Naked Nation

Economic Boss Sir Stafford Cripps, more than any of his cabinet colleagues, believes in frankly telling Britons what they face. Last week his White Paper (Economic Survey for 1948) gave them the blackest news yet. Even with Marshall Plan aid, said his report, Britons' standard of living at year's end will be "appreciably, but not disastrously" lower than last year's. Without such aid, Britain would be flat broke (in terms of dollars). Food rations would have to be cut to near-starvation levels. Imports of raw materials would have to be slashed, causing mass unemployment. Britain's whole industrial machine would begin to run down.

Hidden away in the 62 closely printed pages were hints that the machine, which Britain has been running at top speed since war's end, was already missing on a few cylinders. Last year Cripps set the export target for the end of 1948 at 160% of prewar level. Last week, it was cut to 150%. There was simply no likelihood that the higher one could be reached.

"Two lessons stand out . . . apart from Britain's nakedness," said the London Times. "The first and most important is the utter dependence of the Old World upon the New. The second ... is the decisive necessity for the European Recovery Program. . . ."

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