Postblogging Technology, November, 1952, I: Everyone Likes (M)ike

R._C._,
The Mayflower,
Washington, D.C.

Dear Father:

If this letter gives you the sense that I am feeling a bit out of sorts for reasons that do not need to be spelled out, well, you are right to think that. I am told that all law students cannot wait to be done with third year, so I am normal, even if my situation definitely isn't, and if one more preppy Stanford man offers to open a door for me I shall --! I have shot men before! Several times! (Twice.)

Speaking of shots heard around the world, no-one is allowed to say anything about the hydrogen bomb test, which went ahead before the election --but why am I telling you this? You hear better Service rumours than I do! 

Speaking of rumours, I hear that Mr. Hoover has recently taken out subscriptions to Engineering, Fortune and The Economist. I wonder if he thinks that this is some kind of revenge on me? Shot men for less!

Your Loving (if exasperated!) Daughter,
Ronnie

The Economist, 1 November 1952

Leaders

"Labour After Battle" Someone said something about something so now the Labour Party has moved on to the next phase in its career of  never being the party The Economist will support. Two pages down!

"Shades of Himmler" And now the Tories! `No, wait, it's over to Germany, where General Ramcke has led a parade of Waffen SS veterans through the streets of Verden and gave an inflammatory speech Which goes to show that the West Germans better clean up their act or British public opinion will be very cross with them! 

"Comment and Defamation" A bill modernising British law on defamation and libel has passed second reading and will probably come into effect. The Economist is happy to see this private member's bill succeed, since it approves. 

"Western Stakes in North Africa" The "Arab-Asian bloc" has managed to secure a debate on French policy in Tunisia and Morocco, which will go forward after the Korean debate. The United States voted in favour, either by mistake or to line up the bloc in support of the American position on Korea. The Economist is upset, because Western interests in North Africa are far too important to be indulging all of this "needling." On the other hand, no needling doesn't mean that the French don't need to accept that they are going to have to withdraw from Morocco and Tunisia under the terms of the protectorate treaties soon, and that they have to tell French settlers there that they need to accept that.  Which the French don't seem interested in doing. 

Notes

"Peace and Honour" The Economist thinks that Acheson's speech to the General Assembly on Korea was not "uncompromising," but rather "fully justified." Also, it looks like General Naguib might negotiate independence for Sudan, so that's nice. The Conservatives did well in the recent byelections, the engineering and shipbuilding unions are still negotiating instead of striking, because exports are down and the motor industry is talking about unemployment. The House of Lords debate on the Kenyan emergency makes it satisfactorily clear that Kenya needs political reforms as well as more social welfare. France has now lost 30,000 men and 1500 officers in Indo China, a particularly heavy blow to the officer corps. The French are bitter, the war is increasingly unpopular, the French can't participate in western defence, and the French would like to see more help from their allies. The recent discovery of Malayan Communist directives calling for less terrorism and more fighting is just Communist divide-and-conquer tactics against the Western powers, and not some kind of olive branch. However, everyone is looking for the support from Overseas Chinese communities, nncluding the Koumintang, which is making a bid for their loyalties. State control of the iron and steel industries is somehow still a subject in Parliament, and so is local planning. Planning and proposals for the Central African Federation has reached the best part, working out administrative details. 

"Europe's Quest for Dollars" Europe wants more dollars but it is just silly to think they can earn them by a liberalising of American trade policy or by American investment in underdeveloped territories (which will, in turn, buy European capital goods with American dollars). Europe should probably think about "adjustments to the production and employment structures of most European countries" instead. Once continent-wide unemployment rates are back up over 10% again, no-one will be wasting their money on American wheat and tobacco! Also, M. Pinay's position is stronger than it looks because he magically stopped inflation a bit, European socialists are mincing about talking about European unity even though they are mean to the British delegates, and a committee has been struck under Lord Waverley (John Anderson's new name; Heavens these English are conflusing!) to look into controls on the exports of British artworks to America, which is buying them up at an unfair rate due to the dollar being so dear. 

Letters

L. O. Lynne and Michael Lubbock thinks that the UN needs to do more than just try to stop wars. The Economist is upset that they are implying that it doesn't think so. J. P. Wilson thinks that the state of vocational education in Britain isn't as bad as it is made out to be because the professional associations have specialised courses. J. D. B. Miller thinks that The Economist's articles about inflation in Australia boil down to the idea that Australians are lazy and need a good long depression to snap them out of it. He disagrees! Basil Davidson writes in defence of Simon Zukas and his friends.  Victor Farhi has problems with the magazine's new commodity price indicator's ability to show prices accurately. Douglas Hague corrects some details of the article about his study of development areas. 

American Survey

"Clouded Crystals" Eisenhower and the GOP have been leading Stevenson and the Democrats since the beginning of the campaign, are still leading, and the gap has barely narrowed. But because the press got it wrong in 1948, and more importantly because otherwise people` won't buy papers, The Economist needs to pretend that this is a horse race for another week. And control of Congress is still up in the air, so we can't look away, much as we'd like to, considering that, as the President points out, when we vote for Eisenhower, we get McCarran and McCarthy. Which makes the next article, on the New England races, all the more important since there is some chance of the Republican being upset in Massachusetts and vice versa in Rhode Island, while both Connecticut Senate seats are up because of a premature death. Benton, the imcumbent Democrat, has crossed  Joe McCarthy, so this is a test of McCarthy's influence, while Republican chances to gain the Senate as a whole might be stronger if Eisenhower carries the Presidency, which I think is a lock.   

American Notes

"White House via Korea?" Eisenhower's promise to "go to Korea" is seen as a political masterstroke, as opposed to McCarthy's last minute "exposure" of Governor Stevenson and interrogation of Paul Porter. So is Ike's promise to support high wages and fight a depression with every resource government has.

 

"Metals --Too Little and Too Much"     On the one hand, the British loan of 20,000 tons of aluminum has balanced American supplies. On the other, Defence Production Administration stockpiles of "Band One" metals are deemed adequate so there won't be an intervention to stop the price of these metals from falling on the reopened London Metals Exchange. 

"Gadgets for Politicians" Lots of gadgets in this year's election. Wasn't it funny when Hoover fell out of step with the teleprompter at the convention, and Eisenhower lost synchronisation with the TV broadcast? On the other hand, on-air talkathons, with candidates manning the telephones for up to 25 hours straight, have been something. Now both CBS and NBC will have electronic brains to forecast election outcomes on television. 

"War Between Textile States" and "A Kettle of Frozen Fish"  Southern states have lower minimum wages than New England, and this accounts for mills moving south, which  has New England irate. California tuna fishers want tariffs on imported frozen tuna from Japan and Peru, which is displacing California tuna at the canneries. Their prospects are not good, as the New England fisheries have previously been denied protection against foreign frozen cod and haddock. On the other hand, the city of Tacoma has been denied a hydroelectric dam on the Cowlitz because it would damage the fishery, so that's one win. The coal contract talks have been salvaged by the President's personal intervention, future televised congressional hearings might not be as entertaining as the Kefauver hearings, if an appeal to the Supreme Court by compelled witnesses goes through, and the Airport Commission recommendations on making airports safer is in. 

The World Overseas

Italy says that it cannot afford more rearmament. The magazine commits a full page to investigating Italy's finances and concludes that this is pretty much right, and then it is over to the "Special Correspondent" at "the Iron-Steel Headquarters," who has been told that there are to be no more articles about Jean Monnet stealing chairs, no matter how hilarious they are, and so resorts to asking the janitors questions to fill out the column. Averill Harriman's inquiry into the workings of the Battle Act has determined that it was breached three times last year: the first being that Danish tanker to the Soviet Union, the others being the Dutch sending thirteen grand in oil drilling equipment to Poland, and an Italian grinding machine that went to Rumania. It was then asked whether these violations of the Battle Act should lead to enforcement of the Battle Act under the declared goals of the Battle Act. The answer is, "Of course not," since if American trade and aid to these countries was stopped, they would just have to trade with the Communists more. It was therefore concluded that the real goal of the Act, to score cheap political points off "socialist" Europeans, had been fulfilled, and we should all just go back to sleep. The new hydroelectric work on the Rhone is an important contribution to meeting France's need for more electrical power generation and promises a new avenue for trade by the river as far as Geneva, at the expense of Genoa. In Soviet Central Asia, the Communists are fighting with Islam, but not much, and we shouldn't be looking for a "Tito or a Mao" from the region. 

"The West and Eastern Europe, II: American Propaganda for 'Liberation'" Since any American support for actual sabotage in Eastern Europe has to remain secret, we're left to look at its propaganda effort to promote unrest. Official State Department propaganda channels are extremely contentious. Is the solution more "private" propaganda? Perhaps not, because American based emigre groups are vulnerable to the accusation that they want to bring back the reactionary cliques and repressive Catholic hierarchies that blighted the region before the war. Our Indian Correspondent writes that the Indian Civil Service is (isn't? I'm not reading this blither!) serving very civilly these days. 

The Business World

Profits are down, a recession might be on the way, life insurance is getting cheaper.

Business Notes

The Economist reminds the incoming President, whoever he may be, that it's his fault if world trade isn't all that it could be. British industrial production is still depressed compared to where the government would like to see it. Sterling and guilder are both strong, with the unofficial exchange rate crossing parity with the dollar. Banking, banking, the alloy steel shortage is fading, as you would expect with depressed industrial production and the Bevanite turn in armaments production which is not to ever be associated with Ernest Bevan, who is wrong even when he is being right. A  crisis in the auto industry has led to the industry being allowed to sell cars domestically in Britain. Remember that Americans buying domestic cars is prosperity; Britons buying British cars is a disaster. The London Metals Exchange will start dealing in zinc next month, a recovery in British rayon production shows that the industry is over its  slump, a futures market in wool will open in London at about eh same time as zinc goes on the free market, Britain will loan more Canadian aluminum to America, as once again British supplies are ample due to the production shortfall. The Economist continues to be upset that the Government won't raise the price of coal. The Monopolies Commission is concerned that Burroughs Wellcome controls more than a third of insulin production in Britain. This is because the company has been researching insulin production, greatly increasing quantity and quality, and it is hard for other companies to get into the business, a common problem in the pharmaceutical industry which may still lead to people paying excessive prices. 

The Autumn Books Supplement

"The Public Duty of Economists," We gallop through the names of fourteen economist before setling on doing very short reviews of Wright on Capitalism, Lerrner on Employment, Gertrude Williams on The Economics of Everyday Life, and Hicks on The Social Framework, which are all worthy books, with Williams in particular "brilliant." which is mainly to educate the public on the dismal science. Alan Bullock's Hitler: A Study of Tyranny gets a separate review, while a collection of instant books on the American presidential candidates are rounded u. There's a new study of Lord Acton's from Gertrude Himmelfarb, a war story of the sea by Edward Young, One of Our Submarines, which is particularly relevant right now for no reason spelled out here. The Economist hated Evan John's Atlantic Impact, 1861, a pro-Confederacy account of the Trent affair. This is a trend that The Economist (me, too!) sees coming on in American affairs, and does not like. (And me!) Arthur Marder's edition of of the papers of Jackie Fisher (Boo! Hiss!) gets a review. So does Lewis Namier's In the Nazi Era,  which is, while we support anti-Nazism, just too anti-Nazi for reasons that hardly need mentioning it, because if we mentioned that Namier is Jewish, there would be an awkward silence. Lord MacMillan's autobiography, the latest from Arthur Koestler, the last from John Betjemin, an "unfortunate testament" from Harold Laski, Carleton Coon's contribution on the Middle East, Reginald Tunor on

The Smaller English House 1500--1939, novels and memoirs by Roger Lancelyn Green and Arthur Grimble, a look at "the future of American politics" from Samuel Lubell, a life of Viscount Milne, Lord Hervey's memoirs, Arturo Bara's "portrait of modern Spain," Willard Price's Amazing Amazon (the river, not a formidable lady!), a collection of poetry from the Duke of Montrose, Anabel Williams-Ellis on The Art of Being a Parent, and Hollingworth on the Arab League round out the featured reviews.

That is a lot of books! And I am a literary person! Is this not is where I boil the big publications of the big publishers down into some grand and overarching vision of where the world's mind is just exactly right now. Yes, it is, but only because I am going to lean on the crutch of politics, and read desperate attempts to review Himmelfarb on Acton unfavourably and find ways to undercut Bullock and Namier, even while the stench of death rises from the Marder, Coon and Koestler reviews. Truman was right. The conservatives keep trying to make their case, and keep falling back on racism and religion. Eisenhower will win in November, and perhaps the GOP will carry Congress, but the promise is to not do anything about all the conservatism he supports. The only other way to win Democratic votes is to lie and make light. Fisher was not secretly a kind and humble man, and there is  nothing charming in the idea of gaining insight about the Middle East from travelling about, calipers in hand. 

I'll say no more, lest I feel "indulged."  
. 
  

 

Leaders

"The Ready" The Economist has a piece about the deal to trade Brazil seventy Meteors for staples, mainly cotton, but Flight goes a bit deeper. There are many potential orders for British planes, but a shortage of money to pay for them. Brazilian Meteors is one thing. Germany is trying to buy two fleets of transports, one for internal use, and one for foreign, for Lufthansa, on very short notice. It is negotiating an American dollar loan from the Import/Export Bank, while KLM is taking a 6 1/2 year low interest loan from the World Bank to buy planes, guaranteed in part by the Dutch government and in part by an American private bank. Britain should step in the same way, Flight suggests, to win German and Swiss orders, taking advantage of the greater availability of sterling. 

"Basic Fighters" Folland Aircraft is flogging a "basic fighter" that will be cheaper and less complicated than the Hunter and Swift. Since lots of people are talking about how a basic fighter is just the thing, it will be interesting to see how it sells.

"Paving the Way: For Viscount Services, BEA's "Revenue Research" [used] Dart-Dakotas" There was a lot to learn about flying turboprops in commercial service, so BEA flew two Dakotas re-engined with Darts for about 1200 hours to find out more about fuel consumption, especially in low altitude services. 

From All Quarters reports official confirmation that the RAF is receiving 300 Canadair Sabres, paid for under the MDAP (which stands for "Shove US Dollars Out the Door To Stop Europe Going Communist" in a top-secret alternate alphabet). The Navy denies "National Press" reports that the Supermarine Attacker is a dog of a plane that can't shoot its guns without losing cabin pressure. The new SAAB 32 is a twin-seat attack fighter with an Avon engine. Air Commodore Vernon Brown is retiring as Deputy Chief Inspector of Accidents. 

"First Irish Canberra" They're building them at Short Belfast ahead of the first fifteen scheduled and possibly many more Comet 2 deliveries from the shiny, brand-new factory, which will hopefully employ another 5000 of the city's 40,000 unemployed once it gets going. And Henry Knowler has retired at Saro. 

Here and There Parliament is looking into how an American magazine managed to publish details of the still-secret Rolls-Royce Conway. (It's a "bypass" turbojet engine, but you didn't hear it from me!) The Dassault Mystere III is the first French plane to go faster than sound. A scuffle over a miG-15 that landed at Gatow and then took off again is reported. Some RAF ground crew tried to capture it by driving in front of it, and the airfield is looking at ways of making sure that it doesn't happen again, which  has Flight asking "Why?" You know why, you assholes. Sir Harry Garner is retiring as Chief Scientist, Ministry of Supply, to be replaced by Owen Wansbrough-Jones, who has promised, as all new Chief Scientists do, to finally crack the whole "transplant a criminal deviant's brain into a giant gorilla" problem during his tenure. Those Canberras on a goodwill mission in Latin America are down there, good-willing. Ferranti's chairman allows that they're working hard on that guided missile they can't talk about. De Havilland is starting up a third Comet production line, at the de Havilland plant in Chester. Westland made a profit, and we're selling Vampires to Finland, Sealands to East Bengal, and British Messier to Rotol. The US Navy is waiting for its first A3Ds.

"Can Airlines Use the Helicopter: Piasecki Executives on Present and Near-future Possibilities: Precis of a Talk Given to the National Aeronautical Meeting of the Society of Automotive Engineers at Los Angeles, 1st--4th October 1952 By Piasecki and L. S. Wigdortchik " "No, but if we snow them with enough charts and graphs, maybe they'll buy some before they realise their mistake!" The snowjob goes on for two pages, and, once again, I apologise in advance if some day there actually are helicopters on regular scheduled passenger services. I just don't see it happening because they are too slow, too loud, too dangerous, too expensive, and need too much heliport to satisfy all those fantasies about landing on roofs and such.

There's an article about how an old Dutch builder is returning to the business with a very pretty light plane, of which I am not sure we need another one, except that maybe it will be cheaper for Dutch buyers. Follows an even more out-of-place article on the history of the Bristol Fighter, a thirty year old fighter, which in aviation makes ancient history, even if it was in squadron service for fifteen years. 

"Light Fighters: A Note on Their Possibilities, Evolution: Folland Prototypes" People have been working on "light fighters" for years. The article is framed by pictures of forgotten types like the Blackburn Lincock and Mureaux 190. No-one has ever ordered one, but the Folland plane is sure to be the first!

"Blowing Hot and Cold: R. Ae. S. Lecture on Control of Pressurisation and De-icing Air: Precis of a Paper by Dr. E. W. Still" Dr. Still explains how air flow will be handled in Mach 2.0 airliners flying at 60,000ft. That's a lot, all around! Flight checks in with the new American flying boat craze, and tests on autorotation helicopter landings in water with the new Westland-Sikorsky, which will be operating over water regularly.

Civil Aviation reports on the SAS experiments with Arctic flying ahead of a New York-Stockholm service, Ambassadors flying to Stockholm, replacing Vickers Vikings, and the new rules for measuring minimum visibility for landings established by IATA after the 1949 Viking accident at London Airport. Speaking of accidents, Flight thinks that the "Rome mishap" is being blown out of proportion.

"Civil Aviation Debated Again" Labour critics are concerned that civil aircraft deliveries are not getting a high enough priority. Financial results were bad because load factors were falling, and that had to do with old and small planes. He is also upset that a private line is being allowed to undercut BOAC services to East Africa. A Conservative backbencher is worried about aircrew training. Other Labour members have problems with the charter lines. Conservative members, on the other hand, thought that the Corporations were undercutting the charters in freight services. 

Correspondence

F. W. Bowhill, L. V. R. Seeley, and John Gayland remember the DH4 from years ago, before the war. N. C. Collier and "Pedantica" are worried about hats. J. Lockwood Taylor and Gordon Field have theories about supersonic phenoma like "bangs." Lockwood Taylor is more reasonable, as you'd expect from the editor of Aircraft Engineering. They both tend to minimise the matter, and my worry is that they're both planes people. People who live around airports, on the other hand, are already up in arms over engine noise. Throw in regular "bangs," and the people selling supersonic airliners might just have a problem on their hands. 

  

    

The Economist, 8 November 1952

Leaders

"President Above Party" Americans have surprised the world by electing General Eisenhower, just like every opinion poll has been predicting ever since the start of the campaign. I know, I'm shocked, too! On the other hand, the GOP majority in Congress is the barest minimum in both House and Senate. BECAUSE NO-ONE LIKES THE REPUBLICAN PARTY! Clearly, the solution must be to get a new and better public. The Economist is also very disappointed with the President so far, and tells him to do a good job of selecting his Cabinet, or face the stern disapproval of Geoffrey and that poor summer student who writes all the Leaders for him from June to September. 

"Government Without Enterprise" The Queen was very elegant, but other than that the Queen's Speech was a disappointment. The Government continues to be slack and lazy and cannot get behind all those improvements in productivity and efficiency which are so necessary, while it keeps giving more ammunition to all the critics who (FALSELY!!!!) accuse it of being the party of the vest interest. Do better, Mr. Churchill, says Geoffrey, who seems to be having some kind of flareup down below. (The kinds of things that we women in the prime of our lives could talk about if anyone would just listen without giving you that disgusted look!)

"How Important is Korea?" The gist of it is that The Economist is worried that the Americans might give up too much to get peace in Korea, and that they should hang on and fight, since, after all, there are small numbers of Allies fighting alongside them.
 

"Third Try for Transport" The third draft of the bill to denationalise inland transport is better than the previous two, but that's not saying much, the magazine thinks. A final Leader looks at "Stalin's Moslem Empire," with an eye to the question of how much trouble the Russians might be in from the natives way out there. Some? Maybe?

Notes of the Week

Everyone agrees that everyone loves the Tories. Bevan's challenge to Morrison for the deputy leadership of the Parliamentary Labour Party is in trouble even as the Labour Party's policy position seems to be drifting to the left. NATO delegates are trying to meet the latest set of deadlines. The Mutual Security Agency  has pushed up the amount of dollars available to buy European arms in Europe for Europeans from $680 million to $730 million. There is much talk of standardisation. There's not much to say about the sixth congress of the Jugoslavian Communist Party, but since there must be words in proportion to its importance (which is high, because Communists not agreeing with other Communists shows that Communism is wrong), we get four paragraphs anyway. 

"The Fall in Production" Remember how, in 1947, Hugh Dalton compared Britain's internal prosperity and buoyant public finances with its chronically weak trade balance? Five years later, at the end of 1952, the decline in production is definitive almost 10% year over year and a decisive reversal of the postwar trend; but balanced by a return to a positive balance of trade. It is mysterious to see a 10% decline in production and a budget deficit, paired with growing currency, and especially gold reserves. The Opposition has been heard to suggest that this might be the tiniest indication that they were right all along. Others have pointed to tightened credit as the explanation, suggesting that "this and other measures against inflation ought to be relaxed." This, of course, is not true, since the only true prosperity is based on "sound money," and this decline in production is just something that happened, and is anyway no big deal since the world probably didn't want our stuff, anyway. 

Wage claims are down, eggs will be decontrolled next year, people are saying, and "the last convoy of cars from the British Embassy has crossed the Persian frontier," removing the only counterweight Persia has had against Communist influence except for the Americans, the Shah, the Islamic establishment, the landlords, the middle class --all in all, a "paper thin rampart" against the malign influence of Moscow.

The Arab League is upset at German compensation for Israel, The Economist would like to see some cheeseparing on provisions for wage security for dockers now that exports are declining, proposed, objectively anti-American amendments to the Visiting Forces Bill are silly, Indian demands that the French and Portuguese leave their Indian cessions are crass and reckless, and, really, we could stand to hear a bit less from that obnoxious Nehru fellow. There is trouble with schemes for compensating pharmacists under NHS, Nigerian political parties are explained, The Economist scolds German Nazi diehards for being Nazis. 

Letters

Bosworth Monck points out that French auto factories are more modern than British; H. Johon Tooby thinks that "protected motorways" are not worth the agricultural land they will cost. H. Meyer points out that British cars are better and cheaper than their European competition; it is just that the Dutch, Belgians and Swiss would rather buy German cars than British, for the inscrutable reasons so common amongst foreigners. J. D. Hislop explains the value of ultrasonic testing as against an article that must have been down on it, I conclude? Oh, Good Heavens, "Development Areas" again. 

Books

Francis Williams' biography of Ernest Bevin leads off. The Economist liked the book and it liked Ernest Bevin, except for the socialist part. E. L. Woodward and Rohan Butler edit the latest two volumes of Documents on British Foreign Policy, 1919--1939, for which I omit further bibliographic details, which the interested reader will just have to find for themselves. They cover April to June, 1939, and show that Britain did turn against Nazi Germany, just too late. Readings on Monetary Theory and The Workds of David Ricard, Volumes VI-IX are the magazine's beat, and need reviewing, even if I haven't much to say. R. B. McDowell has Public Opinion and Government Policy in Ireland, 1801--1916, exploring the development of British opinion as some kind of disaster wafted over Ireland for no particular reason in spite of all the well-meaning but mistaken British measures to prevent it. O. R. Gurney's The Hittites is a review of work in progress as we learn more about the enigmatic ancient civilisation. R. J. Cruikshank selects The Humour of Dickens. 

American Survey

"The General's Victory" The American office is  much more impressed with the President's victory than the London office, arguing that because young voters and women put the General over the top, he is the voice of a new generation. He is not! Richard Nixon is the voice of a new generation. A terrible generation that was hit on the head one too many times when they were young! My generation! Honestly, I blame the Depression.  

"College Invasion" With or without government support (some 3000 grants are available under the Mundt and Fullbright Acts), some 30,000 foreign students, graduate and undergraduate, will be studying in 13000 American institutions of higher learning this year. Canadians and Chinese lead the way, followed by Germans and Japanese. The average cost per student is $2500, and everything is going well except for the little matter of virulent racial prejudice embittering students of colour. 

American Notes

The election is such big news that we tell you about it again. The President took 431 electoral votes in 38 states, Governor Stevenson took 100 in 10 states in the Solid south. Eisenhower seems to have taken 31 million votes to the Governor's 25 million. We then look at the Congressional races again before concluding that national prosperity and the giddy promises of the MSA's green book, of "Point Four" investments everywhere, truly show that happy times are here again. (Everything is also going just great on the financial front with the Treasury/Federal Reserve agreement to prop up bond prices.)

"Revolts Behind Bars" . . . And then there are the twenty riots in state prisons so far this year. 

The World Overseas

"Building Up Indian Industry" Indian industrial development was neglected under British rule and the first five year plan, but things are improving now. At the Uno, the most acrimonious discussions are over and there is "rest for the West." The situation in Sudan is unfolding well. The series on Soviet Central Asia moves on to "Economic Planning in the Steppe" Central Asia has been slated for mainly agricultural development. Things have gone well in the south for the Tadjiks and Uzbeks, but most definitely not for Kazakhstan, where a third of the population disappeared during collecltivisation and Russian colonisation has gone ahead. Oh, and we've woken up from our dogmatic slumbers to notice a "Jugoslav Economic Crisis," mainly due to the summer drought, which has led to capital investment cuts. Indonesia is officially neutral to all the world, which is a less drastic way of saying it than The Economist chooses to do, with "Indonesia without Allies," whereas possibly all the other Southeast Asian countries joining a security alliance. (In which case, does Australia join?)

The Business World

"After Monte Bello" Finally --in Business-- a discussion of the nuclear test! Did the British bomb's "novel design" satisfy all the speculators? No, because it wasn't a hydrogen bomb. But it was "conspicuously successful." The next step is atomic power for submarines, aircraft and civilian power plants, and these more ambitious schemes help explain the Labour Government's "quiet" spending of £100 million on atomic matters in 1945--51, the number that so surprised Churchill when he returned to office. (I have no idea why considering how notoriously expensive the Manhattan Project was.) The process of making atomic bombs is briefly explained, and then we are told that Britain isn't making nearly enough plutonium for all these ambitious schemes, and that the solution is to drag in private enterprise on a massive scale, as is being done in America.

"The Gold Surplus" It's not nearly big enough. We are very disappointed!

Business Notes

Ike's victory has not sent the stock markets in any obviously marked direction. Steel bill blah blah! Transport bond issue to cover the costs of nationalisation (as we proceed with denationalisation) blah blah! Transport costs to go up? A barter deal trading jet fighters for cotton due to Brazilian foreign exchange shortfalls? IMF blah blah. Britain is "fairly certain not to suffer a fuel crisis this winter."

"D-Day for Furniture" New standards drafted by the British Standards Association will allow the industry to dispense with the Utility Scheme for furniture, ending the "D" scheme and higher tax rates for non-Utility furniture. The recovery in textiles continues, the government lead surplus is to be sold, wool prices are stable, the strike in the Rhodesian copper fields continues. 

"Softwood and Hard Currency" The problems with timber are that it is not a re-exported commodity, and that most softwood is grown in hard currency countries. Canada is the only Commonwealth country that exports softwood, and it is only partially in the sterling zone. The situation has improved to the point where the government can abandon government buying, but licensing will be strictly enforced to prevent excessive hard currency expenditures on imported softwood. Titanium is a very promising material, American "self-serve" shopping promises considerable increases in that most valuable of all things, efficiency. Butter production is falling. A joint committee of cost accountants and engineers agrees that Britain needs more, better trained, engineers and cost accountants. The Federation of British Industries is promoting scholarships for Latin American students to improve business ties. The last remaining controls on the cotton industry have been relaxed. 

Leaders

"Hushing the Helicopter" Noise is bad, says Flight. We really have to do something about it, and as loud as helicopters are, silencing their engines would probably be easier than silencing modern airliners, with their close-cowled installations. That said, they're batteringly loud and draining in Korea. And that's just the current helicopters. Ramjet helicopters are so "shatteringly" loud that Flight doubts that they are feasible at all.

From All Quarters reports that the Canberra goodwill tour in South America continues, that Fairey Gannets are burning diesel fuel in fleet service. The Army and Air Attaches in Washington are being withdrawn to save dollars, and other dollar countries, mainly in South America, may be next. Flight thinks that Victory at Sea, now running on the BBC, is amazing. Rumours are that Union Aeromaritime de Transports is taking up its option on two more Comets. September aircraftd exports are down just a bit. Solar Aircraft is doing big business with its small MA-1 auxiliary gas turbine, where it provides electrical power on the ground and as an emergency auxiliary in the air. 

Here and There reports that the RCAF is sending over the crews for its upcoming Jet Transport Flight for Comet training. The Mystere III is said to have made 683mph at 65ft, right ahead of a rumoured 250 plane offshore order. An RAAF Dakota carrying four members of the Commonwealth Industrial Research Organisation is reported lost at sea fifty miles off Sydney after going to observe a tropical rainstorm as part of rainmaking research. The Japanese are working on a light gas turbine engine and a jet aircraft that might come along in five years or so. GEC is doing guided missile work at Woomera. A Russian aircraft has been escorted out of Japanese territory by two Thunderjets, which is important because they didn't shoot it down, like the Russians shot down that B-29. 

"The Technician's Dilemma: A Career in the Aircraft Industry, Or. . . ?" J. H. W. W. explains that British engineers might be more willing to stay with British aircraft firms if there was more potential for promotion into management. 

"Up, Down and Out: Development and Operation of the Martin-Baker Ejection Seat" An interesting article (actually, two), about the development and testing of the ejection seats that make jet flying so much safer, and Air Force (and Navy!) wives so much happier. It's a precise of a presentation at Wright Field, but I decided not to write that out. `

A filler page features a handy elastic cord "navigator" template to clamp over the map in an aircraft cabin, which keeps track of a preset course, and a report of a note in the staff organ of the "Pearl Assurance Corporation" that reflects back on WWI Royal Artillery days, when the men used to speculate about combining the slower-than-sound 4.5" howitzer with the faster-than-sound 18 gun with an intermediate weapon using multiple charges to get either the low velocity, high trajectory howitzer effect or the high velocity, low trajectory gun effect. The argument against it was that the intermediate shell, fired at  the speed of sound, was useless because it would be unstable due to transonic effects. That proved to be untrue, gun-howitzers were used in WWII, and supersonic fighters will probably be fine now. 

Neither of these stories are anything much, but they do shed some light on what British fliers (and artillerists turned insurance men) are thinking!

"Aircraft Intelligence" The Sea Balliol is flying, the Saro Princesses have civil registration numbers, the Republic F-84F may get the GE J73 instead of the Wright J65, which is taking forever. The Martin SeaMaster is definitely going to be ordered, so much for a whole year of Reggie's career. The new Convair superbomber will be a 700mph thin-winged delta, which pleases the British, who think they have some kind of patent on the idea. The French are fiddling with the Hercules-powered Nord 2501 transport, the Fouga CM-170R twin-jet trainer, and the Leduc O-21 ramjet prototype. The Fouga is getting a conventional tail after the first prototype crashed, killing two. 

Flight checks in with aeronautical research in Sweden and jet engine manufacture in Canada. Neither has much to say, although the Swedes are building their own electronic calculator for aerodynamic work.

Correspondence 

J. M. Bruce recalls a prototype delta "dart" plane from 1909, which was years ago, before the war. A. H. Hammond makes fun of another letter writer's "flying saucer" helicopter. E. G. Riddle remembers early guided missiles from years ago, before the war. P. H. T. Green remembers --Oh, for Heaven's sake, readership. Write about something besides nostalgia and assorted auxiliary corps being done wrong! 

Civil Aviation has a summary of discussions of civil helicopters, and a statement by the Brazilian Air Minister to the effect that it is so hard to get spare parts for DC-3s that they are either going to start making them in Brazil or even possibly buying new(er) planes. Bristol is in talks with BOAC to sell it five Bristol Britannias, but purely as freighters. The Air Ministry is firing up FIDO to clear its pipes, although a couple of planes will land and takeoff during the burn period, just for trials. BOAC wonders if braking parachutes might be in order for jet transports, in case runways are iced over. The prototype Viscount is out and about, new details of the Canadair CL-121 twin-engined transport are available, and Australia''s Labour opposition is upset that the National government is giving Australian National Airlines a loan guarantee to buy 6 Viscounts. 

Fortune's Business Roundup reports that output is up to a postwar peak thanks to a moderate incrase in exports after a sharp drop, but softening prices suggest waning confidence in the boom, even if it is not clear what figures signal a downturn. TV and appliance output is up. Inventories are up, and exports can expect to continue to be weak, because the world is holding onto its dollars, wary of another current account balance disaster. Canada is piling up dollars, as a flood of investment can't be fully absorbed by the Canadian economy. Japan's surplus is due to supplying the Korean War. Elsewhere, it is due to the runup in commodity prices. There is also the matter of how much more US exports the world can absorb. American farm exports are unlikely to increase further, and the industrial powers of the world are either coming back from the war, as with Japan and Germany, or continuing their own expansions, as in Britain. I guess it is all up to the American consumer! 

Fortune's Wheel tells us that Fortune subscribers are pretty well off, with $27,000 houses(!), two cars, 3.8 guests a weekend, spent $1300 on entertainment, travelled widely, including outside the country 2.2 times in the last year. Houses have televisions, freezers, air-conditioning units, tennis courts and swimming pools, and possibly an electric range, since Fortune subscribers don't go into the kitchen. They are also likely to  own an airplane and a sailboat, although I'm guessing they don't keep those at home. 89% are married with children, and they have $63,000 in retirement securities and $36,000 in life insurance. No mention of income, though!

Products and Processes lets us into the work of a Kansas City engineering firm that specialises in keeping old oil wells producing, new wood, paper, glue, cotton-seed, and multipurpose machine tools. ITE Circuit Breakers has a big, rugged, mechanical rectifier, and Ocean Van Line of Seattle has developed a 25 ton aluminum cargo box that speeds delivery of perishables to Alaska. The whole box slides right off the back of a truck onto dockside, and can be loaded by crane onto a ship's deck, and from there to other trucks or railcars in Alaska. Refrigeration units are also available, with a range of -10 to 66 degrees Fahrenheit. Magnavision has an inspection and assembly tool tha is basically a mounted magnifying lens, Anacortes Veneer has another new wood product, Steels Engineering a mobile cargo crane, Murty Brothers of Portland a flat-top truck with a side cab (looks a bit impractical to me from a parking point of view), a process for mass-producing aluminum tubing, portable, adjustable loading ramps, a flexible farm gate, automatic nailing machines, a bedroom interior from National Homes, a tiny bulldozer, a pneumatic metal shear, and oil storage tanks made out of Fiberglas, 

 

It's not just The Economist that's telling President Ike what to do! Fortune says that his "urgent job" is to put world trade right by restoring currency convertibility. And, since it was a Truman Administration screw-up, it is willing to admit that the current situation in Bolivia with the "totalitarian' MNR movement nationalising the tin mines, is our (Americans') fault for playing games with tin exports. By denying Bolivia tin revenues for months, we pretty much set ourselves up for a backlash. Evenmore controversially, E. B. Weise explains that the popularity of self-service sales "robots" shows that it is, and probably always was, futile to train salespeople to sell. Fortune also takes aim at the FCC. Then it is off to the Congo, which is apparently "in business." (Newsweek is going to have some choice things to say about African colonies being in business next time. More like, "ready for a race war"! Which is a pity, because Africa could stand some investment. If only it didn't come with white bosses. )

"Packard's Road Back" would be more convincing if it didn't come out the same week that Packard advertising is everywhere. While I bet Fortune's price is a lot higher than Aviation Week, I doubt it is immune to the tempting sweetness of advertorial money. 

There is an entire article on late-opening stores, "Shopping after dark," which is interesting, I guess, and even has a slightly technological angle (light fixtures!), followed by one on Prudential Boston, which is gambling on something or other. As, you know, insurance companies are always doing. 

This month's actual technology article is "The Plastic Forming of Metals," which discusses formdrawing (a way of getting rid of dies for some tooling processes), and hot and cold extrusion processes.