The Wilson Touch
Nothing which has happened since the Chancellor of the Exchequer presented the Budget last Wednesday has altered the basic truth that, given the Government's plans for spending money, this was the only way of raising it. The first spontaneous protest in the Labour Party was quite irrational. There is only one way to provide these colossal sums and that is to work harder and save more, and even these heroic measures will not make success certain. If the Opposition really wants to reduce the burden of taxation, then it must be quite specific about its proposals for reducing expenditure. Sir Stafford Cripps, having refused to entertain the possibility of cuts in social services or of a really drastic reduction in food subsidies, could only go on to enumerate the efforts which the Government's policy entailed. It was left to Mr. Harold Wilson to invest those efforts with the aura of romance. The President of the Board of Trade— that fine source of the spirit of adventure—called upon merchants, manufacturers and exporters to respond to " one of the greatest chal- lenges in all our history to the merchant adventuring spirit of our traders." He immediately added that how they set about it was their affair and that " The Government's role in this field is obviously an indirect one." Had Drake or Nelson had the advantages of wireless communications and a chair in the Admiralty, it is doubtful whether they could have issued such a call to action. Yet the chances are that the effort will be made. It is even possible, such is the absorptive capacity of the American market, that the necessary dollars will be earned. But not until the expenditure of the Government is reduced will merchants, manufacturers or any other kinds of producers leap the rewards of the spirit of adventure.
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