TEE T A B L E T , November 22nd, 1952.

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER AND REVIEW

PRO ECCLESIA DEI, PRO REGINA ET PATRIA

VOL. 200, No. 5870

LONDON, NOVEMBER 22nd, 1952

NINEPENCE

FOUNDED IN 1840

PUBLISHED AS A NEWSPAPER

DEMOCRACY IS NOT ENOUGH The) Answer to Communism must be more than Political

FRANCE, GERMANY AND THE SAAR

Conceptions Behind the Schuman Plan

THE LIFE AND DEATH OF CHARLES MAURRAS

The Sacrament at the Last. By Frank Macmillan

THE PEOPLE OF BRITAIN The Second Volume o f Census Figures. By Thomas Harper

A LETTER FROM MADRID

Negotiations with the United States

ENCOUNTER NEAR TRIESTE

An Italian Pilgrimage. By Bruce Renton

THE VOICE OF CATHOLIC ENGLAND On a New Study o f Chaucer. By Christopher Hollis SECULARISM IN THE UNITED STATES

A Statement o f the American Bishops

MORE FLEXIBILITY

I N some ways the Government are being better th an the Queen’s Speech suggested, and those o f us who were disappointed a t th e vague references there to th e Town and Country P lanning Act are all th e more appreciative o f Mr. Macmillan’s sudden lifting o f th a t development charge on land which has been th e cause o f so much fru stra tio n and delay. I t is all p a r t o f a realization in which the mind o f the Government meets the m ind o f the country, th a t in the world facing us this country can only survive th rough flexibility ; th a t we are lo st i f British industry has to try to ad ap t itself to quickly changing conditions while living under an elaborate Byzantine bureaucracy. Mr. A ttlee and his colleagues are so impervious to the necessities o f our economy because they entered public life with the one overmastering purpose o f curbing, if n o t ending, private profit, no t content with all th a t taxation and death duties do, b u t wanting a t th e o ther end to intercept profit before it is made.

The T ran sport Bill brought o u t very clearly how the country would handicap itself if it lets industry be subordinated to party politics. The advocates and enemies o f nationalization should have no difficulty in agreeing on one thing, th a t there can only be loss if th e whole status o f industry is to be changed a t each General Election. Mr. Callaghan, winding up for the L abour Party, repeated th reats th a t those who take advantage o f the present Government’s measures will n o t be compensated next time, and we can imagine th a t th e next stage will be a th rea t o f positive penalties fo r those who accept the offers o f Conservative Governments. I t ought to be clearly understood th a t this is an intolerable abuse. I f there was ever an equitable claim to compensation, as there was, there will still be a claim to compensation in the event o f a re-nationalization o f these sections o f the T ran sport industry. Mr. Callaghan’s principle goes much deeper th an he seems to be aware in destroying parliam entary government and making everything depend on the arbitrary whims o f party leaders.

The th ird T ra n sport Bill is certainly a very great improvement on either o f its two predecessors and Mr. Lennox Boyd is greatly to be congratulated on th e work th a t he has done behind the scenes in order to obtain th a t improvement. There never was any sense in th e p roposal th a t the private road haulier should pay a levy to give the railways business. I t was n o t th a t th e argum ent in favour o f th a t p roposal was n o t a good one, bu t simply th a t no one was ever able to p roduce any argum ent in favour o f it a t all. I f for some general reason o f national policy some uneconomic railways must be kept in being, then they should be kept in being by th e subsidy o f th e taxpayer and n o t o f their competitors. A Consumer’s Choice

I t should clearly be the policy o f a party th a t believes in consumer choice to allow th e consumer to choose fo r himself whether he uses ro ad o r rail. The policy was n o t to impose restrictions on the ro ad hauliers, b u t to remove them from th e railways. The prom ise th a t no road levy will be used to subsidize rail-losses and th a t the 25-mile lim it will be repealed by the end o f 1954, are welcome promises, as is also the prom ise o f a revised charges scheme which will, if it works, effectively free th e railways from th e obligations o f the common carrier. The details o f th e fu tu re reorganization o f the railways still await the results o f fu rther consultation. I t seems th a t a great many people are to be consulted before final decisions are taken, bu t now th a t there is a real chance th a t th is will prove to be the form o f tra n sp o r t organization fo r th is natio n for very many years to come, more haste might well be less speed, and it is fa r better to consult to o many people than, as has been done in th e past, to o few. Aid to the Voluntary Schools

The text o f the amending Bill to give some relief to the voluntary schools, foreshadowed in the Queen’s Speech, was published on Tuesday. I t follows very much th e lines anticipated in these columns a fo rtn ight ago, extending the definition o f the te rm “ displaced pupils” to cover th e meaning which i t was originally intended to have, and also making it possible for the Government to give grants to new schools n o t only when these are being specially built, b u t also when they a re being made by adapting existing buildings from some