THE TABLET, October 8th, 1955. VOL. 206, No. 6020

THE TABLET

Published as a Newspaper

A WEEKLY NEWSPAPER & REVIEW

Pro Ecclesia Dei, Pro Regina et Patria

FOUNDED IN 1840

OCTOBER 8th,. 1955

NINEPENCE

The Tax S tructure: Its Larger Social Consequences Egyptian Am b i t io n in Africa : Aspiring to Lead. By Wilfred Ryder Church and State in Russia: The New Phase. By Walter Kolarz Austrian A lonastic Libraries : After the Russian Withdrawal. By J. N. Hillgarth “H e H a th an A bstract” : Not-so-Brief Chronicles. By A. H. N. Green-Armytage Corbusier’s Church : Notre Dame du Haul at Ronchamp. By Roland Hill Saints and th e ir Sym bols : A new Handbook of Iconography B o o k s R e v i e w e d : The Whispering Gallery, by John Lehmann ; Hope or Despair, by A. M.

Carré, O.P. ; Morals Without Religion, by Margaret Knight ; Self-Portrait o f Youth, by G. W. Jordan and E. M. Fisher ; Village School, by “Miss Read” ; The Arabs, by Edward Atiyah ; Dates and Parties, by Christopher Sykes ; Come, Fill the Cup ! by Rosalind Wade ; Blossoming Rod, by Ann Stafford ; Summer Like a Stranger, by Dorothy Mackinder ; and No True Life, by Miriam BlancoFombona. • ^ Reviewed by Illtud Evans, O.P., Edward Quinn, A. C. F. Beales, M. D. Majèndie, J. C. Marsh-Edwards,

Alan Neame, John Biggs-Davison,. M.P., and M. Bellasis.

LIMITATIONS OF SQUEEZING T HE Conservative Party takes by tradition a kindly interest in the brewing trade ; a kindly interest which is reciprocated; and perhaps this led the Chancellor at the Mansion House to his metaphor about blowing the froth off the foaming tankard of current prosperity, and of making the brew itself rather stronger. But, like so many metaphors, if it was illuminating in one way it was confusing in another. It begged the question whether what will be blown off will, in fact, be all froth ; whether the credit squeeze would not be more accurately described as spilling some of the beer while leaving most of the froth.

the watch-dogs to see that the Government do not take the line of least resistance, which is to enforce all the contraction and consumption on companies and individuals who can be reached through the banks. Otherwise everything that is gained, often short-sightedly, where companies are refused facilities that would make them more efficient and productive a year or two hence, will be lost if the Government gives way or encourages its chartered bodies like the Transport Commission to give way to the wage-demands now piling up, where the money is wanted avowedly for immediate consumption, and to buy things like television sets, keeping at home too much of a manufacturing output which ought to go abroad.

Mr. Cameron Cobbold, the Governor of the Bank of England, followed the Chancellor, and said very pertinently :

“The proportion of the economy which is directly affected by credit policy through the banking systems, both as to investment and as to consumption spending, is much smaller than it used to be. With the enormous growth of the public sector, monetary action to restrict the borrowing and spending of individual firms and companies can be outweighed by the action of government and local authorities and the nationalized industries. Moreover, with the redistribution of income since before the war the immediate impact of credit policy on consumption spending is outweighed by the level of earnings and by fiscal policy.” What the Governor was pointing out to the Chancellor was that, highly important as the credit squeeze is, it must not be overloaded,'nor too much expected of it. Its main operation is only in one of three fields of expenditure. The other two, public expenditure and the consumption expenditure of the mass of the population who do not use banks, are together very much more important. We hope the Conservative back benches, when they hear what Mr. Butler proposes, will show themselves discriminating and independent, for they must be

The Government’s problem is largely one of convincing wage-earners to restrain their appetites and their impatience. It must convince them of the intimate relationship between British competitive efficiency in world trade, against German and other manufacturing countries, and the standard of living which can be enjoyed here, which is so largely the consumption of imported foods and raw materials.

The Government has also to meet the feeling that there is a great deal of money being made out of the current prosperity, and wide use should be made of the figures quoted by the chairman of the Stock Exchange, Sir JohnBraithwaite. Hetoldhow the whole of the securities qupted on the Stock Exchange were worth £33,800 million at the last valuation, on March 31st ; that, of these, gilt-edged securities were more than half, £18,500 million, and other fixed interest bearing stocks and shares £2,500 million, while ordinary shares were £12,800 million, 38 per cent, or rather less that two-fifths of the whole. Ordinary share values have since risen by 5 per cent, while the fixed and gilt-edged securities have dropped by 10 per cent, and so the total of Stock Exchange securities have to be valued at £1,500 million less than six months ago. Broadly speaking, when the ordinary shares go up under inflationary