Period Piece

The Old School Tie has been rudely yanked by many critics of British Toryism. Last week the Old School Tie snapped back. Up in Parliament rose handsome, grey, 6-ft., athletic Brigadier General Lord Croft, Joint Parliamentary Under Secretary for the War Office. Said he:

"Let us realize that what we defend is as sound as anything yet discovered and cease apologizing for our existence. 'This decaying race' has a finer system of justice and social service than any other land. Nowhere has the gap between wealth and poverty been so narrowed as in our country. In an imperfect world, our faith and actions are less materialistic than in most countries, for we alone went into this conflict without being attacked."*

Lord Croft went on to reject any outside concern over British colonial policy. Said he: "We intend to drive out the aggressor from Malaya and Burma and restore happiness and liberty to those unhappy countries. Far from quitting, we have the opportunity of continuing to lift those countries from illiteracy to understanding, and some day, in our own wisdom and at our own time, into full self-expression, and by our example, lead the world to a fuller, happier life."

Henry Page Croft, 61, Eton and Trinity (rowing, golfing, shooting), was a supporter of Francisco Franco during the Spanish Civil War, of Benito Mussolini at the partition of Abyssinia. The London Daily Mirror dismissed him last week as "a period piece . . . urging a charge of the heavy brigade against anything that happens to be new."

A more impressive defender of British accomplishment in World War II was Socialist Home-Secretary Herbert Morrison who said: "This small country with its 45,000,000 people has achieved a war output that stands in the front rank on either side. Its output per head is greater than that of any country in the world, ally or enemy."

*So did France, Costa Rica, Cuba, the Dominican Republic, Guatemala, Nicaragua, Honduras, Haiti, El Salvador, Italy and Japan.

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