+
THE CHINA MAIL, WEDNESDAY, APRIL 27, 1960.
CORRUPTION, TRIGGER-HAPPY POLICE, AND A STUBBORN OLD MAN FACE THE US. WITH HER TRICKIEST
CRISIS
Korea: This is the bitter pay-off
THE
nation-wide revolt against the Syngman Rhee, regime in South Korca confronts the United States with its worst Far Eastern dilemma since the Quemoy crisis.
Indeed, the tone of the State Department's warning to the Korean Glovemmen betraye rrita- the bad-umpered tion of nction which has plunged into a muddle of its own making and has no idea of how to extriente itself.
Ungrateful
For Korea was to have been America's gifs to Far Eastern democracy. Immense quantities. of American blond and treasure have been lavished on this re- luctant and ungrateful and.
The three years' fighting a Korea cos! the United States early 130,000 ensahies in rluding 23,000 dead and more dollars in 2,000 mulliera Lizan hard cash,
In addition, up to
the signature 1953. Korea dollar's aut in foreign vesnenie Mi relief. Since then she has been getting U.S. ditary and econo- mic assistancy at an annual rate of about 150 million dollars.
of the armistice in hud received 1,059
indeed. It is very probable that the U.S. laxpayer has forked out more on behalf of Kurea than on any other country in the world,
So little
By PAUL JOHNSON
Is now in full
19
government-
The economy
Essential Imports, from raw recession. and falling wages, materials to medical hitic
growing together with
uner- alter Into ployment, have been major fac- manipulated black markel. lors in promoting the eurrent Criticism unrent.
in pultties, the Lule is even more dismal, Washington in seaded Korea to be a shup window for Western style de mocracy in Asia. In Syngman thee, the they man
Americans believed nd picked a winner a of the
same stature Adenauer, whose firmaers and deep sense of Western political values would weld this buttered nation into a model republie on U.S.A. lines.
No Lincoln
slapped down
Parkinson's Second Law
PART TWO
When taxation is taking
you near to disaster
THE Farewell Empire is the logical sequel of the Welfare State. The British made their last deliberate colonial acquisitions in 1909.
Their impetus had by then been practically lost, the mood for adventure being replaced by an Future urge to defend, exploit and enjoy. emphasis was to be on social welfare, not upon imperial expansion.
A5 is "Communist Inspired." and To provide both battleships and benefita was hard- Thee's police who shot downly possible and it was perfectly clear which polley the 300 villagers at Kerhang for
people preferred. alleged Match lo Communist guerilo" were notoriously Trigger-happy.
After 1908 retrenchment was a thing of the past. There was to be social democracy instead and an attack on privilege.
Wna
already the yet.
Mr Lloyd George's Budget in 1909 was
Britain incompatible with scientific finance. most heavily taxed of the world powers and militarily weak in proportion to its expenditure.
the world No country in conld have afforded both, and it is doubtful whether Britain
could afford either,
Last month, they murdered sa 18-year-old student, Ainging his as body in the river, and it was this incident. even more than the
elections -- which pro- | faked
the
am present wave duced violent protesi.
What are the Americans to 302 Like Frankenstein, they have created a monster which i now beyond their control. £2 10%. id. In France. 21 49. 78. Rhee macie mockery of in the United States, 189. 4d. In Asia, but with his Germany and 125, 4d. In Japan, democracy
believed himself impervious to urge and loyal police force he frontal assault.
For hee wak not only Christian, he was a product of the American way of life, le was educated at George Washing 1on University and Harvard, and between the wars presided over
the
Korean Commission Fr Washington.
The State Department belleved he would turn into a Lincoln. In fact, he became merely another Chiang Kai-shek.
The constitution, drawn up un- der the negis of General Mac-
the president, Arthur, gave
LOS
head of the executive, powers on the US. model. Hu: Rhee, using his Liberal Party inschine, has consistently and successfully ex- tended them.
در ایام
In tolat national taxation the British Agure of 23 Os. 36. per anad was to be compared with
Collapse
The Americans dare not inter.
The effect of piling war taxes issuc fere directly. They can
this peacetime level of wauming. They
concel upon Eisenhower's proposed visit to exaction was to mean the even
to tual ruin of the clars woon which Korea. They can threaten lighten the purse strings but Britain relled for leadership. It remain a threat, for was to mean the collapse of the this must withdrawal of aid would turn British Empire, Korea into economic chaos and invite a Communist take-over.
The choice
Efforts to save the Empire in-
cluded warfare in Malaya, Korea. Cyprus and Egypt, with garri- suns. subsidies and cultural reu-
resentatives elsewhere,
The
They will always have to yield 10 per cent to somebody
Parkson's Second Law. Their
only limit is at the point where the victim refuses to pay.
In ancient times that point of refusal was reached when the tax demand rose much above 10 per cent of the gross product.
At a reckless generalisation we can my that the productive people of the world have dla- covered from experience that they will always have to yield 10 per cent to somebody, whether to a gangster, a feudal lord or a department of Inland Revenue.
Destruction
The late Sir Stafford Cripps is known to have bellevod that the British would bear almost limit- less taxation, and this is clearly the masuration that underlies British Anancial policy.
The tax collectors of Britain
local), who took. (central and 25.4 per cent of the national in- come in 1938 and 39.8 per cent, In 1947, were actually taxir o larger share (40.1 per cent) in 1950.
The whole subject was dis-, eussed at the 1063 Symposium! of the Tax Institute. most de- legates to which were more or less agreed that Britain is tax- ing itself to death.
new Utopia In Britain involved a civil service which seem of even more importance. Here was the Leader of the increased In had mysteriously
When the alternative appears numbers from 387,000 in 1939 to Opposition chiding the Chancel- 704,000 in 1945, and a series of lor of the Exchequer for his
run for reckless generosity towards the to be national destruction. Laxes of up to 50 per cent of the nationalised industries the most part at a substantial taxpayer, the Chancellor him-
self maintaining that
his national income may well be
of
generoslly As a breed. the builders
was Justified in the paid without much complaint. The point of refusal is reached empire have become extinct, What this meant la taxation circumstances of the day.
only when the doubt sripes as to death duties migh! be Success in the modern age is to And
worth existence winther be measured by one's ability io imagined even if it were not
while. give the minimum of effort to known. one's career and extract the subsidy from the
Joss.
Nightmare
And what is there to show for On the it? Disastrously little.
US.- side, Korea's military trained forces number, In theory. 650,000, grouped in 20 divisions.
In practice, senior officers of the two under-strength divisions, which are all that remain of the vast U.S. forces, believe that a determined North Korean assault could crumple her's army less than a month. All that holds
ile trentext the popularly the Communists in check, they consider, is the threat of S. elected National Assembly as nuclear power, which dwindles mere advisory body, and most daily as the US heartland be elections to public office- such
Soviet s the election of his sloge, Lee pious hope that the 85-year-old empire of the past; an exemple Budget involved giving away not Budgets for 1955-50, the Budget to vulnerabic
in
KI Poong, to vice-president last month are blatantly stage managed by the polier.
conies mielles,
On the roununie side, motive injections of aid, plus the busy efforts of countless leums of Behind this democratic facade, U.S.A. "experts," have failed to corruption on a scule unknown make Korea a going concern, in Asia since the last days of the in China Unrestricted imports of USA. Kuomintang regime
saddle Kores with goods
has been spreading through the country. chrie trade deffelt.
Mid Week Selection
by Friell
There have been some tax con- But if the Americans attempt maximum of
ccasions of late. The standard But what generosity (let alone more than this, they would ex-State.
rate of income tax was reduced what recklessness) was there to their pose the hollowness of
To these ends a new zonera-
01 1959. But the significant discuss? The total revenue was Plain that South Korea-unlike the puppet state to the north was to devole itself, leaving observation made on that year's expected to reach £5,020 million the British Empire to collapse Budget came from Mr Gaitskell, and the government proposed to
and more com- Leader of the Opposition, who is spend £5,229 milion of it. is "independent."
Meanwhile, their present policy more suddenly
"The undefeated reported as saying that
With the exception of tho of merely giving advice in the Bletely than
ever laid in peacetime on the Chancellor who could give this under discussion is the heaviest
long-suffering public.
Creasingly
Bry
to the world of what excessive
how short a
time.
Rhee will retire is deadly. dangerous. For if as stemy in-xation can bring about and in
Is possible. Rhee driven out by force, and The South is plunged into civil war. the Communists templation te intervene irresistible.
will become almost Britain
In that event, the US. would have a straight choice between wing nuclear
weapons and capitulation.
It is a choice which the Elsen- hower administration has always sought in avoid.
In Korea, it may be upon them seaner than they think.
-(London Express Serulco).
Mystery
would have been Onancially crippled by World War II in any case, but mattera were made infinitely worse by the incidence of Socialism and Imperial defence.
On the one hand the Con- servatives were irping to save
of the Empire; what remained on the other, the Labour Party was bulling & Scelalle Utopia.
far short of £400 million.
away could be
lucky."
described
Any
*
The words. "give awcat” re veat, unconsciously, an attitude of mind.
ما
And while the central and local governments took nearly a third of the gross national pro- duct in 1957, there is no reason that their share was By comununist teaching, the to think whole wealth of the country notably smaller in 1959. belongs
the overtiment, which gives away a proportion of it to the more deserving its subjects. The whole Idea private property is a thing the past, the State owns all.
Taxes Inevitably ize as There is another aspect of the expenditure rises, and expendi- 1950-60 Budget which might ture rises in accordance with
of
The statistics of British con tral and local government ex- penditure have Become a sort of nightmare. of
of
pr
Remember 'Parkinson's Law? "All work expands to fill the time available for its complation." The book setting out this low, written by Professor C. Northcote Parkinson, con-
rulsed two continents.
Now the Professor bas
his formulated
Second Low: EXPENDITURE RISES
TO MEET INCOME. I means also constantly rising taxation, as he indicates in another highly original and pungent instalment today,
evasion
of tax avoidance and carried to the utmost lengths of determination and skill.
Above 20 per cent each increase will produce propor-
Above 25 per tionately less.
serious inflation. cent there is
the value of the reducing revenue collected.
Taxes amounting to 40
Above 30 per cent the decline cent of the national income have been paid without protest for a in national influence, observable
before
expert. to the number of years. The tempta- long tlon among those responsible is becames obvious to the world at At 35 per cent there is to assume that all is well and large. that comparable taxes
visible decline in freedom and borne indefinitely.
stability.
Evasion
Can
be
In fact, however, the results of oppressive laxation are cumula- live and slow. There are succes- sive points at which evil results successively appear.
With
laxation peacetime amounting to over 10 per cent of the national Income, capital will begin to migrate.
IK its flight prevented.
is whether by circumstances or by legislation, taxes can rise to 20 per cont but against a stiffening opposition which takes the form
'At 36 per cent there is disaster, complete and flual, although not Immediate. Taxation always
feasible and beyond that point, perhaps necessary in time of war, Is lethal in time of peace. Of the taxation precipice, 38
most countries) per cent (for represents the brink.
SATURDAY:
How to avoid paying tax
-London Express Scrulca), '
CABINET ROOM
*You're lucky if only one of your Cabinet wonted
to go on that nuclear protest march, half mine felt that way."
INLAND REVENUE
Collector
Toper
11 Ont.
"Ah, my little man, and how many bobs have you
made to date?"
NATIONAL
FEDERATIN
Casual {Colerenar
"I tell you, Sylrester, I just don't believe that peaceful co-axistance is possible."
London Xxpress servion
I
SAM WHITE'S Newsletter
Paris.
HAVE been carrying out an inquiry among
the foreign embassies concerned and well-con- nected exiled royalty of Paris as to why so many families have re- royal fused invitations Princess Margaret's wed-
ding.
The one
to
inescapable conclu- siune in that snobbery, based on the fact that the Princess will be marrying a commoner has not been a factor in determining to many refrsula,
Bitterness
Leart of AR
has it been a
Why they won't be
at the wedding.
FROM A MASS OF RUMOURS, I
CAN REVEAL THE REAL REASON
If the two weddings of the Sluh of Persia and the recent Japanese royal wedding, pre added to the list, the British Royal family have attended only four out of 13 post-war royal
factor in the CAME of the weddings,
Royal families,
Scandinavia
who have married
time and again.
Commoners
The true explanation of this
State visit
What a
for
advertising campaign spring water with The slogan B.B. loves Charrier Charrier of the water charmer she is and being the name
A pronounced in what a woman. At 30 she has and B.B. more sex audeal in her le French sounds like baby. nager that #
trainiond of
In fact love Doer D.B. Brigitte Bardots.
Charrier? Friende report con-
Her marriage to Yves Montand siderable dissension. is one of the happiest I know. Politis olay an important part
I
So boring
as to whether it has received an It is that neither the Queen nor the Duice of Edinburgh Invitation, and cither have in their He. He is a former has never forgot- found themselves able to attend accepted or rejected it. I tiny docker who
Monaco. the funeral of King Haakon in
ten a working-class aMilations.
had a drink with Henry the leathery-skinned 1957. The Duke of Gloucester
Both are reputed to be Con- Milier, was sent in their stead.
but Mile. Signoret Amerkan writer whose scatolo- munist,
lands up for her political poel- gical novels like The Tropic of Bion with great political pro- Cancer Tundity: "In France there are literary vogue in France. about 40 different ways of being
Engilch writer, nud especially ja Commanist.”
the English classics, have always bored him, he told me.
No member of the royal family attended the wedding of Princo Rainier and Princess Grace.
M.
The royal family which finds most reason for displeasure with ours is undoubtedly the Belgien.
☆ COMMENTATOR No member of the Royal attended cilier the Of all the many royal refusals Family
SERVAN. SCHREIBER: considerable mystery is a some to the wedding the only ono wedding of Prince Albert of what painful one.
of dif- which stands UD to serious Brussels Inst year nor that of "There is a world
one cx-King Leopold's daughter It is that Continental royalties scrutiny is the Swedish
unavoidable Prince Josephine Charlotte to ference between » monarchy clearly consider that they have been which is frequently subbed by the British because of the State vill of the Princo Jean of Luxembourg. Royal family and these subs, Shah of Persia. Imagined or real, have left behind them traces of rencour and bittemers.
I find for example that out of 10 Continental roral weddings since the war, members of the Brith Hoyal family have only attended four, and two of thero have been attemled by the Duchess of Kont sirkfly in her copacity as a relative.
The omeini reason for not in Franco attendin Prince Albert's
The moet mysterious and wedding war that the Royal Britain."
Family was in mourning at the
inicialog refusal is the on time, but it has been noted by from Norway.
the the Belgian court that announcement of Princess Mar- Raret's
ENKOMSTER WAS King Olaf's official explana- made during a period of court ton that he will be attending mourning.
a melentido congrem.
What is the real resku?
Own
and
17]
A charmer
Great
Simone Bignoret has returned Paris after a Hollywood triumph of winning the Academy award for her part in Room at the Top.
10
Tho only remaining royal House which is still keeping zhum
Near panic
have
ot
normous -
He made another revealing remark: "I consider myself an infantry man of literature." Ho Dear is the best-dwearing Infantry- Brigitte Bardot created panie In Paria by paying a visit man I know. to a lawyer in Geneva recently. Was she seeking advice for a divorce?
In
fact the shrewd Mlle.
Bardot wan canimilting a com
10
*Mo
AUTHOR PIERRE DANINOS: "It has often that A occurred parly lawyer with a view to sele ting in a limited company re- xoologist is probably In Ristored in Switzerland for the better position to commercial exploitation
stand the English than name,
This move, long intended. has psychologlat." *been hastened by' a suocesafial
of her
a
under-
.
-Londen Kejyben Karvins, –