (4)
stepping up industrial production an addi-
ttonal 13 per cent or so, to 40 per cent
above 1888: (5) financing new productive
projects in the colonial areas; 90 guard
ing against imitation at home by continued
heavy taxes and controls designed to
check wage-and-price spirals; and Cd
employing every possible means-techN
nologicai--modefniza gerial~-iEa--
provements, plain hard work, etc.-to
increase the productivity of labor.
Although the White Paper observes that
by 1853 a large part of the British popu-
lation should be able to eat better than
before the war" and although it says that
the plan calls for IS to 20 per cent in
crease in the supply of manufactured
goods available for home consumption, 1t
frankly declares that the improvement in
living standards will be modest" at best.
In short, more than three years after the
defeat of Germany and Japan, and almost
ten years after they began Tightening
their belts in 1899, Britons are told that
they face at least another four or five
years of frugal, pinched and austere
economic conditions.
To people who have been doing with
out for so long, message OF this sort must
seem doubly depressing at Christmas time.
But the British have a genius for coping
resolutely with hard realities. They know
they must struggle to recover from war
that profoundly upset their economy, and
If their history and traditions mean any
thing, they can be counted upon to see
that struggle through to successful con-
clusion-with the moral and material
support of America any every like-minded
power aware of their Importance to the
future of the free world. Certainly, no
nation is more deserving of such support.
Foreiun EncIuves in India