Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1926-07-25
LOANDATA|NF full
SOON TOBE KNOWN
Congress Expected to Ask
For and Publish Details to
End British Claims.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

RAUL SMITHS, N. ", July a.
President Coolidge rather significantly
points to the records In the Treasury
Department as the best answer to the
dispute that has arisen between Sec
rotary Mellon and the British Chan
cellor of the Echequer, over the man
ner in which the money lent by the
United States to Great Britain during
the was was spent.
The question has become compli-
Gated, because in Great Britain a Ger.
tain impression has always been culti-
waited by British officials to the effect
that borrowings from America were
simply to cover advances made by the
British to their Allies. The fact that
the effect of the transactions was to
bolster up British exchange may be a
subject for debate merely as an AGA
demic matter. The truth is that the
money was borrowed from the United
States for the general purpose of pros
ecuting the war and certain statements
were made to the Treasury officials at
that time as to the purpose of the bor-
roWingS. Some of these statements
We're oral and some in writing, but
they all constitute record to which
Secretary Mellon has had access and
on which his public announcements
are based
If the present British government
discovers in Mr.. Melons statement
various things that it chooses to term
inaccuracies, then the conclusion
is inescapable that the British rec
ords do not correspond with the state
ments made on this side of the At
lantic during the war.
Accounting Never Asked.
ie Oh a
because, after all, the United States
did not demand any accounting from
the British as to what was subse-
quently done with the funds advanced.
Much of the money was spent in
America in connection with munitions
and food purchases. Some of it may
have been used to pay interest on pri-
vate loans previously fioated by the
British in America. The point is
that it was possible for the funds to
be transferred from one place to an
other in the intricate process of
financing which developed between
Great Britain and the United States
on the one hand and between the
British and their allies on the other.
The British officials desire to have
their people think that the status of
British credit during the war is one
thing, and what actually happened to
the money after American officials
were told the general purposes Of
the loans, may be quite another. Brit
ish officials now are saying that but
for the loans they had to make to
their allies, the London government
would have been able to finance it's
own part in the war without borrow
ing from America. There is no ac-
cusation against the British for pre-
senting their own version of the loan
transactions. Nor would any contro-
versy have arisen if the British had
not at this time desired to make 1t
clear that they are more generous to-
ward the allies, especially the French,
than is the United States Government.
Public to Get Details.
The upshot of the controversy will
be the publication Of all the records.
The first thing that will happen when
Congress reconvenes will be the adop-
ton of a resolution calling for all
communications and data on the sub
ject. Had 1t not been for this dis
pute the Secretary of the Treasury
would have been compelled by inter
national courtesy to say that 1t was
not compatible with the public in
terest" to make known the details of
the correspondence. Since Great Brit
ain has publicly questioned the Ameri-
can records, the Treasury Depart
ment will be compelled to make pub