FOREIGN TRADE: Lesson for Socialists

Great Britain's labor government got out of the rubber business last week, thankful that it had lost only the tail of its shirt. After five years of state buying & selling, it declared that the market in rubber would be free: trading will begin next week, private buyers will import crude rubber beginning Jan. 1.

The prime reason for the Government's decision was that supplies far exceed expectations. There was practically the same amount of natural rubber available this year (975,000 tons) as in 1939 (990,000 tons). Estimates for 1947: between 1,112,000 and 1,412,000 tons. But another reason was that...

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