Milford chronicle., 1951-11-30
N&0N&
RUSSIA'S WAR THREAT


anti-cOmmunist world may be economic,
rather than military. That is the substance
of one of Dorothy ThOmpson's recent news
paper columns. This Russian threat, Miss
Thompson writes, "lies in the possibility of
her exploiting the real and continuing eco
nOmic dilemmas of all the highly Industrial
lied nations, especially those of western Eu-
rope, and. in Asia, of Japan"
These industralized nations are in near
desperate straits tOday-and that goes for
England as we'll as the European countries.
They are densely populated Their peoples,
by comparison with the nOn-industrialized
nations, have had good living standards.
They have largely lived by processing goods
raw materials have been brought in from
the four corners of the world, made into
finished articles, and sold throughout the
world. AS an example, England's tradition
al economic role has been that of a gigantic
factory, with markets everywhere. And
those markets have constantly dwinded.
Miss Thompson makes another unusual
and important point. She writes, "The enOr-
nous production of the United States and
our relatively high self-sufficiency in raw
materials is liability to Europe" And the
reason for that is that we can and are pro-
ducing practically everything our people can
buy and use. In other words, to the Euro
pean producer of machinery, automobiles,
and almost all consumer goods, the Ameri-
can market is either tiny or nOn-existent
The sole exception, Miss Thompson points
out, is luxury goods, and no nation can build
an economy on the production of those. That
is why Europe is perpetually plagued by a
dollar shortage. She would like to make an
honest exchange of goods for dOlars-but
there is no market here.
This is where Russia comes in. Russia
is building up her own productive machine
at the maximum possible rate. She also needs
raw materials and finished goods of all kinds
in vast quantities. To quote Miss Thompson
once more, Russia needs western Europe,
and western Europe and Japan need pre-
ciSely what the MOScow-Peiping trade axis
can offer and the United States cannot
While we are ringing the world with mill
tary bases Russia has quite obviously start
ed to ring the world with trade pacts and a
new ruble diplomacy"
Here is a prime example of how complex
the hOt-cOld war has become. The day when
war strategy could be based on military con-
sideratiOns alone has passed. If Miss
ThOmpson's theory is correct, it explains
why Russia has not attacked western Eu-
rope at a time when the defenses were woe
fully weak, and the Soviet armies could
probably go to the channel in a matter of
weeks. The top military men were grimly
luGy
now think next spring will be the last time
that it will be a reasonable possibility -
thereafter, western Europe should be mill
tarily formidable and relatively secure. In
any event, it can be powerfully argued that
the men in the Kremlin have decided that
in the present state of the world, economics
may be a more potent weapon than the
sword.
WHY TOLERATE SOCIALISM IN U. S. A
The only conceivable way to stop social
ism is to draw a line somewhere. Doctor;
should be as willing to fight against social
ism in other fields as they are to fight agains
sOcialiZed medicine. The real estate people
should stand ready to fight for all Othel
brands of socialism as quickly as socializeC
housing. The same should be true will
newspapers, railroads, coal mines, grocer
and meat dealers who are fighting too mucl
government control, and all other industries
Only by drawing a line against socialism
and holding it can all Of us keep from beini
engulfed. We cannot be opposed to socialism
in Delaware and in favor of it in Maryland
1t socialism takes over, progress will STOP
There is no compelling force for prOgres
when competition is gone. The wonder
that the proponents of socialism have tn
gall to offer it as a substitute for a free en-
terprise system that has brought to thi
country the worlds highest standard of liv
ing. Utilities" is not the ugly word it ono
was. Private utilities are now regulate
properly and operated efficiently. They pa
heavy taxes which help immensely to SUI
port local, state and federal government!
AS matter of fact, the hue and cry agains
them used to be based mainly on the charg
that they were "monOpOlies" which is e2
actly what the government is trying to 81
up in place of them. They have brought tn
cost of manufacturing down steadily-an
there is every reason to believe that they Wi
continue to do sO-if we make the prOpt
nents of socialism leave them alone.