Evening star., 1952-09-06
How Goes Britain Under Churchill?
By WiIIiom McGoffin

-LONDON.-Brltaln seemed on the
skids to national bankruptcy when Win
ston Churchill and his Conservative
Party took over from the Attlee Labor
government last october Is. It was a
tough. dangerous spot.
Now the country's position is much
less precariOuS-but the individual Eng
liShman is so disilluSioned with Churchill
he would turn the old man out of Office
If an election were risked tomorrow.
This is no surprise. Churchill had
the nerve to do some things he knew
would make him unpopular-such as re-
ducing the food subsidies. It helped the
government toward making ends meet
when the subsidy was lowered, but it
meant that the people had to pay higher
prices for their meat. bread, flour, milk,
tea, fats, butter and cheese.
With the cost Of living going up and
wages remaining frozen, the million
organized workers of Britain have grown
restless. When Churchill took over
with skimpy overall majority in Par
lament of only 18 votes-he asked for
three years before he should be judged.
The inference was that If an election
were held of until then the unpleasant
medicine he had to administer would
have worked its cure and the nation,
restored in health. would give him it's
blessing.
But, unfortunately for Churchill and
his government, the workers may not
wait that long. Eight million of them
want wage boosts to meet the rising
cost of living. The government is trying
to get them to abide by the wages
they are making now. If the raises are
granted. production costs will go up
and British exports may be priced out
of the world market If raises are
not granted. there may be strikes
which will mean fewer goods to sell in
the world market.
It is with this situation in mind that
one should judge the optimistic report
issued by the British treasury the other
day. It predicted that by the end of
the year. Britain should be in a posi-
ton to pay its own way-that is. to
pay for imports with exports.
But even by the end of this year, if all
goes according to plan, there will still
be dollar problem. To meet it, the
Churchill government is expected to seek
discussions with the new American Gov
ernment on four major issues:
/. American tariff concessions for
British exports.
2. American investment in the British
Commonwealth.
g. Possibility Of long term agreements
for American purchase of raw materials
from the sterling area.
4. Possibility of assistance to expedite
the convertibility Of the pound sterling
through international organizations such
as the International Monetary Fund
To move as far as it has toward point
where itcan make ends meet, the Church.
i'll government has invoked mixture of
measures. 1t has used that old socialist
device Of auSterity and cut imports deep
ly. The cuts will total SLIP billion this
year. It has spread the three-year re-
armament program out over four years
and begun to revamp it in the light of
SUCH technical advances as the American
progress in atomic weapons.
This, as Churchill has explained to
Parliament, will have several advantages
The original arms program which, with
the decreased purchasing power Of the
pound would now cost an estimated
$15.12 billion, can be pared. The engi-
neering industry can be freed to a cer-
tain extent Of arms production, so as to
make civilian goods for export. And
some Of the weapons already made, such
as Centurion tanks, can be sold to other
nations to help pay for imports.
Aneurin Bevan, the fiery Socialist who
Is trying to WreSt leadership of the
Labor Party from Clement Attlee, said,
Il told you so." when Churchill an
nounced the stretching out of the arms
program.
One of the reasons Bevan resigned
from the Attlee government was his
belief that the nations economic
strength was being unduly taxed by the
rearmament program.
Bevan, who used to be Minister of
Health, was not so pleased, however,
when the Churchill government took
swipe at his sacred cow-the National
Health Service-and decreed that, with
socialized medicine now costing the
government over q billion dollars a
year. the people must begin to bear a
part of the cost.
Drugstore prescriptions now cost IA
cents each and there is charge at the
dentist Of $3.50 for a course of treat
ment. In addition, about half the cost
OF false teeth and glasses must be borne
by the patient.
The Churchill government is opposed
to socialism, but accepts the welfare
state. No political party could stay in
power long if it, for instance, tried to
wipe out anything as universally popu-
lar as socialized medicine.
Churchill has continued, too, the
Socialist system of family allowances
and pensions-upping the ante all along
the line to help Offset the rising cost of
food when the subsidies were lowered.
The government allowance for each
child, beginning with the second. is now
8 shillings a week instead Of s "a shill-
ing is about IA cents).
Churchill has done away with identity
cards. that trapping of the modern
police state. But he has not yet been