Foreign News: The Ship Might Not Sink

Since the war, many austerity-worn but patriotic Britons have rejected the lure of emigration, told themselves that every departure weakened the nation. Last week, Sir Frank Whittle, famed jet-propulsion engineer, declared that the opposite was true. Whittle launched a campaign to persuade 20 million of Britain’s 50 million people to go to the Dominions. His argument, as expounded to the Council for a New Era of Emigration, is that mass emigration now would greatly strengthen the United Kingdom, especially if war should come. Britain’s fundamental weakness, Airman Whittle believes, is its vulnerability through starvation if atom-bombed or blockaded. Declared Whittle of would-be emigrants: “They have felt they would be guilty of leaving a sinking ship, whereas the truth is that if they leave, the ship might not sink.”

Whittle believes Britons are fast coming to his way of thinking, citing answers to a recent Gallup poll question: “If you were free to do so, would you like to go and settle in another country?” Some 35% said yes, 60% said no, 5% “don’t know.” This would make it seem that Whittle nearly has his willing 20 million, but as for persuading whole communities and industries to move, an essential feature of his plan, Whittle’s jet-powered imagination is obviously soaring toward utopianism.