Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1939-08-21

ton and causing -
the construction David Lawrence.
of factories and plants, which, when
serious problem for the Nation, SO
Canada may arise as the largest in
dustrial competitor of the United
States after the next war.
Uncertainty over the attitude of
Congress in respect to revision of
neutrality laws so as to assure
Britain an opportunity to get war
supplies in the United States has
resulted in a decision in London to
take no chances on American aid,
but to build up Canada as source
of supply. The Montreal CORE
spondent of the New York Times
wires as follows:
The British government now has
more than $300,000,000 in gold in
Canada under earmark. 1t is gen.
orally understood to be held here in
preparation for war emergencies.
Canadian manufacturers have long
been busy making airplanes and ma
chine guns for the British war Office.
with the cooperation of the
French munition firm of Schneider
Creusot, British war Office order
for the new British field gun has
just been placed in Sorel, Quebec,
which means that the French
Canadians also will have a stake in
war contracts.
Investments have been made,
machinery has been installed, and
workers have been hired to fulfill
orders that in some cases are still
tentative and educational but
which if satisfactorily carried out
will lead to others on SO large scale
that Canada will soon be Britain's
chief exterior ammunition supplier.
Already she has become a British
training ground, since English avn
ators are now being trained here
for the war Office
U. S. Business May Suffer.
The foregoing is in line with what
a leading New York businessman,
interviewed by this correspondent
recently, told President Roosevelt,
namely, that American business may
suffer a most severe blow because
of the procrastinating policy of Con-
gress with respect to the export of
war supplies.
If the action of the Congress were
to prevent the British and French
completely from getting the war sup
plies they need from this continent
and thus theoretically aid the Ger
mans thereby, the action would be
logical from the viewpoint OF some,
especially of those who fear that
furnishing war supplies leads to in
Movement of the supplying nation.
But, as it turns out, the French
and British are not only going to
get their war supplies anyhow from
this continent, but from country
right next door to the United States,
where a war machine is going to be
constructed that will have serious
repercussions on American manu-
featuring when the war is over. With
10 millions of persons unemployed
in the United States. the Canadian
war machine will probably absorb
some who will emigrate to get jobs,
but the United States already has
lying idle enough plant capacity to
take care of war supplies without
further need of investment.
Damage Done by Congress.
The Republican party, which has
customarily been friendly to big
business and development of Ameri-
cas- domestic enterprises, has de-
Tended it's actions in Congress in re-
fusing to open up the neutrality
laws by stating that present restric-
lions placed on war exports are very
small anyway and that raw mate
rails can still be shipped. But the
damage done, however, in the last
session was in proclaiming at critl-
cal time that Congress might go fur
ther in cutting off suddenly all war
supplies, and this was something the
British and French war offices could
not afford to have happen. Failure
of the United States policy to be
clear and definitive either one way
or the other produced uncertainties
abroad which came tc climax with
the vote of the Senate Foreign Re-
lations Committee, so that now the
British and French have practically
determined to take no chances, but
to mobilize Canadian resources at
once.
With the $500, 100000 of earmarked
gold in Canada, which is more, by
the way, than Britain and France
had here in 1914 when the European
war broke out-loans can be f1oated
in Canada which will yield billions
of dollars and in which, no doubt,
Wall Street firms will take as much
of a participation as they did be7
fore. The so-called neutrality policy
of the United States, therefore, will
not result in keeping Americans
from becoming involved indirectly
in the financing of war, and the only
practical effect may be to keep
American labor from getting more
Jobs and American businessmen
from utilizing their idle plants, even
as new plants, built with funds Dor
rowed from American citizens, be-
gin to make their appearance across
the border. Canada may be trans
formed from wholly agricultural to
q very substantial industrial country
able to compete more effectively
than ever before with the United
States.