The Wilmington morning star., 1943-08-31
BY RAYMOND CLAPPER

| WASf1lNGIO YIN. - lne AQIlllIl1S-
tration is trying to establish a new
way of thinking about lend-lease.
Instead of repayment in money
or goods, the President says in
his latest lend-lease report to Con-
gress that victory and a secure
peace are the only coin in which
we can be repaid
Lend-lease is part of general
Allied war pool. Each nation con-
tributes everything it has to the
pool-because the sooner we win
the war the more lives and treas
ure we all save.
So America contributes food and
tanks to Russia, bombers to Brit
ain, and the lives Of American sol
diers in the campaigns in Tunisia,
Sicily and the Pacific. Britain con-
tributes Spitfires, battleships and
Montgomery's Eighth Army. Rus
sia contributes thousands of lives
to make the gouging wounds in
the German army.
How can you sort all that out?
How can you fix any dollar values
and figure out who owes who how
much? You can't.
We send many bombers to Eng
land. If they 60 on bombing mis-
sions with American crews some
OF whom are lost, that isn't lend
lease and the British owe us moth
ing. If we allow the British tc fly
the bombers with their own crews
some of whom are lost, then it is
lend-lease and they owe us for the
planes. You can't unscramble
equities out of that, beyond saying
we are all pitching in to win the
war.
One facetious Britisher ends ar
guments about lend-lease by say
ing that Britain will be glad to pay
it all back by releasing all of her
airplanes and all of her ships to
us on lend-lease so we can man
them and fight the Japs.
Lc-d'case aid now amounts to
nearly IA billion dollars. We loan
ed the Allies about 10 billions in
the last war. Lend-lease now is
running at the rate of about one
billion dollars month. Yet it is
only IL per cent of our war cost
so that relatively, it is minor
item for us.
We may expect considerable in
crease in reciprocal lend lease
from other United Nations before
long. For some time we have been
receiving benefits from them. Re-
ciprocal aid at times has run as
high as 30 per cent Of what we
were laying out.
When the East Indies are re-
covered we may expect that we
shall get large quantities of nat
uraal rubber on reciprocal lend
lease. If we furnish high-octane
gasoline to Great Britain on lend
lease why should we not receive
in exchange natural rubber? Pool
ing works both ways.
When President Roosevelt first
explained the lend-lease idea at a
press conference back in 1910, he
used the illustration of a garden
hose. If your neighbor's house was
on fire and he wanted to borrow
your garden hose to fight it, you
would of course lend it to him.
After the fire was put out your
.1eighbor would return the hose
Or if it was damaged he would
replace it with new one. That.
said the President. as he flicked
the ash from his cigarette, was
the new idea that would enable
Us to ct rid of the silly old dollar
sign.
The inference from that illus
tration was that after the war.
after the fire was out, we would
expect the British. the Russians.
the Chinese and others to furnish
Us with replacement goods until
al lend-lease aid was repaid.
Now emphasis is on the more
practical side of trying to get all