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Show I DAILY Exrncss I I 1 More than4,000,000 sale every day THf EMPIRE MUST COME FIRST IN' a happy hour for the! Eiiipii-c, the Common-j weuith Conference meets1 in London. Good will abounds. And the opportunities oppor-tunities are great. But they have been equally great before. And; little has been done toj bring nearer the united economic Empire. It remains only a eommon-.sen.se eommon-.sen.se dream haunting a few men of vision and failing to Imprint itself decisively on the minds of: politicians. A false belief lVI'.U since thp war , J ended, the leaders of the Commonwealth have based their trarlincr noliciesi on the belief, or the pretence, that the United States was going to take up free trade. For this reason the trading structure of the Empire was neglected. GATT was accepted, barring the way to any extension of Imperial Preference. For It was felt that nothing must be done which would discourage the Americans from opening up their market to Britain's goods. When the last Commonwealth Common-wealth .meeting took place in November 1952 the obstinate illusion still prevailed that the United States was willing to lower her tariff walls. Their purpose ryil-IAT Illusion can ' no x longer be held. The Americans will continue to give full protection to their own people. They have made their purpose perfectly clear. Indeed, there is every reason to believe that if the Republicans are confirmed and strengthened In the 1954 elections, they will increase tariffs. Certainly there is not the slightest hope of a rpriiicr.ion of rnrifTc: Eisenhower's dilemma A LX. that can be expected of Mr. Eisenhower is that he may be able to hold the present line. And that is something which he can achieve only if he makes a working coalition with the Democrats in Congress an expedient which the President is desperately seeking to avoid. For he realises that, if it came about, the Democrats would say in the next election campaign: "You had better vote for us, you Republicans, for we hold the bag for Mr. Eisenhower Eisen-hower ! " This is our duty rFHE wise mah who looks -1- at the American political situation realises that lower tariffs are Impossible a nd higher tariffs are a possibility. But he does not complain. The Americans have a perfect right to protect their own people as they see fit. And the Commonwealth has a plain duty to follow America's example In creating vast realms of trade and prosperity for the benefit of all its peoples. B.B.C. TRIUMPH fPHE achievements of the B.B.C. in Coronation Week are immense and glorious. Unstinted praise and gratitude are due lo Sir Ian Jacob, the director-general, director-general, and to all who worked with him. The triumph will bolster the cause of all those who uphold the B.B.C. against competition. ; The champions or Government monopoly will point to the unimpeachable good taste of Tuesday's performances, per-formances, to the praise which pours in from all sides. They will say that as soon a.s sponsored TV is Introduced the good taste will disappear, that it will be replaced by sordid sensationalism. Is there any reason to believe that such arguments argu-ments are well founded ? No reason at all. Be sure that the achievements of the B.B.C. on Tuesday would have been more pronounced pro-nounced still if there had been some competition, TALKING POINT Wlint U slander? A verdict of guilty pronounced in the. nhsevre of the recused. Joseph Roux. |
