Inside Europe

Winston Churchill, in the first post-war speech to combine realism with authority, proved himself yesterday to be a good Englishman and a good European. His national post-war policy endorsed in fact if not in name the Beveridge Plan for compulsory social security; he pledged himself to abolish the old school tie tradition, to rid England of drones, whether they be aristocrats or pub crawlers. And showing the type of realism which differentiates constructive planning from political promises, he offered a definite financial program calling for high taxes and stabilized prices to avoid inflation. Social legislation would not be allowed to kill private enterprise.

As a European, Churchill's plans were equally realistic and equally constructive. By confederating the small nations of Europe into strong groups of states, he would achieve approximate equality of strength without sacrificing individual national cultures. He proposed a United States of Europe with definite judicial and police powers.

Yet Churchill did not step beyond England, beyond Europe. He did not show the outlook of a world citizen. After presenting concrete programs for national and continental reconstruction, he offered only hopes and prayers that England and the United States and Russia would consider the welfare of all nations. He did not discuss the sacrifices that the British Empire must make for world harmony; to the contrary, he insisted that England would regain her share of increased trade after the war, that her most important national problem was he maintenance of a high standard of living.

Churchill's plan may harmonize Europe, but it cannot pacify the world. A permanent peace cannot exist as long as they are any groups, no matter how large, between which friction can arise. A United States of Europe would only force this country back to the isolation of the western hemisphere. If once Europe, Asia, and America are economically divided, a new balance of power would be established which could be no more successful than those that have preceded it.