THE TABLET, December 26th, 1953 VOL. 202, No. 5927

THE TABLET A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Published as a Newspaper

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FO U N D E D IN 1840

D E C EM B E R 2 6 th , 1953

N IN E P E N C E

N a t l i m V l d e t e : Christmas and the Age o f Science. By T. S. Gregory

Early N a t iv ity Traditions: From an old Irish Manuscript. By J. C. Marsh-Edwards

In D u lc e J u b i l o : A Page o f Verse for Christmas

Three Letters o f G.K.C. : To Maurice Baring Thirty Years Ago

Chaucer and th e World: This and the Next. By Christopher Hollis

Books R ev iew ed : Cardinal Gasquet, by Sir Shane Leslie ; Emily Bronte, by M. Spark and

D. Stanford ; Ballades and Other Verse, by H. S. Mackintosh ; William Herschel, by J. B. Sidgwick ; The Scythe in the Apple Tree, by C. Henry Warren ; The Happiest Days o f My Life, by S. P. B. Mais ; The Channel Islands, by W. D. Hooke ; Welsh Legends and Fairy Lore, by D. Parry-Jones ; Oriental Splendour, edited by Herbert van Thai ; The Boy from Greece, by James Kinross ; English Fairs and Markets, by William Addison ; The Rebel, by Albert Camus ; The Two Heroines o f Plumpington, by Anthony Trollope ; and Phoenix Fled, by Attia Hosain. Reviewed by Nigel Abercrombie, M. Bellasis, Peter Railing, P. E. Hodgson, E. W. Martin, Aubrey Noakes,

Edith Renouf, llltud Evans, O.P., Sir Rupert Hay, John M. Todd, Richard Butcher, Lance Wright and Mgr. R. A. Knox. A Latin Crossword Competition and a Chess Competition.

ACROSS FRONTIERS

W HATEVER sharp language Mr. Dulles may use upon occasion, there is no doubt about the steady outflow of practical American aid to the poorer countries o f th e world. This is a rem arkable spectacle, and it shows how far the special character o f the post-w ar years has led the Americans to the conclusions which were always being offered them after 1918, th a t if you are a creditor nation you must either buy o r give o r invest. Next year we shall enter a new phase, in which American investment, with Government encouragement and auspices, will become more and more prom inent : and perhaps the American Government will be able to devise ways o f allaying the very natural nervousness which so many Governments create, when they make it quite plain th a t if a valuable asset is established on their soil they will make no bones about appropriating it, bu t will pride themselves on the righteousness o f their action. The great stum bling block to ordinary private investment, in countries which so greatly need it, may be obviated by the use o f the United Nations o r o f o ther institutions which will be able to p ro tec t the foreign investor w ithout injuring the dignity o f the Government concerned, bu t will have u ltim ate means o f retaliation fo r high-handed confiscations o r blocking o f transfers.

Mr. Stassen, the head o f this side o f the Republican Administration’s work, is also reported to be planning ways by which foreign countries can buy American food and goods w ithout having to acquire dollars. The American Government will take this foreign currency from the American seller and use it, perhaps for investment, in the country from which it comes. A very few years ago no one would have believed that this would ever be the language o f a Republican Administration. But today the Republicans in general take a world view, and are in many ways more practical about it than their Democratic predecessors. The difference might be summed up by saying th a t they seem more conscious th a t Governments a re no t everything, nor inter-governm ental relations. They are less inclined to take politicians a t their own face value as the embodiment o f their peoples’ aspirations, and are more conscious o f the private individual seeking an outlet for his energies, with a hunger for the opportunities th a t invested capital can bring.

Much will depend, when American investm ent replaces direct aid, on the extent to which it is used fo r agriculture ra th e r than for industry. Every new country today measures itself and its self-respect by its factories, particularly for heavy industry ; perhaps with ideas o f military self-sufficiency which, if they are entertained, belong already to the past. What the world needs, and will need more, is agricultural advance, to keep pace with the growth o f population, chiefly in Asia. Perhaps the possibility o f buying American m anufactured goods w ithout having to have dollars will stop various kinds o f factories from going up a t all. Such factories lead naturally to demands for protection and tariffs, whereas these new nations all desperately need to have the feeling th a t was so widely taken fo r granted in the last century, and is lost in this, that, while their politics are domestic, in their economic life they are p a r t o f a much wider society, carrying much greater hopes th an they can do alone. I f ever the state o f the world preached this tru th , it does today; and it may