Evening star., 1941-08-31
Gossip interfering
With Leose-Lend Aid
By OUen L. Scott.


lend policy for giving aid to nations
fighting Hitler and Japan is beginning
to be questioned by come very important
ofIcials. Such questioning grows out
of difdculties that seem to be inherent
in short-of-war aid Of the present type.
Among the difficulties are these:
Present policy calls for leasing or
lending of war materials. Yet it is not
easy to discover basis of security
for loans or of compensation for leases.
The result Is that those who are getting
aid take it for granted that the trans
action is q commercial transaction and
should be treated accordingly. On the
other hand, people in this country have
come to regard the aid as gift and
expect those receiving lease-lend goods
to act like beneficiaries of a gift.
In addition. the British are inclined
to feel that the United States is trying
to buy immunity from war by hiring
others to do the fighting. And Ameri-
cans, faced with their first sacrifices
based upon armament production, are
critical of the British for what they
think are abuses of lease-lend aid. The
background is coming to be an almost
exact duplicate of that which Hitler
exploited so efficiently when he played
upon British and French prejudices be-
fore the battle of France.
This time the stories that are used to
generate prejudices purport to tell how
the British are taking Americans for
another ride.
There are stories of lease-lend mate
rials either being resold by the British
or being used to replace British goods
that are sold to take markets away from
Americans There are stories of the
British maintaining business-as-usual in
world oil trade while Americans give
UP tankers and face a gasoline and fuel
oil shortage. There are stories about
the British maintaining their world
shipping lines while Americans are
forced to give up their lines. And there
are stories about high living on the
part of British officials in Washington
of American taxpayers.
Unless these stories are brought into
the open and dealt with they can work
much mischief President Roosevelt
made general statement denying the
stories at his press conference on Tues
day, but the tales persist. They all
sound plausible One or two have a
basis in fact Most are fabrications de-
signed to create discord All are prod
uct of the strange position in which the
United States finds itself today-a ma
ton that asserts its enmity to Hitler
and to Japan and yet wants to avoid
any open conflict with the declared
enemy.
The story which had the greatest
basis in fact concerned British use of
some lease-lend material in making
British machinery that then was sold
in South American markets in compe-
tition with American machinery. In
emily were being asked to give up mar
kets in Latin America so that they could
produce lease-lend goods, only to discov-
er that the markets they were sacrifice
ing were going to the British. President
Roosevelt said that sort of thing wasn't
cricket and the British are reported to
have agreed to stop the practice.
At the same time. Britain insists that
if she is to fight war she must main
tain markets and carry on trade in
order to realize the exchange needed to
pay for goods not available from the
United States on lease-lend basis. It
is to be remembered that the first 30
shipment of only s75,00O,00O worth of
American war goods to the British En-
pire and it takes far more than that
to carry on a war with Hitler.
But then there is the story about Brit
ish tankers and about British shipping
lines.
The tanker part of the story is that
Britain at the wars start had nearly
500 ta0kers and that she has acquired
400 more from Norway and other ma
tons Now she is receiving or is asking
to receive $50 tankers from the United
States. making 1850 in all, when $50
tankers can supply the needs of the
British Isles. Sinkings have accounted
for 100, leaving $50 ships to fill a need
that $50 can fill. At the same time,
Americans are faced with q shortage of
fuel for their furnaces and gas for their
cars.
Officials say that the trouble with this
story is that it is not true. Britain, for
military reasons, cannot give a detailed
report on the exact use to which tank
ers are being put. but officials of this
Government who have seen such a re-
port insist that the British. need for
additional tankers is urgent and real.
There is some feeling that this need
could be reduced by more efficient use of
available ships, but that is another prob
lem in itself.
The other half Of this story concerns
British shipping lines. Those lines are
supposed to be running on business-as-
usual basis all over the world
Again, the response is that the story
is not true.
At least 30 per cent of the British
ships that formerly maintained service
between the United States and South
America have been withdrawn. British
ships are plying directly between Brit
ain and South American nations from
which the British are drawing supplies,
but even in this field service is very
much curtailed. In the Pacific, British
ships are serving Australia and Hong
Kong and other portions of the British
Empire, but that is part of the war ef-