Evening star., 1940-04-07

produce for export. The British argyll
ment is that the -arid-carry provi-
sion in the Neutrality ACT, together with
the johnson Act forbidding defaulting
nations to float loans in this country,
forces them to obtain foreign exchange
to meet, partially at least, their obliga-
tions to the United States. And their
barter trade introduced recently with
some South American republics is forced
upon them by the fact that they don't
want to use their American exchange,
which must be paid to the United States.
Hence in order to conserve the already
limited amount of American money rep
resented by gold stocks and bond hold
ings in this country, they must exchange
goods for goods wherever possible.
Should, however, the next Congress
reconsider the johnson Act (the British
are reported willing to make some new
arrangements regarding the old war
debts the situation would change ma
terially and the British factories would
devote all their efforts to the produc.
tion of war material.
Eye Financial Assistance.
In financial quarters in London there
is grave concern over the ability of the
allies to continue protracted war with
out the full financial assistance of this
country It is conservatively estimated
that the expense of the present CAM
paign for the next IL months-without
an offensive which would require an un-
limited quantity of war material-will
reach the fantastic sum of $4,000, ,OOO,-
900 Should the allies decide on large
scale offensive on the western front,
with a secondary line in the East, this
amount would be increased by another
Is or 80 per cent.
Under the circumstances these finan.
cial quarters would prefer a limping
peace to doubtful victory year or
two hence. The financiers of London
believe that despite the many hymns
of hate which are now being sung in
Germany, the practical minds in the
Hitler regime do not desire the COM
plete destruction of the British Empire.
To put the situation in commercial
terms, the disruption of an old going
concern like the British Empire is
bound to cause havoc throughout the
world just as compulsory liquidation of
the United States Steel Corp. would
affect every branch of Americas indus
trial and financial life
Thus, when Hitler indicated he was
willing to talk peace with the allies on
the basis Of the recreation of token
Poland and C5echo-Slovakia," these
quarters would have liked Prime Minister
Chamberlain to accept such terms as a
basis for further negotiations. The
British Prime Minister, who believes in
the wisdom of The City, would have
taken the hint a few months ago. Now
it was too late. His colleagues informed
him that it would be the ruination of an
honorable political career His sacrifice
and Mr.. Chamberlain has proved his
ability to overlook his pride on more
than one occasion-would have been
useless because the country was not
ready to follow him along that path.
And when Paul Reynaud was handed
over the reins of government in France,
any attempt to. bring about peace by
compromise in the course of this year
vanished altogether.
Determined to Win.
Reynaud is not like M. Daladier. He
talked plainly to the British. Not only
did he tell them that France was de-
termined to win the war or 60 under in
complete defeat, but he also added that
Britain's military effort on the battle
line must be substantially increased. He
demanded that by the time everything
was ready for an effective offensive,
there must be at least million British
ers on French sop, with at least twice
that number in reserve ready to fill
the gaps such an offensive must create.
The peace dove which was sent out to
Europe by Mr. Roosevelt in February
came back and reported mo land" It is
unlikely that it will be sent out on an
exploration again. The United States
Government will henceforth assume the
role of an actively interested observer.
It will be willing to assume the role of
mediator only when the terms for media
tion are such as to permit the President
to envisage successful Intervention.
At the present time the unanimous
opinion Of all who have listened to Mr..
Welles Is that peace is a long way of.