Evening star., 1949-04-30
Socialism in Britain
Attempts 10 Preserve
Best From the Past
Theoter and Musicul Life
Flourishins With Access
To Generous Stute Fund,
By Dorothy THOMPSON

10 Generous Stute Funds
By Dorothy Thompson
LONDON (By AirmaiD I'M
pressive In British socialism, and
characteristic of the British in
stinct always to keep the bridges
up between the old and the new,
Is the socialist governments atti-
tude toward cultural life. Here
one finds distinguished attempts
to lift and improve the level and
preserve the best from the past.
The theater and musical life are
fiourishing. The National Arts
Council, formed during the war
and continued since, has access to
considerable state funds, with
which the Labor government re-
portedly Is more generous than its
predecessor. The council sends Or
chestras and art exhibitions into
the provinces, and is empowered
to remit entertainment taxes on
commercial theatrical productions
OF high artistic merit that might
otherwise be unable to open or
forced to close.
In addition to the west end
London theaters currently pre-
senting more productions than
Broadway. every provincial city of
any size has repertory theater,
not overlooking the Old Vic and
several others in the London en-
virons. And the government has
just voted the council $4,000. 900
for the construction Of a great
national theater.
This Is impressive, positively,
and by contrast. when one con-
siders that New York-the richest
city in history and the seat of the
United Nations-has no great arts
theater devoted to producing and
keeping alive the greatest dra-
matte works of our civilization.
Certainly this is not because
America is lacking in dramatic
or play-writing talent; many of
London's most successful produc-
tons are works of American au-
thors. Yet the entire American
theater, except for isolated anna
teur companies and summer stock,
is confined to a small area of New
York City, and is wholly CONNER
cial.
Britain also Is concerned with
the fate of the great country
houses which. by reason of in
come taxes and death duties, are
destined within this generation to
pass to the state. These are un-
der consideration Of the so-called
national trust"
Britain is rich in superb coun-
try estates-manors and castles,
dating from the 14th to the 18th
centuries-many with remnants
of even earlier architecture, sur
rounded by magnificent parks
and world-famous gardens, in
themselves representing genera
tions of works. of art. 8.
Some TOO of these have been
adiudged gems of domestic archi-
lecture and art whose owners.
since long before the Labor gov
ernment. have been forced by
progressive taxation gradually to
deplete them Of pictures, tapes
tries. carpets and furniture. most
of which have found their way
into private or public American
collections. In addition to the TOO
f1rst-rate examples, there are
some 500 more which the gov
ernment considers worthy to pre-
serve and maintain.
Free From Prejudice.
The personal competition of the
national trust is singularly free
from prejudice. Most of the men,
bers are, themselves. great estate
owners. But since these are the
people who know and care most
about such properties. they are
natural consultants on their dis
posal. The probability is-there
already are precedents, such as
Lord Sackville's Knole-that in
return for conf1scatory taxation,
the owners and their heirs will be
permitted to continue in residence
as the most appropriate caretakers
and curators, keeping public mu-
seums and gardens as living prop
critics.
There is no intention of turning
these gems into schools. conva-
descent homes or guesthouses,
which would require adaptations
ruinous to their architecture; that
fate will be reserved for other
great houses designed to be lived
in richly. many of them hand
some copies or adaptations of
more precious originals
sThere is no spirit of vandalism
In the British and no left-wing
government is likely ever to treat
the grace and beauty of. past
times as the Russian and Polish
Communists treated the manor
houses of Western Poland. The
latter wreaked their proletarian
vengeance not only on aristocrats
but also upon their ancestral
homes. threw priceless furniture
into peasant kitchens. hacked up
parquets, stripped coverings from
furniture, tore out chandeliers,
destroyed parks. neglected gardens
tended for centuries, and left
weed-engulfed ruins dolorously
gaping to wind and rain.
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- AMERICAN STANDARD