Postblogging Technology, July 1953, I: Calm Morning

R_.C_.,
Oriental Club,
London,
England




Dear Father:

I feel like one of those insufferable country correspondents prattling on about the seasonal delights of some place with an insufferably English name, except that "Nakusp" is insufferably Canadian, instead. Oh, right! My point! Stuffed fresh rainbow trout. With green beans. And a sour cherry confit. I'm in Heaven. And "eating for two." 

Is it just me, or has Fortune finally discovered the "Baby Boom?" At some point in the near future, if we're not to have an atom war after all, and perhaps no war at all, perhaps we could have some advertisements directed at the people doing the booming? 

Uncle George now tells Reggie that there is no chance of the Korean War dragging on. The famine in China is real, and Party and collectivisation aside, it's the war, he says, or my husband says he says. The idea of Chinese troops intervening in Indo China right now is out, says Uncle George, but so is the idea of Ho settling for anything short of complete independence. I know you've already heard this from the same sources, and if you could supply me some assurance that my husband won't be fighting a war in Indo China next, that would be great. Thanks! 

Your Loving Daughter,

Ronnie

 

The Economist, 4 July 1953

Leaders

"Distributing the Load" Sir Winston Churchill's medically enforced rest means no more Big Three summit, is the thought to occur to me, but The Economist is much more worried about the vacuum at the top in London, especially with Eden also out for health reasons. How quickly can we expect a 78-year-old to return to work,and how long before this happens the next time? The Economist suggests that Churchill appoint a Foreign Secretary, perhaps the current acting Secretary. Then we won't need the dotard at all! By the way, it turns out that the current acting Foreign Secretary is Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, the Fifth Marquess of Salisbury, not to be confused with his grandfather, who was the prime minister in the 1880s, or various other figures out of ancient history. Milord Gascoyne-Cecil doesn't just rest on inherited glory. Who's Who says that he is a former Director of the Commission on Historical Documents. It really is a cabinet of the talents! 

"Lessons from Mr. Rhee" If Syngman Rhee ruined the Korean peace, it's all his fault. I knew that, but I didn't waste  a page-and-a-half saying it! 

"Italy and Its Allies" As of this writing, Italy's only ally with a government is the United States, and we're stuck with Eisenhower and Dulles. Which makes it all the more worrying that de Gasperi barely missed being defeated in the recent election. Then everyone would have had to DO SOMETHING, and there's no-one about to do anything! Italian voters really should be more responsible and not vote for Fascists and Communists as much. But also Churchill and Claire Booth Luce need to learn to keep their traps shut. Probably a United States of Europe wold fix all this.

The final Leader is a meditation on how the London Coming Out season isn't what it  used to be, mainly because the upper class hasn't the money these days. 

Notes of the Week

"Washington and Bermuda" Now that the Bermuda summit has been postponed, let's rearrange the chairs, starting with the upcoming preparatory Washington meeting between Bidault, Dulles and Lord Salisbury. 

"M. Laniel the Concierge" France has a right of centre government at a left-of-centre moment. Laniel will seek peace in Indo China "within the framework of the Korean talks," and has put a Radical in at Finance, and he has brought three ex-Gaullists into his ministry. Taken together, it looks like a caretaker government that will get nothing done. 

Moscow is denying that there will be a devaluation of the ruble, the Government did well in the Abingdon by-election, Parliament has completed the government's program and can recess, there is probably going to be a new round of wage increase demands in the fall, the East German leadership is touring factories apologising, China is in the grip of a famine, Hong Kong is happy about the idea of a Korean truce but increasingly worried about American scrutiny of its China trade, the Commons is having a debate over whether the Government has rushed school building enough to keep up with the building of new estates, butchers are upset that the Ministry of Food expects them to sell surplus mutton and fat pork to clear out the supply in excess of the meat ration, which goes to show the drawbacks of planning, there are to be reorganisations at finance as some senior officials resign, while the Ministries of Pensions and National Insurance will merge, and there has been "political progress" in Turkey. 

"Getting the KMT Out of Burma" The Americans have been meeting with Nationalist China, Burma and Siam in Bangkok to discuss the withdrawal of KMT troops from Burma, either by air or road to Siam and then on to Formosa. The negotiations are running into snags, but at least there are negotiations, so that's progress! 

"Money for the Colonies" The Cabinet has scrounged up £140 million for next year, which should be plenty for the Empire on which the sun never sets. Also, we're evidently worrying that the New Towns aren't coming along fast enough, and the Christie murder trial isn't just as sensational as all get out, it might be turning up a miscarriage of justice. It looks like Christie committed the murders that Timothy Evans hanged for in 1950, which goes to show that when you hang someone, you can't come back and say, "Oops, sorry, it turns out that our star witness was actually a pervert killer, and it was he who actually killed your family. Can we offer you something to make up for the inconvenience. Half off on your next murder? 

By Walter Stoneman - Original publication: UnknownImmediate source:
https://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/portrait/mw110623/
Sir-Kenneth-Gilmour-Younger?LinkID=mp71558&search=sas&s
Text=Kenneth+Younger&role=sit&rNo=0,
Fair use, https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?curid=65632657

The Economist of 1853 has tart comment on the Report of the Superintendent of the Census on houses in America, which takes its inspiration from some recent British publications by the Registrar-General. American houses are more equal than British, and pretty nice except for the squalid ones occupied by immigrants. The magazine goes on to point out that British houses aren't that unequal, because they couldn't be more unequal unless the poor were poorer and the rich richer, which at this point is just about impossible.  

Letters

Kenneth Younger accuses The Economist of being in favour of Germany's western alliance mainly to avoid a leftwing government in Germany. Edwin de Gray Seaman points out that the issue with marketing fat stock  has mainly to do with adequately grading imports so that butchers know what they're getting. John Jenney of Washington points out that The Economist is being mean to Eisenhower, which makes it just another pinko rag, and England better shape up and get a bit more fascist itself, if it knows what's good for it. 

Books

D. E. Butler's The Electoral System in Britain, 1918--1951 explains why the British electoral system has been so uncontroversial for the last thirty years. It is because everyone is so happy with it! Except Liberals and everyone who was so rightly offended when Labour got rid of the university seats in 1948. Also, he points out that electoral reform is usually done on a partisan basis, so that's interesting, that is. Sir John Craig has The Mint: A History of the London Mint from AD 287 to 1948, while A. D. Mackenzie has The Bank of England Note: A History of Its Printing. I didn't even know there was a London mint in 287. (Good old Funk and Wagnells tells me that there was an usurper separatist emperor in charge; I suppose he needed some walking around money.) I also learned that when mechanisation was first introduced in 1665, the mint had a press that turned out 20 coins a minute, but nowadays in modern times we have one that does 100. And they say we should go back to the gold standard! Printing an "inimitable note" seems like it would be an even more involved technical subject, but there is no attempt in the review to get i nto it o r make it interesting.  Speaking of, we have Michael Robbin's Middlesex, which is subtitled "London's Doorstep," and not anything else. Because what else could a respectable young lady even say? It is a very well illustrated and pleasing book, but it is not the book the reviewer would have written, so it is terrible. Frances Armytage explains The Free Port System in the British West Indies, which is the system where the British basically made smuggling to South America from West Indies ports legal from 1766 to 1821 and pretty much ruined everything. M. L. Pearl has a "bibliographical account" of William Cobbett that is hard to make much sense of. William Rappard's Varia Politica is a collection of his writings on the occasion of his 70th birthday and makes a fine tribute to that great and distinguished scholar. Who? Why, the author of Switzerland in the Organisation of Europe, of course! Kylie Tennant's Australia: Her Story, explains how there could be a country the size of an entire continent that produces ladies named "Kylie." 

American Survey

"Breaking Mr. Reed" A great deal of legislation is going to expire when Congress rises, as usual. Because it is usual, we can't entirely blame the President for not somehow using his enormous popularity with the voters to persuade Congress to pass this and that, but one thing that is going to pass is the six month extension of the Excess Profits Tax, so necessary to hold the deficit under $5.6 billion. It nearly didn't, because the Chair of the House Ways and Means Committee, Daniel Reed of New York, did his best to obstruct it, showing just how much power that particular committee chair has, and how much power Congressional committees have, and how unfair it is that one member from upstate New York can nearly derail a popular President's budget plans. Maybe something will be done!

"Frozen Asset" A Special Correspondent has read a five-year-old Fortune article about the rise of frozen food and home freezers, and wonders if The Economist would like to rerun it during the dog days of summer. And it would! We learn about Clarence Birdseye and locker clubs and deep freezers, but along the way we can't completely escape new information, such as the package engineers still struggling with a way of showing that a product has thawed and refrozen, and the fact that Americans can now buy fried eggplant, whipped and puffed potatoes, pizzas, blintzes, and eggs "Fu Yong" in the frozen section beside frozen fried potatoes (which Our Special Correspondent absolutely loves to pieces) and frozen chicken pies, which is what he's going to be living on for a few weeks if he so much as implies that quick frozen fries are better than his wife's. Even if they are. Stupid deep fry kettle. Supposedly the local potatoes are much better than store bought. However . . .  [Ronnie looks innocently across the lake, whistles a distracted tune.]

American Notes

"More Room For Credit" So now the federal deficit is $9.4 billion, "the most it has ever been in peacetime, and more than had been forecast even recently." On the bright side, the inflationary impact of all this money is expected to be countered by all that deflation we can now admit is happening, which is why the Federal Reserve has stopped squeezing consumer and business credit. Also the President's move to increase the authority of the Secretary of Defence is raising some concerns along partisan lines but is seen as a reaction to General Vandenberg's retirement speeches against the air force cuts. 

"New Men for Old Jobs" Tom Lyon was so disappointed that John L. Lewis didn't bother explaining why he was an unacceptable choice to direct the Bureau of Mines that he stood in for the lion of the CIO at his own confirmation hearings, explaining that he had no intention of giving up his enormous Anaconda Copper pension that the company can revoke at any time, that he thought that mining safety law was a bunch of baloney. And now "shocked friends" are telling him to withdraw his candidacy. Seriously, The Economist asks, how did this candidacy get advanced in the first place? Is there anyone awake at the White House? (Trick question: The answer is "no.") Meanwhile, Lewis Strauss has been advanced mainly because he  has promised not to share our atomic secrets with our allies, and Paul Nitze has not even been nominated for his agonisingly mid-level but confirmation-requiring assistant Secretaryship at Defence because Joe McCarthy has promised to treat him like Bohlen. On the bright side, the President's hiring policies seem to have opened up several thousand positions for good Republicans, so there is that. 

"The Postman Knocks Again" The new Postmaster General wants to eliminate the Post Office's deficit, and can't, because Congress won't raise the rate on second and third-class mail and parcels, although at least it is shifting the airmail subsidy to CAB.  

The World Overseas

Canada's upcoming federal election gets a good page-and-a-half mainly due to the Pickersgill situation, although the magazine also wants to wave one very small flag in honour of George Drew. Also, the UN investigating committee on slave labour in the modern world has absolved Britain on charges from the Soviets under the Control of Engagement Act of 1947, from the Poles over Gambia, and from Byelorussia over the Groundnuts Scheme, but has found that apartheid constitutes forced labour, that Spain and Portugal are pretty bad, and there are questions about the situations in Malaya, Kenya, the Belgian Congo and Nairu, as well as vagrancy laws in the United States. The East Bloc is simply terrible.

"Retrospect on Ho Chi Minh" Talk that the the political conference to follow the Korean armistice will be extended to include Indo-China lead The Economist to ask once again about the possiblity of talks between "France and Ho Chi Minh." (Not "France" and "Viet Nam," or "Laniel and Ho.") The Economist suggests that, based on his history, Ho will compromise and accept Viet Namese membership in the French Union if Peking withdraws its support. The section also reports on political developments in Nigeria, proposed land reform in Jugoslavia dissolving the collectives, and a cabinet crisis in Finland over the country's high costs, which might lead to devaluation.  

The Business World

After a long article on "Factors in Gilt Edge" for which I cannot imagine a useful comment, we move on to "Shape of Screens to Come," which is the second part of the "What Future for Films" series. Television means that films are doomed, and 3D isn't going to save them, because 3D is just a distraction from what we really want to talk about, which is the entertainment levy. Cinemas need either 3D or wider screens to compete. The Economist actuallly does a pretty good job of describing the new projection systems that make the wide screens necessary, and gets into some interesting details about the optical arrangements "anamorphic lenses," before pointing out that stereophonic sound is likely to make more of an impression, and be more expensive, than wider (and aluminised) screens. The new sound equipment will cost £1500 of an estimated £3850 for a 1250 seat cinema with an 18 by 24ft screen. In comparison, a typical 3D "package"  like the one offered by Twentieth Century Fox would cost up to £5000 for the largest cinemas. Stereoscopic films will require twice as much film stock, a continuing expense to be compared with the initial costs of setting up for 3D filming. However, these costs are not likely to be as significant as the shift to all-colour production. The Economist can't bear to bring itself to a classic "everyone is doomed" ending, so after this the article peters out with "On the one hand, but on the other hand" speculation. 

Business Notes

Britain's gold reserve is increasing, the deficit is no larger than estimated at the end of the first quarter, the coal situation is worse than 1952, better than 1951, looking towards the winter, but those were mild winters. The Commission of Inquiry into the loss of the Princess Victoria blames inadequate drainage and finds the owners and managers negligent in part. Aluminum is down, in contrast to the United States, where the price remains firm. This is a good sign ahead of the upcoming decontrolling of aluminum. Britain is doing another barter deal with Russia, herring for canned salmon and crab, essentially to assist the two domestic fisheries. Britain took 55,000t of canned salmon, primarily from Canada and the United States, but also Japan and Russia, before the war, but with balance of payment difficulties, imports are down to 8000t per year, which sells readily at the controlled prices of argle-bargle English money ("5s 6d" for good salmon, 3s 6d for poor, 3s 9d for canned crab.) Yes, yes, I know I am going to have to learn how to parse English money in the fall. The price of rayon is down, industrial production is back up to 1951 levels, recovering from the lows of 1952. Sabena is the latest airline to experiment with helicopters. A tin agreement is in sight, while world edible fat supply  has recovered to prewar levels. The world wool clip is high, freight markets are quiet, and the annual report on American research produced by the Commonwealth embassies in Washington has been published this year and shows how much research is being done in America. It's a lot! 

Leaders

https://discovery.nationalarchives.gov.uk/details
/r/65fc20ee-aff7-428b-bde0-57f955f81aab

"Impressions from Paris" The French always do their best at the Paris Air Show, so it is worth sending over some correspondents with generous expense accounts even when potential British exhibitors don't come out due to costs. But now that the French have something to show, the editor can't complain about that one cafe bill! Because what about those prototypes and light trainers and the Deux Ponts? That's got to be worth dropping a hundred pounds on lunch? No? The Americans brought a T34 turboprop over to show that Allison hasn't just been spending its jigging money on beer!  No reason for that example. No reason. 

"RAAF in Britain" The Australians have sent over a detachment of RAAF 78 Fighter Wing of two Vampire squadrons, plus maintenance and base squadrons. They're doing some training, and it's a story that ought to be newsworthy. So even though it has no news in it, we're going to spend a page on it. 

"Seaborne Helicopters" The Canadians are putting two Bell 47Ds on their new icebreaker, the C.G.S. d'Iberville, as standard equipment.  This isn't actually news, since they've already got a helicopter aboard C. G. S. C. D. Howe, but d'Iberville is bigger and has a heated hangar and machine shop. 

"S.B.A.C. Show: The 1953 Programme" To show that it cares about civil aviation, the SBAC is dedicating one day to civil aviation. Other than that, today's press release is ticket prices.

From All Quarters

They're fighting in the Commons over whether the sale of Rolls-Royce engines to Russia in 1946 is going to lead to world Communist takeover or not. R. A. Low, the Parliamentary Under-secretary of the Minister of Supply says that Britain had about a five year lead in jet engines in 1945, but the Russians fielded a Nene-powered MiG-15 in 1948, so the sale cut Britain's lead to three years. The Evening Standard is buying a helicopter. Canadair is laying off 1500 employees who were going to build 227 Beech T-36s before the USAF cuts. The tenth annual meeting of the Society of Licensed Aircraft Engineers was quite a party. The Ministry of Supply is working with two companies to produce two-rotor passenger  helicopters depending on demand. Ramsgate Airport is being reopened after being bombed during the war. Jolly good show, everyone! Last Friday's edition of Press Conference had Mr. Desoutter, Miss Goldring, and Maurice Smith of Flight on to talk about civil aviation. It was fascinating television, if Maurice Smith doesn't say so himself! There won't be more air cargo until air cargo is cheaper; it takes too long to get from the city to the airport, and someone should do something about it.

 Here and There 

 

"Mike" Lithgow (his given name is "McGeorge") is going to try to fly from London to Paris even faster than the late Trevor Wade, because he will have a Swift with reheat instead of a Hawker P. 1052. Also in London-Paris speed news, an Air France Comet made it in 45 minutes, because Comets are fast, which is why "Mr. Horace Boren, of Texas," was recently able to set a new round-the-world record of 99hrs on Comets and Stratoliners. The Fleet Air Arm has just received its first "off-shore" Sea Hawk. That is, it was paid for by US Mutual Aid. 

"Ramjet Possibilities: Recent Developments and Future Promise Reviewed and Assessed" We have been talking about ramjets since 1913. Well, actually, we stopped in 1946 because it is secret in Britain, but there was a model picture released in 1946 as part of an argument between "two well-known British aeronautical scientists" over whether or not they were practical on planes. Now, Malcolm Harned of Marquardt has given a talk to the ASME, and we can talk about that over here. Marquardt has tried out ramjets under the wings of various fighters and on the rotors of the Hiller Hornet and McDonnell XH-20, so he has some empirical results to report. The maximum speed of a ramjet is likely limited by the maximum temperature of the engine parts, which hit 1400 degrees at 1700mph. Ramjets are likely to be competitive on price, highly reliable, and more useful at high altitudes, but they have to get up to supersonic speeds before they can be used, and this limits their general usefulness to supersonic bombers and missiles, so far. Filling out the page, the Swedes are buying the Saab-32 Lansen for "most of its attack units," Labour's aircraft industry policy doesn't threaten nationalisation, except of companies that "don't toe the party line." GB-Kale is showing off its teleprojector, which gives a "large screen TV" with a 4ft by 3ft viewing screen. It can be viewed by up to 350 people in spaces like hotel lobbies and canteens, and can be controlled by a remote control unit. 

BEA and BOAC have opened up some aircraft apprenticeships, Sweden is going to celebrate its 700th anniversary with the largest postwar air show in Europe. How is Sweden 700 years old? a proposal to operate amphibious helicopters between London Airport and the Thames between Vauxhall and London Bridge has been examined by BOAC and BEA, which has concluded that everyone involved was drunk and needed a nap. Only they can't say that because the usual lot of loudmouths won't stop talking about it, and you should just quietly get up and leave the bar to them and the poor staff.

Aircraft  Intelligence

Latest views of the Lansen show a leading edge wing installed, while Flight's artist gives an impression of the two-J57 F-100. Peter Masefield is very impressed with the VC7 so far, and there is talk that it will replace all BOAC large aircraft when it becomes available. Hunting  has ordered 3 Viscounts, and an unconfirmed rumour has it that KLM will "eventually" order the Comet. Further details of the F-103 and F-105 are available. Canada is studying a 35t delta-wing, twin-jet fighter , to be designated the CF-104. Filippo Zappata is working on a twin-engine transport design to be powered by either Bristol Proteus 705s or Wright Turbo-Cyclones. The Proteus version would be 59,400lb all up and have a maximum speed of 404mph. The Fairey Firefly is up to the AS7 model. 
 

"The Twentieth Salon" That's the Twentieth Paris Air Salon, for you American hicks who like to say American things like "Air Show." It was quite a show, but we've seen all the planes before, as the Leader said.  On the engine side, the Pratt and Whitney T34 turboprop has been mentioned. Armstrong Siddeley had the Sapphire, Snarler, Double Mamba, and a demonstration Viper. Curtiss Wright also had a Sapphire, the J65, and their turbocompound. De Havilland showed a big propeller for turboprops of up to 1800hp, and a sectioned Ghost. Rolls Royce showed a sectioned Dart, an Avon, and an Avon with an afterburner for the first time. (Flight either forgetting or getting tired of being British and saying "reheat." "Aeroplane!" It's "Aeroplane!") The Avon on show is the RA. 7 with full thermal de-icing. SNECMA showed its latest Atar, the 101F, the latest development of the original BMW 003, with almost 9000lb thrust, and a pulse jet. STAL, of Sweden, showed its abandoned Dovern II, with some worthy and original features. Turbomeca's range of small turbojets was very interesting. Hispano Suiza builds the Tay, and has exhibits linked to its plans to start building Avons. 

Other displays of interest include Hobson's latest fuel meter for turbojets and Standard Telephone's latest VOR receiver with its neat pilot presentation indicator. 

"The AFITA Conference" While we were all in Paris, why not go to a technical conference? Some British names did, including B. A. Hunn of Hawker, who talked about high speed design, Petter and Hollyhock of Hawker, who talked about production, and Black of Vickers and Pollard of Bristol, who talked about materials. But the real story was Petter's "production" talk, which was actually about light fighters. 

"The Sharp End: Britain and Australia in the Korean War, Part 3"  If you've been wondering where B. F. King has gotten himself to, the answer is "Korea," but now the war is pretty much over and he's found his way back, so here's some copy he wrote. This installment is mainly about flying with Auster AOP squadrons. Exciting! (Sort of.) 

Correspondence

That's some Corelli Barnett-level work right there, 
Mr. Weyl. By Rama - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0 fr,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.
php?curid=106039639

M. C. Hall is upset at the word "heliport." A. R. Weyl, AFRAeS finds Pierre Clostermann's Flame in the Sky to be full of errors but they give him a chance to denounce the Ministry of Supply for not buying and developing the MG 213 30mm cannon or hiring on Mauser and Rheinmetal to produce it, or the electronic fire control and gun-sight that came with it, resulting in the RAF having nothing but Hispanos while the Swiss are going to start producing the 213 any day now. "Pedantica" explains all about measuring units with the intention of showing that using "knots" in the popular press is  just going to confuse people.
 

Civil Aviation reports that the Queen and Princess Margaret will be flying by Comet with the Queen Mother to Salisbury, Southern Rhodesia, to open the Cecil Rhodes Centennary Exhibition. Trans-Australian is getting ready to train its Viscount pilots. Silver City Airways is hiring some Breguet Deux Ponts to test them as cross-Channel vehicle ferries. Jans Smut Airport is opening in Johannesburg. The DC-6C has very flexible internal layout, BCPA is reorganising, a Comet has been damaged in a landing accident, Hunting is opening a fortnightly Rhodesia service. India's two new nationalised airlines begin operating as such this week. Sir Edgar Ludlow-Hewitt spoke at Cranfield's Presentation Day, to quell rumours that he died, years ago, before the war. (Actually, he did; but survives undead as a vampire, supping on the tuition of the living, which explains why Cranfield is so expensive on a per-student basis, as the press has recently been saying.)

Actual news, the commissioning of the Royal Navy's first air-direction frigate, HMS Salisbury, somehow makes it into Service Aviation. 

The Economist, 11 July 1953

Leaders

"The Riddles of Prosperity" The Bill to allow the Monopolies Commission to do more investigations isn't enough. Monopolies and "restrictionism" are everywhere in Britain and must be fought. At least there's one place where The Economist disagrees with Fortune. 

"Behind the Curtain" It seems like unrest is spreading throughout eastern Europe but who can be sure of anything, really? Meanwhile in Hungary, Imre Nagy's rise to the premiership means more loyalty to Moscow but also radical economic reforms. And, yes, if you noticed, I am being a hypocrite in not reversing Christian and family names for a Hungarian as I do for Japanese. 

"The Pains of Irish Protectionism" . . And that's the sound of me not reading what The Economist thinks of Irish trade policy. 

Notes of the Week

"The Labour Leadership" Herbert Morrison will succeed Clement Attlee because no-one else can stop Bevan. Also, the Government is putting off any decision about private, commercially sponsored television until the fall.

"Flames Flicker in Soviet Germany" The Red Army has more-or-less quelled the unrest in East Berlin with a combination of crowd control and the use of barricades to prevent movement within the city. 

"Towards a French Commonwealth?" France may not have got Mendes-France as premier, but people sure liked his approach to Indo China, so the Laniel government is going ahead full bore with a "complete independence within a strong and centrally administered French Union" approach even the Economist is skeptical about, pointing out that this isn't how the Commonwealth works at all. Also, members of parliament from around Europe are comparing pay packets and finding that they all deserve more money. 

"Featherbed or Safety Net?" British farm production continues to increase and is now 60% above the prewar level. The Economist finds it all very worrisome. 

"The Long-Term Unemployed" Labour put in a limit to the length of time people could claim unemployment benefits in the 1946 act (with six-month appeals) because it feared that a return to mass unemployment would exhaust the national insurance fund, as during the great depression. The appeals process was to  keep large numbers of unemployed out of the hands of the Assistance Board, which would provide means-tested relief. Intended to address the postwar situation, the appeals process was made temporary, and now the question is whether it should be made permanent. The Conservatives think it shouldn't because it's much too nice for those nasty poor people. I'm sorry, that should read, "Because we are so prosperous with full employment that we don't need to make any provisions for the long-term unemployed." There are new arrangements, mainly for those of the 48,000 long term unemployed who are in that situation because they can't hold down jobs, but enough about the sons of  backbench Tory MPs, what about a future depression? Perhaps we should write something into the legislation now so that we don't have to do it then?

"Trojan Horse in Italy" Parliamentary government in Italy is starting to look like France, with unstable coalitions and lots of names floating around as Gasperi tries to put a government together. 

"Lysenko Dethroned" The controversial scientist who has dominated the Soviet life sciences is being denounced throughout the Soviet press, both scientific and political, for running a "scientific monopoly." Lysenko has always been wrong (about traits being acquired as well as inherited), but he long had Stalin and the Party's backing. We don't know if he is going to be purged, tried, sent to Siberia and shot, but Komunist and Botanichesky Zhurnal sure don't like him.

"Slow Train to Peking" There has been talk for a while about a direct Moscow-Peking train that would make excellent economic sense, as it would run through southern Siberia and help China open up Sinkiang, although it would have to cross the Taklamakan Desert, but it seems like recent talk is actually about a train that would complete the route by connecting Peking with Moscow via the already existing Trans-Siberian branch serving Ulan Bator, the capital of Mongolia, which is no big deal.  

"Mr. Nehru on Africa" Nehru showed up at the Coronation to demonstrate how much India still values the Commonwealth, but also to warn that "racial domination," especially in Africa, is the main threat to the institution. It is true, The Economist admits, but it doesn't do to say it, because various people will be upset and you can't have that! 

"Scientists Nipped in the Bud" One person in 31 goes to university these days, but far too many of them are not going into the technologies, although there is fierce competition for places in the pure sciences. Peron's trade deal with Russia is very alarming because what if Peron turns into a Communist? What if the Eastern Bloc goes Peronist? What if Russia offers Argentina a better price for flax, wool, and mutton than Britain? 

The Economist of 1853 has "Then and Now," comparing the state of affairs in the golden age of 1853 with the terrible days of 1841 and 1842, when Sir Robert Peel came into office and fixed everything with Free Trade. 

Letters

Hans Morgenthau writes to suggest that perhaps the reason that Churchill wants a Big Three (Big Four) conference is that he genuinely believes what he is saying, that it is the only way to avoid World War III. McGeorge Bundy (which is a real  name) writes to point out that the reason that Harvard is so anti-Communist is that Communism is terrible, so The Economist can take its dainty English nose right out of Harvard's affairs. George Floris points out that the troubles in eastern Europe are going to be crushed by the Soviets, because that is what they do, so the West should redouble its efforts to get ready for WWIII. A. J. Kidwai writes from India House that Nehru's proclamation of an end to famine in India isn't just moonshine, but sound extrapolation of current trends of increasing Indian agricultural production, especially of rice.
 

Books

Ragnar Nurske's Problems of Capital Formation in Underdeveloped Countries explains that poor countries are poor because they are poor. Malnutrition, poor education, underemployment and poor health keeps productivity down and yields no capital for investment. The only escape is compelled public saving in the form of taxation, and democracy will just have to go by the board. Basil Davidson's Daybreak in China describes the new Communist utopia.  James W. R. Adam's Modern Town and Country Planning is a very worthy book, I'm sure. O. W. Richard's' Social Insects sounds like that book about how ants and bees are just like us, written again to include some new science. Ralph Flenley's Modern German History is an attempt to tell the total story of the history of ideas, economics, and society, and manages to make modern German history dull, which is quite a feat considering the restless and dynamic quality of recent German history.

American Survey

"Going Slow on Taft-Hartley" It's mainly labour that wants to reform Taft-Hartley, and it is increasingly clear that if the bill is opened up for amendments, opponents of the labour movement might put something crazy in it, so it is just as well that the Secretaries of Labour and Commerce are fighting each other over it, so that nothing is coming out of the Administration. 

American Notes

"Knowland Reverts to Type" Pretty much what it says. Knowland was being faintly reasonable in June, but now he's back to defending Rhee's decision to let the POWs go and now his ultimatum that the war must resume in 90 days if there is no progress in the talks. Knowland is blaming the Truman and Eisenhower Administrations for it, and promising a united Korea in the armistice negotiations, thanks to the unrest in eastern Europe turning into a worldwide anti-communist revolution in the near future. So in the mean time, we don't even need to talk about peace at all! As The Economist points out, America is not going back to war, although what exactly will happen if the ROK tries to go back to war is not clear. Also,Congress still can't decide on the foreign aid bill  Europe or the Reciprocal Trade Agreement. No trade or aid. We are also still having trouble with the wheat and cotton surplus, with the growing national debt, which will need to be reauthorised before Congress adjourns at the end of the month. The Economist is pleased with the reforms that the Dewey administration has imposed on New York City. As mentioned above, The Economist loves anti-trust in Britain and hates it in America, where the Eisenhower Administration is pulling it back at the direction of Brownell at Justice, and now Edward Howrey at the FTC. (I think the difference might be that it isn't actually doing anything in Britain yet.) 

"Willow Doesn't Run" Willow Run might have been doomed by the Air Force budget cuts not because there was no money for it, but because it couldn't be seen to be wasting it on Uncle Henry, who is charging five times as  much for a C-119 as Fairchild. To be fair, the contract was to expand sources of supply, and Fairchild could only supply 33 aircraft a month, while Uncle Henry promised 135, and it was understood that there would be heavy first costs, but that was accounted for in a projected cost of $460,000 compared with $260,000 from Fairchild, but in fact Uncle Henry has so far delivered only 55 aircraft at $1.2 million each. Considering that Uncle Henry has lost "four times as much money making cars as [he] has earned" making planes, the future of Willow Run and its 12,000 workers seems pretty bleak. 

The Defence Production Agency has been extended for two years without the provision for an agency to help small business, steel prices are up, and I can't believe that this summer's hottest trend, the canned soft drink, is going to help. 

The World Overseas

"The East German Revolt" Strike leaders who escaped to the west report that the revolts started as strikes provoked by the steady rise in prices, and on top of that a sudden ten percent increase in production norms and prevalent secret police spying. The Economist denies that westerners encouraged the striking, but admits that Western radio played a role, and that the strikers were hoping for a Western intervention. 

"France and Its Empire"  "France's offer of greater independence for Indo-China, and the gradual awakening of French consciences about conditions in North Africa" have put the empire at the forefront of the Laniel government's priorities. The French Union is clearly not enough to address anti-colonialism. Socialists and Communists see the Empire as an open wound and the source of France's current weakness; Nationalists cling to it so fiercely that the left cannot even express itself too openly. When Mendes-France "hinted definitely" at negotiations with Ho, he got 300 votes in the Assembly, but "[f]ew Frenchmen are willing, as yet, to renounce Indo-China entirely." Instead they want more development, education, and raised "material and spiritual standards" while maintaining a "strong political, military and economic control." French Catholics, led by Francois Mauriac, think that the recent brutality in Casablanca says more about French weakness than strength, and the representatives of the overseas territories in the Assembly have their own influence on coalition politics.

"Burma's Rice Surplus" Rice production fell heavily during the war and this helped lead to the Bengal famine after the Japanese conquest, although The Economist doesn' t mention this. NOw Burma is back with a substantial surplus of rice production that it cannot sell because the other part of the problem is that rice consumers can't afford to buy it. 

"'Solutions' in South Africa" After losing the election to the National Party, South Africa's United Party has rapidly become disunited in the same way that the Nationalists used to be in opposition. Blaar Coetzee thinks that the United Party should join the National Party to push through its colour policy of removing Cape Coloureds from the electoral rolls, while the leadership refuses to take a position and the "conservative young men" of the movement have to be compelled to say that they won't negotiate with the National Party on their own to give them the two-thirds majority they need. It seems suicidal to vote to remove your own voters from the rolls, but coloured parties like the African and Indian Congresses are gaining ground a the expense of the United, anyway. And the National Party's policy of apartheid, exemplified by the recent actions to clear a political rally in the Sophiatown coloured suburb of Johannesburg with "intimidation, terrorisation and the ruthless crushing of even verbal protest" show that it is willing to do something about "the problem." I guess the question is, exactly how long will intimidation and terror keep on working? 

"The Danish Bases" The Danes have decided not to welcome American air bases in Denmark, while British-style soccer ("football") has become very popular in eastern Europe and people are afraid that it will lead to bourgeois counter-revolution there. 

The Business World

"Commodities Since Korea" World commodity prices spiked after the outbreak of the Korean War, but then they went down again as the rate of increase in world industrial production fell in 1952, and even outright declined in some places. This makes it very hard to run a poor country or colony or maintain Britain's balance of exchange with the hard currency countries, so something should be done about it, and that is fine with wheat and tin, and might be fine with rubber, but is definitely not fine with copper, among other commodities. And it is all complicated by fears of an American slowdown.

By Cobatfor - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0,
https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=3723160

"France Finds Wings" The Mystere IV shows that the French air industry is back, and The Economist gives us a four page article, complete with pencil sketches of the Ouragon, Vautour, HD31 and afore-mentioned Mystere IV, the production of which  has been ensured by American mutual defence aid in the face of recent Air Force cuts that threaten the rest of the industry, which is only recently recovered from its WWII-induced swoon. (And the incredibly controversial prewar reorganisation that is showing some signs of being pragmatically revised, especially with the revival of Bloch/Dassault, the firm behind the Mystere.)

"Towards Safer Railways" The inquiry into the Harrow and Wealdstone train disaster has found that it was caused by the driver of the Perth to Euston express failing to acknowledge three warning signals. The second-most serious accident in British rail history was therefore caused by the lack of automatic control, or more accurately, automatic warning control. Some 66 of 640 accidents since 1912, causing a total of 1112 deaths, might have been avoided by automatic warning control. Warning control equipment is already present on the main lines, having first been installed by the Great Western in 1915, and doesn't entirely prevent accidents, since it can be overridden. It will, however, despite its drawbacks, be adopted universally on British Railways in the next year at a cost of £2 1/4 million, offering more, but not complete, safety. (When Reggie looked up the latest LMS magnetic system that they are testing now, he said he was surprised that it worked at all.)

Business Notes

 In the tradition of The Economist, an analysis of recent Treasury moves on the bond market that suggests that it is not eager to spend money to push down interest rates is dressed up in an extended metaphor and conveyed with so much jargon that it's hard to understand what's even being said, and so satisfying is the effort that it is extended into a second Note. A third one notes that the National Bank has pushed its dividend up. Will it be a trend? Will more money go from undeserving working people  to the long-deprived people who clip coupons (like me, I should have the grace to admit)? Wait and find out!

German debt settlement talks drag on, Charles Close's takeover of J. Sears (True-Form) Boot Company has launched a frenzy of takeover offers for  "multiple tailoring" firms. Theatre audiences are down, which is why Associated British did poorly this year, and it is all due to television. English Electric joins de Havilland in raising more capital than expected from its latest share offer. Courtauld's warns that its profits will be affected by flat rayon exports, thanks to Japanese international competition which has forced it to trim three pence off its staple price.   

"Taking Stock of Television" Will there be sponsored television soon, or won't there be? Or another BBC station? It will depend on clearing some room on the frequency band, first, and might depend on first pushing much of British radio up to the ultra high frequency band, as is being done in America. There is, however, unquestionably room for a second British television network just with the frequency band available, so it really ought to be either BBC Two or a sponsored network within the next eighteen months. 

Australia has eased import controls due to improvements in his balance of payments. British investment in Canada is increasing as exchange restrictions ease and the billion-dollar Canadian interest-free war loan is paid off. Anthracite coal in big, juicy chunks,the kind that households would like to use for heating, continue to be too expensive for them, raising the question of how much the Coal Board is paying to whom to actually sell it, while the Board has moved to make the duff that households can buy, and are forced to buy, at least cheaper. 

"What Productivity Costs" We talk a lot about productivity around here, but Sir Charles Goodeve has some thoughts, abstracted from a talk given to the Institute of Production Engineers, in which he shows the costs of producing a ton of pig iron, and the areas in which savings, which will flow into improved productivity, can be made. Labour is the biggest cost, but since wages are three times as high in America, a 10% savings in labour goes much further there than it does here, and even improvements in plant don't reward as much when they only cost two-thirds as much as in Britain. Better plant would help, but it looks from the numbers, although Goodeven doesn't point that out (at least in the abstract), the best place to invest in Britain is in fuel costs, and in general a relative improvement in productivity is going to be much harder in Britain than America. 

The Economist hopes for a world sugar cartel that would even the difference between the preferred markets (America with Cuba and the Philippines; Britain with the Commonwealth) and the "free" ones. An agreement like the 1937 one would stabilise prices, prevent the buildup of vast surpluses, and give  "free" sugar producers a larger share of any increases in world consumption, and that would be nice.

Flight, 10 July 1953

Leaders 

Flight takes back all the bad things it said about the Paris Aerial Salon after the "consecrated" air showing on Sunday in glorious sunshine, a non-stop four hour air festival, in which British planes and pilots were the best. (38 minutes London to Paris in a Comet, if you were wondering, 19 minutes in a Swift.) The Royal Review at Odiham was also something. 

"The Week at the Salon" You can't spend your entire week in the cafes (WHY NOT???), so Flight's man (or woman) took a wander around the Salon hall most days to see if anything much changed. It didn't, although the Avro 707 was a late arrival, but at least he was there, so stop complaining about his (or her) expense account!  There is some new  news. For example, the Swift is up to four wing fences! That's one way to fix a plane. Below the fold, Flight visits the SNECMA exhibit and is impressed by the latest iteration of the Atar, definitely a "utility engine," SNECMA's Sapphire-like Vulcaine, its 14 cylinder, 900hp helicopter engine, thrust deviator (which acts like a reversible propeller on conventional planes), and "baffling" Ecriviss, a follow-on to last year's Escopette pulse jet. 

From All Quarters

Sir Basil Embry is the new Commander, Allied Air Forces in Central Europe, and Marshal Juin is the land commander. Embry succeeds Lauris Norstad, who will become Air Deputy to the Supreme Commander, succeeding Air Chief Marshal Saunders, just announced as the new commandant of the Imperial Defence College. Group Captain Townsend is to be Extra Equerry to the Queen, someone has finally answered the phone at BCPA head office, so we know that it isn't closing, an inquiry into the loss of the Skyways York last February has opened, and Boulton Paul has an improved P111, the "A," to replace the  P. 120 delta wing experimental plane, which crashed. 

Here and There

The USAF's 50th Fighter Wing, with 75 F-86s,will soon deploy to Europe. The outgoing Assistant Secretary of the Navy for Air, John Floberg, says that the US Navy's current plan is to build a Forrestal each year until the Navy has 10 of them. Flight isn't sure yet that Denmark won't have two USAF bases. The Four Powers talks on air corridors to berlin continue. Tokyo is getting a new high speed wind tunnel to replace the one destroyed during the war, the NYPD is about to begin helicopter patrols, Admiral Cunningham said in an after-dinner speech that air transport will eventually replace sea transport, General Vandenberg points out that the USAF is supposed to increase its strength by 10 wings next year while cutting its manpower by 10,000, which is impossible.

"The Queen's Review of the RAF" Somehow all the WWII veterans have turned into WWI veterans in the fusty, dusty portraits that go with the fusty, dusty event. 

"Introducing the Angled Deck" Reggie says that this is a disaster because now navies will be able to fly fixed-wing aircraft off ship's decks for at least another generation, which will be followed by at least another generation building ships that will take the aircraft that come after that ("60,000 tons is nothing!") whereas if we'd stuck to straight decks we would probably have this out of our system before the Gannet retires. So that's my beloved husband. As for me, I'm just glad that I don't have to worry about him being asked to fly a Neptune of a Midway with an atom bomb on board! Flight explains that, in discussions of the impossibility of actually operating jets from carriers in August of 1951, Captain D. R. F. Campbell and "Mr. L. Boddington" of RAE, this simple but brilliant solution of building a deck extension sticking ot the side was worked out. Why does "Mr. L." seem like less of a full name than "Captain D. R. F." It's Lewis Boddington and Dennis Campbell, according to Who's Who.  The British experimented with lines down the deck of Triumph and Illustrious and were happy enough with it that Hermes was modified under construction with an angled deck. We similarly experimented  with Midway and then incorporated an angled deck in the reconstruction of Antietam, which is over in Britain conducting trials. 

  Flight has been to the second British Instruments Industries Exhibition, where it saw some nice instruments including a gust amemometer and airborne surveying equipment for detecting underground uranium deposits at the Government exhibits. It is disappointed that Lufthansa has ordered Convair 340s and Lockheed Super-Constellations, but timely deliveries were guaranteed. 

"Le Bourget 1953" More details on the air display last Sunday at Paris. 

"The Wheels Under the Wings" Flight was so bored hanging around Odiham watching the RAF get ready for a white glove inspection of its Ansons and Chipmunks and credenzas and hats that it started counting trucks and talking to the drivers scurrying about in cars, trucks, lorries, bicycles, motorcycles and motorised prams. The RAF sure has a lot of vroom-vrooms! 

Our American Correspondent reports that the RCAF had a sure-fire plan for the weekend, which was to fly its Comet into Idlewild and just walk around all quiet-like. "Oh, it's no big thing. Just a plane we picked up when we were in Blighty. Oh, yes, it is fast, I suppose. I've never had the throttle all the way open. No need. Say, want to come up for a flight with me so we can both find out what it can really do?" But then Idlewild said no because of noise, and it's probably some vast American anti-Comet conspiracy. The Rolls Royce-Westinghouse agreement "hasn't had much publicity here, despite the fact that there had been rumours of trouble at Westinghouse for some time." Now let's talk about Allison and Wright! Our American Correspondent goes on to point out  how some of the local colonial press made it out to be Westinghouse helping Rolls Royce! Just obviously that's not the case, and now watch all these natives stop talking about how American turbines are ahead of British! Everyone enjoyed the Coronation, notwithstanding the fuss over the air race to get the film footage over. The current issue of Time has an embarrassingly ingratiating profile of Dutch Kindelberger of North American, if Our American Correspondent doesn't say so himself. It even repeats the claim of 719 MiGs for 56 Sabres, "--a claim that one hopes (but doubts) is more accurate than our original Battle of Britain figures," and quotes Kindelberger depreciating last year's Farnborough show as a comment that "probably comes under the heading of remarks that were never made." Dutch is a pretty smart guy who is probably worried about the Air Force cuts, since North American doesn't have much of a civil aviation side. Twisting the knife, the Navion is mentioned. 

Correspondence

"Supersonic Bang" isn't tired of letters about the cause of supersonic bangs yet, so he writes one. Professor A. M. Low writes a letter with an extract from some comments of one Carlos B. Mirrick enclosed, to the effect that, years ago, before the war, the British were ahead of the Americans in making autopilot planes with bombs. A. Hodgson is pleased that a photo of his model helicopter appeared recently, but has concerns. R. Vaughan Fowler talks about the "BAT FK 28," the plane that seems to have existed and which might have been photographed, years ago, before the war. 

The Industry reports that Rotax has a new, lightweight turbojet starter, Dunlop has a new, lightweight and simple fuel tank pressurisation system, and Bristol has a new apprentice school. 

Civil Aviation

The Royal flight to Salisbury went well. In the first thousand hours of operation, Viscounts have operated over average route distances of 625 miles, achieving block-to-block speeds of 221mph, flying 221,000 revenue miles, carrying 7700 passengers and 77 tons of mail, earning £240,000 in revenue with a reliability of 99.3% and 1530 hours of usability so far, building up. Break even load is estimated at 62% and achieved load is 70% so far. The Dart has been very reliable. The Elizabethan is doing fine, too.  Trans-Oceanic Airways has been liquidated, with Ansett taking over its assets. 

Flight read and did not much like Dan Brennan's Time Enough to Live and Captain Liddell Hart's edition of The Rommel Papers, which makes too much of the man. Major C. B. Colby's series of picture books about planes and air forces for Coward-McCann in New York are nice, although there is special praise for Weapons of the World, with its pictures of things like the gun that shoots around corners. It will show the boys of today that in any future war they will be much safer in the air!

Fortune's Wheel introduces an upcoming series on the changing American market, which is going to investigate how the American market is changing so that you can sell things to the American market. This meanders on for two and a quarter columns before coming to a point: The birth rate is quite high, and even though people know this, they don't seem to "know" know it. They aren't thinking about how it will lead to car sales changing, for one example that isn't mentioned in the paragraph, which instead points out that the American population will hit 175 million in 1960, and that a few years later the babies of the Forties will start marrying and having children, and it will be an even bigger baby boom. Beyond that, maybe vacations and services will be big? A final thought is that even though the country can turn out 700,000 refrigerators a year, only 400,000 are selling, and so on for kitchen ranges, washers, and other domestic appliances. So clearly your salesmen aren't selling hard enough. Go hit them with a rolled up Fortune! 

Business Roundup reports that capital outlays are still rising after twelve months of a pleasingly but predictably strong economy. But now there is a turndown in production due to the Administration's anti-inflation squeeze on interest rates, taxes, and credits. Sales are softening, and the predicted mild down-turn is on its way. So if you want to see how you can spend two pages talking about a recession without ever saying the word, here you are. 

Defence and Strategy reports that the aircraft industry is likely to be disappointed by the way that the Defence Department is "building up" the Air Force by cutting it back. Yes, it is going up "30%" and Wilson says that it is becoming more efficient, but that just goes to show Wilson's "lack of candor and tact." The Truman era plan called for the delivery of 21,000 aircraft at a cost of $30 billion to reach an inventory of 31,000 aircraft supporting a 141 wing air force. The new budget procures only 17,000 aircraft to reach a strength of 120 wings by July of 1956 and a total inventory of 26.000 aircraft. Wilson argued that this doesn't reflect a reduction in planned increases in combat strength since the blow was felt in the area of troop-carrying and assault transport and "helicopters tied to ground forces." Eight assault transport wings have been cut from the 141 wing target. The strategic air force loses 6 wings of B-47s, 3 of them training wings. There will be 17 instead of 28 fighter bomber wings, and one tactical reconnaissance wing is cut. This is a substantial cut in combat strength focussed mainly on tactical support for the armies in Europe, leaving those force commitments only 60--70% filled. Taken together with manpower cuts, the Air Force ends up 3000 aircraft in surplus to its needs. "The only inference to be drawn . . . is that the President and his advisers have concluded that the Soviet Union lacks both the capability and, barring some incalculable act of desperation, the intention to large-scale military action for some years to come, if ever." Some additional support is provided, including quotes, and the H-bomb is cited as another reason there won't be another war soon. Churchill and the British Chiefs of Staff have already come to this conclusion.

This directs our attention at the CIA, which is responsible for informing these discussions. So it is time to talk about Allen Dulles' shop at least, almost a year after Westbrook Pegler and James Kilpatrick of the Richmond News Leader start taking after his refusal to divulge the CIA budget, which seems to them undemocratic in the extreme. The Kremlin has also taken aim at him, and if it is to be believed, eastern Europe is crawling with CIA agents working to undermine Communism. People trying to find their way through the thicket of talk about the Air Force cuts would settle for just having a better idea of what the CIA knows, and how it knows it. 

Speaking of air defence, how about the "Summer Study Group" and its look at continental air defence? Robert Oppenheimer and Lloyd Berkner, the lead men of the Group, want a $20 billion early warning line through the Arctic, with fleets of transports in perpetual orbit, carrying interceptors to be launched on indication of attack. Now, Dr. Mervin Kelly of Bell Telephone Labs has firmly rejected this reorientation of atomic strategy to defence, and its grandiose vision of a six hour early earning. The Kelly strategy wants to push early warning even further north and out to sea to give more time, which he estimates at two hours, enough to mobilise the next generation of air defence, since research and development, and not immediate deployment of existing systems, is the best defence.

Leaders

"Westinghouse on the Wrong Track" And here is why everyone is talking about Westinghouse this week. It is making itself the story, with an 8000 employee, company-sponsored demonstration against a government contract for a power station going to a low-cost foreign competitor. Westinghouse wants Congress to act, which is embarrassing when the House is fighting the Administration foreign aid budget with a "Trade not Aid" push back. Fortune isn't convinced that American business wants a liberalised foreign trade policy, and it is especially embarrassing when both Westinghouse and Allis Chalmers are booked solid. They still want more business, in this case a $7 million contract that went to a German company, but enough is enough!  

There's also a fight about power development at Niagara. Private utilities used to not want any part of it, and the Roosevelt Administration put together a federal plan that was very union friendly. Now private utilities want in, and Senator Capehart is pushing a bill to let them in, under less labour-friendly state regulation. Fortune is all for it, since the hydraulic works don't include any messy irrigation, navigation, or flood control provisions. Fortune is also upset at the Ambassador Hotel for floating the idea of "honeymoon suites" with kitchens for the new couple to learn to cook, which Fortune doesn't think should be part of a honeymoon. (Hear, hear!) It is also upset that executives die six years earlier than everyone else, but considering that Bill Brown's Executive Health Centre at Garrison-on-the-Hudson has liquor on the premises, not that upset. They bring it on themselves! Or maybe it was just time for Bill Brown to get a plug. Corporations are allowed to make tax deductible gifts to colleges and universities and stockholders can't say boo, says some judge in New Jersey, so you know it is on the up and up. Bethlehem Steel is paying the tuition of managers and engineers who take a four-month graining programme at a college or university paid for by Bethlehem Steel. That "buttinsky" professor at Nevada is definitely fired and let that be a lesson on butting in. Washington is still waiting for that real estate boom, the Russians are very embarrassed by their new managerial class, Americans have their own problems with class, as seen at Park Forest's "one-class" or "classless" community, which apparently is short of property tax revenue for schools because of all the young executives in expensive homes and the lack of industry which is not following the non-existence working class. Dr. Charles Kerr is in the news for saying that Americans just aren't independent enough because they all work for corporations.

"Is Baseball A Dying Business?" Baseball is in trouble because the minor leagues are disintegrating, TV and radio rights and "black out" rules are under threat, and the trust busters are sniffing around it again because of the minimum radius rules for radio broadcasts of minor league games, which aren't necessarily fifty miles apart. Another Leader catches us up with the countdown to the Government's imminent exit from the synthetic rubber game, which I would cover in more detail except that it is just another step on a long journey. 

"Guatemala's Warning to US Business" Last February the Guatemalan government expropriated 234.000 acres of land from United Fruit Company raising the question of whether it should continue doing business in the country where it has invested $50 million over 47 years, or, really, anywhere in tropical America, where it has invested $400 million. Why shouldn't it take its ball and its bat and go home? They can grow bananas in Minnesota, can't they? And if they can't,, why be in business at all, really? And look at all the American money invested down there. It might be $1.5 billion, or $5 billion, depending on what's counted and where. And it could all go Communist! Fortune explains how United Fruit is more sinned against than sinning before allowing that it should probably unbend and cooperate with the government to promote economic and agricultural development in Guatemala, which would be good for everyone, even United Fruit. 

A signed article from Charles J. V. Murphy on "Eisenhower's White House" follows, because these days Fortune is a business magazine and doesn't cover stuff like culture or politics. It turns out that it is a great cabinet serving a great president! 

 "C.B.S. Steals the Show" CBS might look like it is on a losing streak, with the end of its colour tv experiment, its losses on radio, and the fact that it is still struggling to fill out its inventory of television stations, but the "junior" rival has not been "put away" by RCA and its subsidiary, NBC. It is, in fact, the number 1 network by sales right now. And while RCA is a giant of the electronics world, while CBS was recently a broadcasting upstart, under William Paley, CBS has been branching out into radio and television set manufacturing, and recording. The CBS colour system was  a challenge to RCA, which had made television the centre of its strategy from the mid-Thirties, and while it didn't work, getting Jack Benny and dominating broadcasting, did. 

For the next article, William Whyte goes back to Park Forest to worry some more about the one-class society and the end of American independence. And outgoing! It's all these "courts." Oh for the good old days when everyone was shut up in their cabin in the snows! These people are just so middlebrow! I'm tempted to say the same about the next article but one, about office furniture and decor. 

Dero Saunders brings us "What's Ahead for Machine Tools" Specifically, it's the industry is worried about the downturn, not that it is excited about, say, micro-honing. Another flood of government-owned tools would be a disaster, so any future rearmament programme should focus on building up production capacity rather than on a flood of instantly obsolescent weapons. It's selfish, but logical, and maybe some kind of national strategy will ward off German competiton. Also, automation could be good. You've heard about this "automation" thing, right? Because I can explain! 

Perrin Stryker, "Can Management Be Managed?" That's the question that the latest thing, Organization Planning, wants you to know that the answer to which is "Yes," so please send your money to Lounsbury Fish (which is a real name), Ernest Dale, and Lieutenant Colonel Lyndall Urwick. (Creator of the idea that if the boss doesn't do any work, he has more "span of control.") 

Harry Vickers of Sperry gets a long profile this issue with the interesting title,"Planning for Famine," which is about the downturn, not famine. 

Eric Hodgins, "The Atom: The Way of the Reactor" Some day soon the first operating atomic reactor will come into service, and it will probablly be in Britain, or possibly France, because Congress just cut a huge chunk of the AEC's budget, boo! Industry is interested, but when you talk about things like zirconium, hafnium, heavy water, helium, boron, and "liquid metal eutetics," they clutch their wallets in pain and realise the virtues of socialism (or socialist research and development, anyway) all at once. After all, the bigger the reactor, the better, and that's a lot of design! But the market is big; the world is low-voltage, and while America is better off than most, the world, except for Canada and the Scandinavian peninsula, is short the electricity it needs. Britain and France will join together in an integrated grid with the completion of a 100 mW trans-Channel cable that ill balance off their peak loads, which differ by half-an-hour. England lacks  hydroelectric (which is strictly true, but wrong) and has a "slatternly" coal mining industry, so it is in nuclear power to stay, and can afford to sell atomic power at 15 mills, compared with America's five. In much of the rest of the world, fuel is so expensive that atomic power is very attractive. 

The threatened Charles Kerr article follows, and then one about a New Jersey truck farmer making good on asparagus, tomatoes, peppers and sweet potatoes.