Evening star., 1952-08-01
Britoin's ,Stretch-Out'

bTIt0inS Stretch-Ouf
In an effort to close the gap between Britain's
imports and exportS-an effort designed to en-
able the country to support itself and avert
eventual bankruptcy-Prime Minister Churchills
Conservative government has substantially in.
dorsed the thesis Of Aneurin Bevan leader of the
left-wing Laborites. The thesis is simply this:
That the British economy is not strong enough
to complete, on schedule, the three-year rearma-
ment program drawn up after the outbreak OF
the Korean war.
Mr.. Bevan has been against that program
from the start Drafted and agreed upon while
Clement Attlee and his moderate Labor govern
ment were still in power, it has been subjected
to showdown since last December, when Mr.
Churchill decided that its projected outlay Of
$13.1 billion could not be completed within three
years without dangerously weakening the eco
nomic structure of Britain. His latest move in.
tensif1es the showdown by stretching out the
program over full four-year period in order
to divert an extra percentage Of the countryS
expenditures and productive energies into man
ufacturing non-military export goods.
The output and marketing OF such goods is,
Of course, thing of prime Importance to Brit
aims economy. As matters stand the country is
buying from abroad much more than it is selling
abroad, with the result that it is living beyond
its means. That is to say especially in the dollar
field, it is not earning nearly enough to pay its
own way. Its overseas sales, in other words, are
not producing an income that comes close to
matching what it must spend on imports that
are absolutely indispensable to it. This deficit
situation-which cannot continue indefinitely
without leading in time to national bankruptcy
has been seriously aggravated by the sharp and
imperative increase in rearmament demands
since June, 1850. Hence the Churchill govern
ment,s decision to "readjust" the timetable pre-
viouSly set for meeting those demands.
This "readjustment'- roughly comparable to
our own American "stretch-out" of arms produc-
tion-can hardly fail to have an effect on the
tempo of the Western defense build up within
the framework Of the North Atlantic Treaty
Organization. In short, coupled with the threat
ened French showdown, the revision in the Brit
ish program will almost surely mean that the
goals of the NATO alliance viii not be attained
on the dates heretofore scheduled Instead the
timetable apparently will be set back several
months-a fact that could have extremely serious
consequences If the Kremlin, refusing to sit on
its hands while the free world rearms at leisure,
should decide to strike without waiting for our
side to achieve full readiness This may be q
remote danger but it must be reckoned with
nonetheless.
Mr.. Churchill, for his own part, seems satis-
fed that the West can afford to take such a risk
and he is convinced, anyhow, that Britain-both
for its own sake and the sake of the Atlantic ali
ance as whole-will be wiser to slow down on
rearmament than to invite an economic collapse.
Further, he has emphasized that his country, in
stretching out defense outlays over an additional
year. viii spend in excess of the $13 billion origi-
nally agreed upon for the three-year program
and that the end-result will actually be more
war power in being than that program provided
for when the Attlee Labor government adopted it.
On this point, Mr.. Churchill may be more
wishful than realistic However, as he has said,
the fact cannot be overlooked that tactical
changes and technical developments-su as
the immense strides" made in developing atomic
weapons and guided missiles-have already rem
dered obsolescent some of the plans and arms
that figured largely in the Vests defensive pro-
gramming two years ago. In that sense, although
disturbing, Britain's "stretch-out' actually may
be less serious than it seems at first glance.