Author Robert Cedric Sherriff (Journey's End) had a modest proposal for the British Treasury. Sherriff, whose new play, Home at Seven, was netting him £3,600 a year, had just had an offer of £10,000 ($28,000) to write a script for
Hollywood. Sherriff sat down, did some quick calculating, figured that Socialist Britain's income tax would take all but £500. Said he: "It didn't seem worth while putting in four or five months of very hard work for a sum I could make as a jobbing gardener—or collecting refuse in cans, for that matter."
Two weeks ago Sherriff approached the Treasury, offered...