Evening star., 1941-01-28
Ry ]. A. OLEARY.

II the administration lenQ-ledSe
bill does not pass, Great Britain,
Greece and China will not be able
10 keep up their fight, Secretary OF
the Treasury Morgenthau told the
Senate Foreign Relations Commit
tee this afternoon. after testifying
that an order for 1000 planes needed
by England is being held up penang
passage of the bill.
The decision rests with Congress
whether those countries continue
their struggles against the axis
powers. he warned the committee
lust before the lunch recess. Re-
ferring to the delayed plane order,
the Secretary said:
"Knudsen called me up and asked
If something could not be done to
permit the British to order 2,OOO
planes which they want, but Tor
which they haven't been able to
pay" He was referring to William
S. Knudsen, director general of the
Office of Production Management.
Plant Capacity Available.
Mr.. Knudsen told him, Secretary
Morgenthau said, that there was
plant capacity available for the
orders if they could only be placed.
In reply to questions from Senator
La Toilette, Progressive, of Wiscon-
sin Mr.. Morgenthau explained that
some plants had been fooled up for
months to produce the types OF
planes wanted by the British and
French. Unless the British could
get credit soon, he said, these plants
would be idle after April because
they did not produce the types
primarily desired by the United
States Army and Navy.
The French and British, Mr.. Nor
eenthau said, had spent hundreds
Of millions of dollars in this coun-
try to create plants for the particu-
lar types they want.
: Senator La Toilette asked specific
elly whether the reason the British
were holding up orders was that
they lacked dollar exchange and
could not purchase under present
laws requiring cash payments.
That's right" Mr.. Morgenthau
replied.
Repeats British Good Risk"
Senator Nye, Republican, of North
Dakota inquired if the British were
urging this form of aid legislation.
Mr.. Morgenthau replied they had
simply made known to this Govern
ment the fact that they have used
up all Of their dollar assets on past
orders.
Senator Nye asked the Secretary
If he regarded Britain as good loan
risk.
"Yes, I do" came the answer.
even in the light of our 1917 ex-
perience?" the Senator pursued.
"I am not thinking in terms OF
being repaid in dollars, but in terms
of Senator Peppers question" the
Secretary replied.
Senator Pepper, Democrat, OF
Florida q few minutes earlier had
asked the Secretary if it would not
be cheaper in the long run for the
United States to help Great Britain
survive than to face the cost of
maintaining the large defense ma
chinery this country would need for
years to come if the axis powers
win.
From that standpoint, think it
Is a very good risk" the Secretary
of the Treasury added.
At the other end of the Capitol
the House Foreign Affairs Commit
tee tentatively closed its hearings on
the bill with private testimony from
Gen. George c. Marshall, Armv
chief of staff, and Gen. George H.
Brett, acting Army Air Corps chief.
Voting on Changes to Start.
Members said that the Democratic
and Republican members would
meet separately this afternoon to
perfect amendments and would re-
convene tomorrow to start voting on
the proposed changes.
Representative Fish, Republican,
Of New York said the two most i'm
Portant revisions should be prohi-
bitions against the United States
conveying supplies to Britain and
against "the President giving away
any part of our Navy"
Speaker Rayburn predicted that,
with two or three little amend
ments," from 95 to SO per cent of
the Democrats would vote for the
legislation when the final roll is
called, probably on February 7. He
(See BRITISH AID. Page A-4D