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to carve off its own bit and its protected markets. And it damaged world trade and it damaged the poorer countries of the world in consequence. We do seem, after this war, to have learnt wisdom and I hope we shall continue on that tack.
Questioner: Does the Secretary of State think that our entry into the Common Market would increase our understanding of Eastern Europe?
Mr. Stewart: I am very glad that question has been asked because it raised a topic that would have been too large for me to try to get into the original speech, but is, I think, an extremely important one. There is anxiety, I know, that if you bring Western Europe more and more closely together, this may make any prospect of détente or conciliation, whatever you like to call it, between West and East more difficult. Now, I believe, in fact, the reverse is true. I think, if the Soviet Union felt that she had only got to wait and Western Europe would disintegrate, we should not join the Community, the Community would land itself in increasing difficulties, NATO would become feebler, if the Soviet Union decided that that was how Western Europe was going to go, she would not feel under any obligation to make any kind of concession in order to get a general settlement. Once she realises that she is faced with an increasingly united Western Europe, whose members are not going to go back on each other, it will then be apparent to her that if she wants a general settlement, there are certain prices and concessions that have got to be paid for it. Then you will be in much nearer reach of getting a settlement than if you left the Soviet Union to imagine that she had simply to wait for Western Europe to fall to pieces.
The next questioner asked whether or not Mr. Stewart agreed that education was essential for Britain to take advantage of her relationship with the Common Market and the Commonwealth and that therefore contented teachers were vital to the country.
Mr. Stewart: The short answer to that is "Yes". The addition is that no doubt you will have studied the very recent statement made by my colleague, the Secretary of State for Education, as to the possibilities of reaching a settlement on this matter. I hope what he had said there will be very carefully studied by the teachers' organisations. In general, it is fascinating, simply to go down the philosophic path indicated by the question" education is all "—I'm not sure it is really all. Some of my colleagues in the House, knowing my great interest in education, have sometimes said to me after having heard their opponents on the opposite benches, many of whom have been quite expensively educated, Michael, what exactly is the use of all this education?" I think basically, the answer is of course, that if you are in the wider sense of the word, educated, it is much easier for you to do what you want to do efficiently. I am not sure whether education can really teach you the things that are worth wanting to do. I think, profounder qualities of judgment from the heart ultimately do that for you and if those are lacking, education won't help you all that much. But whatever you want to do you are likely to do it more efficiently and this, of course, is enormously true today. Mankind is now within sight of getting rid of drudgery and I think mankind's motto for the future ought to be more work and less drudgery". The larger the proportion of people we have who in every sense, are well educated, well trained, competent, the more we can raise the standards of human life and the standards of human leisure. The link with this, I think, and the Common Market is that I do believe this enlarging of the Market for us is enormously important for the full development of some of our newest industries. It makes that possible but of course we shall not be able to exploit that possibility to the full if our standards of management, education, and general education are not what the 20th century requires.
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