Thirst, Unslaked

"The decision," beamed a Scottish M.P., "will be greeted with a sigh of relief by the entire civilized world."

Food Minister John Strachey's allocation last week of 50,000 tons of barley had started up Scotch distilleries (dormant since last summer), averted a contemplated slash in the export of Scotch whiskey, which nets Britain many (in 1945--$16,000,000) of her eagerly sought U.S. dollars.

Heckled Winston Churchill in the House of Commons: "With regard to the dollar export . . . is it not the case that the price of a bottle of whiskey exported to America today in dollars is five shillings [$1] . . . and that there it is about five times that much?"

Strachey declined to reply, but last week Manhattan's unco-guid tabloid, PM, ever on the alert for economic injustice, had the answer. In a front-page diagram, PM traced the history of a $7.84 bottle of Scotch from cask to customer, showed that the semiprecious liquid leaves British shores, bottled and labeled, at 97-c-, reaches U.S. shores at only $1.04. A sizable chunk, $2.32 1/4, goes into the U.S. Treasury in custom and excise duties; but the biggest slice ($3.14) goes to U.S. retailers.

At $7.84 a bottle, a large part of the civilized world would sigh, but not with relief.

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