WESTERN EUROPE: Lagging Behind

Western Europe's postwar industrial comeback has now leveled off, and has even slipped back a bit.

So reported two official international agencies last week. The Organization for European Economic Cooperation reported some beneficial trends in 1953: inflation no longer threatens, trade balances are better and farm production is the highest since the war. But the rate of industrial growth is lagging, said OEEC.

The United Nations' Economic Commission for Europe, measuring a single commodity, steel, found the same lag. Production in 1953 remained static in Italy, and actually dropped in Belgium, Luxembourg, France and Western Germany. Meanwhile, Red output rose as follows: Russia, 10.1%; Czechoslovakia, 17.4%; Hungary, 14.6%; Poland, 13.1%. Biggest steel-production increase in 1953: 20.7% in the U.S.