T R B T A B L É T January U t k , 19*0.

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGE ET PATRIA

VOL. 195, No. 5723

FO U N D E D I N 1 8 4 0

LONDON, JANUARY 28th, 1950

SIXPENCE

PUBLISHED AS A N EW S P A P E R

THE MIDDLE CLASS VOTE The Professional Man in the Planned Society MR. BEVIN’S VISIT TO ROME Labour Party Responsibility for Signor de Gasperi’s Difficulties

A LETTER FROM MADRID

A Survey o f the Economic Scene

INSIDE TIBET

A Missionary Meets the Dalai Lama : II. By Père Matthias Hermanns FR. PALLOTTI AND ENGLAND AFTERTHOUGHTS ON GOETHE

Sidelights on the New Beatus

By Arnold Lunn

ROUGH-WEATHER CHART T H E Conservative Party programme fo r the election, This is the Road, is concrete and clear, and has the great merit th a t it recognizes into what kind o f rough weather we are likely to move, so that, in Mr. Butler’s words,

"T here is no doubt th a t we shall be faced during the next five years with difficulties, compared w ith which the difficulties o f the preceding five years will be as nothing.” This is so plainly true th a t it should be counted a merit in the Conservatives th a t they have reduced the larger prospects held ou t in The R ight Road fo r Britain to much more modest dimensions. There will, in fact, be bu t little remission o f taxation, and what there is will really have little more th an a token quality ; but th a t will no t be unim portan t , for in its large terms the great sin o f the present Government since 1945 has been overspending in all directions. So im portant a M inister as Mr. George Isaacs, in Wednesday’s News Chronicle, showed him self still gaily confident th a t there is no unemployment trouble out o f which the Government cannot spend its way. He says,

The trouble th a t has arisen with the new Australian G overnment, which wants to draw more heavily on the sterling dollar pool to acquire more petrol, is a vivid illu stration o f the delicate considerations th a t arise, and th a t will grow much more acute. No party can see with any confidence what is to happen in two years time, when the American a id comes to an end. But all can see th a t competition will increase, th a t both Germany and Japan are re-entering in te rnational trade, and th a t the basic British dilemma is th a t, while we cannot contract o u t o f the world and insulate our fifty millions, and while on the contrary we must be in on all the trade and business, be carriers, agents and middle men, as well as manufacturers, the more we mix in the more impossible does it become fo r us to make up our own standards w ith a fine disregard for th e levels and prices outside. Stirrings in Germany

“ In order to prevent localised unemployment the Labour Party will, i f necessary, be prepared to sta rt up new publicly-owned factories, o r to manage existing factories th a t would otherwise be closed down,” and so on, with apparently little recognition th a t such activities, when they are uneconomic in themselves, only shift the trouble, and increase the burden th a t has to be carried e lsew here; and th a t it would be very easy, i f such policies were carried far enough, fo r the weight o f Government expenditure to press so heavily on industry th a t we could no t either sell our production abroad o r pay fo r it a t home.

The general picture stands out in clear outlines how much harm quite a small recession o f business activity in the United States in 1948 caused to our exports and our hopes. There is no solution for us in trying not to trade, and ou r vital interest is th a t there should be as much world trade as possible, and th a t in as much o f th a t trad e as possible we should find a part to play. The foundations, not only o f ou r greatness, but o f our s tandard o f living rest on this, as th e Communists understand very well when they seek to paralyze the exports o f Malaya, which have in the past played so great a p a r t in obtaining dollars for the sterling pool. The pool o f dollars serves many countries, and is filled by them . I t is going to be very difficult for candidates to bring home to the electorate how much the gold and dollar reserves in the sterling pool matter, and what effect it will have on the physical standards o f everybody if the sterling area disintegrates, leaving each o f its members to make the best arrangem ents it can in o rder to secure essential products th a t have to be paid fo r in dollars.

It is not surprising that Dr. Dehler’s denials o f G e rm any’s responsibility for the two world wars created a certain am ount o f excitement, especially as his Hamburg speech was closely followed by H e r r Kaiser’s publication o f a memorandum on the Saar. D r . Adenauer’s Government, sensing the danger th a t such declarations and indiscretions might worsen the Federal Republic relations w ith her neighbours, and especially F rance, quickly issued a statem ent which once more stresses Germ any’s determ ination to co-operate with the Western Powers. The statem ent was accompanied by a num ber o f official comments, which on the whole constitute a disavowal o f the sentim ents expressed by D r. Dehler and the principles contained in the Saar memorandum.

I t is a good omen th a t the French Press reacted to both incidents with restrain t and moderation. The F rench understand th a t the Saar question is bound to stir some em otional comments with their German neighbours, but they are determ ined th a t F ranco-G e rm an differences over this issue should no t ham per F ranco-G e rm an friendship.

The indiscretions o f the two members o f the Federal Government would probably have a ttra c ted much less attention if they had no t have been accompanied by some symptomatic changes.

Another symptom o f the rising nationalist tide, even more disturbing, was provided by the 120 delegates who met in Kassel last weekend and founded the “ German Reich Party.” The new group is a coalition o f five right-wing opposition deputies who represent two Bundestag parties, the German Right Party o f Lower Saxony, in the British zone, and the Democratic Right Party in Lower Hesse, in the American zone. Both parties however, have a num ber o f followers in other parts o f Germany as well, and so two o f