M. Pinay's Second Round
The economic task for his Government which M. Pinay out- lined in his speech at Caen last Sunday was one which could hardly be within that Government's exclusive control. The French Prime Minister can promise not to raise taxes, not to devalue the franc and not to relax the effort to push down prices, and—such are his determination and past ' success— the French people can have reasonable confidence that he will keep his promise. But it is another thing- to say that inflation must cease and that the present national effort must be main- tained. The first three items are policy, but the last two are aspiration. No French Government has yet succeeded in keeping the general price level in control or getting just that amount and kind of effort from the people that the situation demands. M. Pinay's success so far in the economic field has been remarkable and he deserves every credit for it. But he will need to produce a few new tricks if he is to keep it up. That is not to say that he has yet squeezed every possible ounce of result out of the old ones. When he links the Government's new housing and agricultural development plans with the encouragement of savings he is doing more than merely attempting to repeat his first great success in coaxing the French people's money out from under the bed. He is found- ing his capital projects on the rock of present abstinence instead of on the sand of Government over-spending. And when he talks of agricultural prosperity not in terms of subsidised selling prices but in terms of reductions in costs he is still keeping his feet firmly on the ground. But he is not quite doing that when he speaks of stopping inflation and keeping taxes down and at the same time further developing the welfare services. He may have in mind some balancing cuts in Government expenditure. He may know of some more reliable means for getting prices down other than that of forcing them down by legal measures. But on that We must wait for further details.
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