The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1930. AMERICANISATION.

Evening Star, Issue 20372, 2 January 1930, Page 8

The Evening Star THURSDAY, JANUARY 2, 1930. AMERICANISATION.

Two sets of figures summarising periods terminating with the end of 1929 deserve setting side by side. The British Government revenue and expenditure returns for nine months of the current financial year disclose an ominous discrepancy. Labour in office has an unenviable reputation for failing to make ends meet, and the MacDonald Government shapes as though it will prove no exception, despite Mr Philip Snowden’s repeated repression of the ambitions of some of the spending departments of State. “Social” legislation involves dipping into the Treasury. If big sections of the community are;to regularly receive money from the State without giving anything in return, someone has to provide that money. According to the analysis of tho leading London financial daily paper it seems inevitable that Mr Snowden will have to ask the .British taxpayer to provide yet more funds unless Budgets are to go unbalanced. British trade and industry are already weakening under the existing load of taxation, and the outlook is that additions to that load will sorely afflict trade and will increase unemployment. Then the Government will to a certainty need more funds than ever to cari’y out its. “social” legislation programme. This process ol transfer of funds from the fruits of toil to those who render nothing in re turn, the Treasury acting as an intermediary, was on its big scale inception by Mr Lloyd George, to have bran a briet temporary p°l iativo. lit'now ha* a fixed place in the system of govern ment, no matter what party is in office. Something must go before long; nothing could bo surer. On the other hand tho United States reports a record year in foreign trade, with exports well ahead of imports. Of these properous trade and industrial conditions the United States Treasury returns recently furnished a reflection, llevenue is. so buoyant that reduction of income taxation is conceded. The many millions which Britain is annually transferring to America in satisfaction of war indebtedness, even then accomplishing but a meagre reduction of the principal, aro leaving their unmistakcabk. impress on the respective countries. Can this process also go on indefinitely ? Even now there are signs that it can not. It is admitted that tho excess of American, exports is now on a dwindling scale. The purchasing power of the European customers of the United States shows signs of exhaustion. Furthermore an economic and industrial Americanisation of Europe which United States observers have noted is providing methods for tho homo production of goods to displace importations from America. Ono such observer ro ceutly wrote: “In Germany rationalisation of whole industries is part of a national plan. Other Governments are following carefully American methods of simplification, standardisation, elim ination of waste. In France Dr Taylor's Scientific Management has gained wide acceptance. In Great Britain various industrial boards are paying strict attention to fatigue and physical conditions of work, while Russia has adopted wholesale every conceivable phase of largo scale production methods Rationalisation is the shrine at which all the leading nations of Europe now bow down and worship. Rationalisation has not proceeded so rapidly in England as in other European countries. The reason is not far to seek. Both France and Germany went through a period of depreciated currency after tho war which enabled them to wipe out all capital debts and begin anew. In Germany the stimulation required during this inflationary debauch, in renovating and re-equipping plants, lias now be-

come a habit. Th© French industrial fabric has undergone an almost com pleto reconstruction and general en largement sinco the war. Reconstruction of devastated areas- has re-equipped many largo industries—coal and ore mines, chemical works, and textiles. A depreciated currency, coupled with Governing..t. grants, has worked wonders in speeding the rationalisation process in these two countries.” At the conclusion of his article this American writer asks a pertinent question. After pointing out that the United States has its economic fingers in nearly every European pie, he traces other subtle changes at work, which are fast making Berlin (for example) begin to look like New York, with its bizarre afnusements, its electric signs, and its gaudy shop windows; while through its 90 per cent, control of the world’s film business the American movie portrays American customs, habits, and manner of life. “ Here, then, is the culmination of the process of Americanisation,” concludes the writer. “At work, at home, at play, wherever the European may turn, the American scheme of things is ever flaunted before him. Is it a menace or a blessing?”