T E E T A B L E T . August 23rd 1952

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGINA ET PATRIA

VOL. 200, No. 5857

FOUNDED IN 1840

LONDON, AUGUST 23rd, 1952

NINEPENCE

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

DIE KATHOLIKENTAGE Catholic Manifestations in Berlin and Vienna GENERAL NEGUIB AND HIS COLLEAGUES The Men now Holding Power in Egypt. By Charles P . Brown

THE TOMB OF ST. PETER The Report on the Excavations Beneath the Vatican Basilica MILITARISM AND COMMUNISM IN GERMANY

H : The Embarrassment o f Dr. Schumacher

A VISIT TO RHODES

By C. Jesman

BACK FROM HELSINKI

By Victor S . Frank

THE FRIENDSHIPS OF WILFRID MEYNELL Cardinal Manning and Wilfrid Scawen Blunt. By Viola Meynell

OLD SANCTUARIES RESTORED I : Abbeys and Priories. By Linwood Sleigh

TAKING LIBERTIES WITH DEFENCE T HE reduction o f the two-year training period in the Belgian Army, which was decided upon after the failure o f the Paris conference to settle this problem on an in te rnational basis, is n o t in itself a serious matter. Disunity in Paris merely helped the Belgian Government to get out o f an internal political difficulty. But the step is nevertheless an illustration o f the scaling down o f the Lisbon programme. The aim was fifty divisions and four thousand planes by the end o f 1952 ; it looks more like forty-three divisions now. Many people th ink th a t seven divisions do no t make all th a t difference, th a t it would in any case be impossible to stop the first drive o f the Soviet war machine with fifty. But it is to be noted th a t the first attem p t a t A tlantic solidarity in this matter o f the period o f m ilitary service has failed.

Speculations in this country whether a three-year rearm ament programme is in fact necessary, and the discussions in F rance over the American decision to limit the $625 million additional off-shore orders, planned for three years, to $186 million for one year, are further symptoms. The American Congress will n o t commit itself to financial obligations beyond the current year, and they point ou t th a t F rance receives in any case $900-950 million in the year ending in July 1953. There is some American indignation a t the high rents which they have to pay for their aerodromes in France. “ Soon we shall have to pay,” they say, “ for renting the trenches in which American soldiers will defend the F rench.” A t the last moment the French rearm ament programme for 1952 has been secured, but, o f the twelve divisions which F rance is engaged to supply, only six will be available as long as the war goes on in Indochina. Many hope th a t the Germans will come in to make up these deficiencies, but the German participation has no t yet been ratified, no r is it certain th a t the Parliam ents concerned will ratify it. The Americans themselves, deep in their election preparations, have had to ask for a postponem ent o f the Atlantic Council meeting a t which the NATO Governments will probably demand a revision o f the Lisbon programme.

Whether o r no t the Lisbon meeting erred on the side of optim ism , and whether o r n o t national economies were being endangered by this programme, the situation is disquieting. And it is no t so much th a t the danger o f an attack from the Soviet Union is increased by this general relaxation o f effort, but its demoralising effect on European unity and the European will to defend itself. There is a notion in some European military circles, which minimize the danger o f a possible Soviet attack, th a t the USSR can be held in check merely by superior air power, to be organized along bases on the continental periphery. But neither General Eisenhowever, nor Field Marshal Montgomery, no r Marshal Juin, no r any other m ilitary leader who ever held responsible office in the Western defence system, has adm itted th a t such bases suffice. The experience o f the Second World W ar and o f the Korean W a r has proved th a t a ir power can never bring about victory alone, but th a t this depends wholly on a co-ordinated strategy o f land, air and naval forces. And these two experiences have also shown th a t improvisation in an emergency only causes the heaviest losses and gives the enemy th a t initial success which, though no t necessarily decisive, may nevertheless be an im portant advantage. The Rejection of the Price Review

Sir Thomas Dugdale’s unexpectedly brusqué rejection o f the request by the N a tio nal Farm ers’ U n ion for a special price review, following on the recent wage increase, will certainly arouse a great deal o f criticism. Farm ers have behind them in this country a long record o f betrayal and there will not be wanting those who say that, while the politicians are paying lip service to the needs o f increased food production, in fact their eyes are on the town voter and they are preparing to sell agriculture as their predecessors did before them. The farmers’ case for a review is simple. I t is th a t the wage increases are likely to cost them about £8 f million a year and therefore they must be recouped by higher prices. The Ministry’s case is th a t o f course the prices will, as ever, be all reviewed next F ebruary but th a t in the meantime, though the farmers have to pay more wages, they