T H E T A B L E T , J u l y 29lht 1950

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGE ET PATRIA

VOL. 196, No. 5749

FOUNDED IN 1840

LONDON, JULY 29th, 1950

SIXPENCE

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

KING LEOPOLD AND M. SPAAK The Belgian Socialists Seeking to Have it Both Ways

CATHOLICS IN CANADA Tendencies through M r. Mackenzie King’s two Decades MR. BELLOC’S EIGHTIETH BIRTHDAY

I : “ Keen Eyes to See.” By Douglas Woodruff I I : Master-Painter in Words. By Arnold Lunn THE HUGUENOTS J. S. BACH: 1750-1950

By J . J . Dwyer

By Rosemary Hughes

ARMS— AND THE MEN? I N his report last week to the American nation, President Truman reminded his audience that, while following with natural anxiety the course of the war in Korea, they must not lose sight of all the other areas o f danger throughout the world. “The fact that Communist forces have invaded Korea,” he said,

the highest it has ever been, and is approximately equivalent to that of all the rest of the world. But as consumption in goods such as motor-cars, stoves, refrigerators, home appliances and agricultural machinery accounts for about 35 to 40 per cent of all the steel produced, these goods will indubitably become more scarce. It is symptomatic, in this respect, that many American firms are already advertising their products with urgent appeals to the customers to “ buy while there is anything to buy.”

“ is a warning that there may be similar acts of aggression in other parts of the world. Free nations must be on their guard, more than ever before, against this kind of sneak attack.” The same conclusion provided the basis o f the discussions which have been held in London this week a t the first meeting of the deputies of the Foreign Ministers of the North Atlantic Council. Mr. Spofford, the American Chairman o f the deputies, came here with the assurance that the United States would not decrease its contribution to European defence for the sake of Korea, and that in fact American help would be speeded up. In return he asked the European members of the Atlantic community for a greater effort in the field of defence, and for the sacrifices which they will have to accept to make this effort successful.

Another restriction will be re-instituted in the form of the credit controls that were in force during the war. These will help to curb inflation and to reduce the competition for relatively scarce commodities, such as automobiles, television sets, home appliances, and so on. It is expected, too, that the Government will end the present building boom. In short, the American citizen will have to accept some very real limitations and inconveniences, and it is not surprising that, under these circumstances, he expects his friends from overseas to play their own part in the common effort. The Lessons of Korea

The Americans were the first to realize the necessity for such sacrifices. Their spokesmen assured them that “ despite the gravity of the world situation, the nation would not be plunged overnight into the strait-jacket of war economy,” and that “ as long as this thing does not break out into a fullscale war, we can meet its demands on our economy with relatively little inconvenience.” But with Congress voting more and more millions for American defence, and for American help to the Atlantic defence, the ordinary citizen of the United States realizes well enough that the inconveniences will not be quite so negligible, and that, even without a fullscale war, life will become harder and dearer in many ways. The New York Times answers the question of just how the mobilization o f American resources will affect an average American family, by saying that of all the effects, the increased taxation will certainly be the one that is most noticeable. The President has already asked for ten billion dollars in new appropriations, and he will soon ask for more. This might easily create a serious threat of inflation, which the Government will try to avert by imposing new and higher rates of taxation. I t is as yet impossible to say how high these may be, but even if the new revenues should counterbalance only the first ten billion dollars of new expenditure, the result would be a tax increase of about 25 per cent.

Secondly, the Government must adapt American industrial production to the growing needs of defence. The President will be authorized to divert scarce materials—steel, copper, zinc—to military uses. Today American steel production is

But the experiences of the Korean war have taught us all that a long-term mobilization o f military and economic resources is no longer sufficient to deter the Russians from aggression, and that the real power of Russia—their Red Army divisions, their air force and navy—must be countered on the Western side by a power which is just as real, and not only potential. So far the Western nations are vastly outnumbered in military manpower. Today the Russians and their satellites possess about six million troops, while the West possesses only little over two millions. The position is better in naval and air forces—in naval forces the West has a superiority of thirteen to one, and in air forces a superiority of four to three. The atomic stockpile of the United States, too, is much larger than the stockpile of the Russians. But this superiority could become fully effective only in a world-wide conflict and only after some time. In limited fighting, like that in Korea or like any clash which the Communists could easily inaugurate in some other part of the world, the crucial weapon is the tank, and the Russians are believed to possess forty thousand tanks—many more thousands and much better tanks than those in the possession of the Western Powers.

Another painful lesson of the Korean war concerns the entirely false appreciation, on the part of the West, of the military strength and ability of the Russian satellites. When the North Koreans invaded their southern neighbours, the Americans believed that they would be able to stop them simply by providing “cover and support” for the South Korean troops. They soon realized that the North Koreans