Evening star., 1944-12-16
ChurchiII's PorIey PIeo
Seen Most Surprising
Public Appeal for Meeting Shows
Request Declined, Says Writer
By Dapid Laurence

Request Declined, Says Writer
By Dapid laurence
What was most surprising about
Prime Minister Churchill's latest speech
to the House of Commons was not the
announcement of the territorial changes
for Poland favored by Britain and Rus
sia but the plea for a conference of
the heads of state.
One would expect that Mr.. Churchill
would not have to beg publicly for
meeting with President Roosevelt and
Marshal Stain. The way the Prime
Minister expressed his willingness and
that of Foreign Secretary Eden to go
anywhere at any time and under any
conditions to meet with the President
and Marshal Stain indicated that may
be the request had been made through
the customary diplomatic channels and
had been declined by either President
Roosevelt or Marshal Stain or both.
1t is apparent, too, from the sugges-
ton of the Prime Minister that he
wants Mr.. Roosevelt and Marshal Stain
to come to Britain. That's a natural
desire, because the Prime Minister has
| twice gone to meet Mr.. Stain away
from Britain and several times he has
come to the United States to meet Mr..
Roosevelt.
| Obstacle Seen Evident.
But underlying this effort to get q
conference of the "big three" there is
evidently some serious obstacle For a
while it was believed that Mr. Roosevelt
would not wish to make another over
seas journey till he regained his physical
strength, as it will be recalled that on
the last journey to Teheran he picked
up a flu germ which weakened him for
I many months.
But all the reports now are that Mr.
Roosevelt is in shape physically, so the
reason must be looked for in some other
direction. The President of course, has
an Inauguration ceremony on January
20 and he has an annual message on
the budget and legislative matters to
present to the new Congress on jan
uary 3, so the meeting could hardly
take place before February
Maybe all these reasons have been
given and Mr.. Churchill nevertheless
wants to make it easier for the Presi-
dent to get away Immediately after the
inauguration Hence by preparing pub
lie opinion for the necessity of holding
a conference, it may be that the Prime
Minister is really paving the way for
decision. If this be true, then the
impression of disunity would not be
justified. The real difficulty may be in
prying Marshal Stain away from Mos
COW. Perhaps Mr.. Roosevelt would like
to go to Britain but doesn't relish trip
as far away as Moscow, especially in
winter.
Unquestionably Russian relations with
Britain and America would be improved
If Marshal Stain did leave his own
country to participate with the heads
of other states. 1t would be a refresh
ing circumstance If the head of the
Russian Government could appear in
London and express publicly his views
on the questions of the hour very much
as the Prime Minister has just done
before the House of Commons.
Embarrassing to L. S.
The present situation is rather en-
barrassing to America, for while the
United States Government has views on
the status of Poland the policy here has
been to oppose any arrangements or
settlements till hostilities cease. Mr..
Churchill says this was to be the rule
except where mutual agreement could
be achieved ahead of time
From the Prime Minister'S address
1t is easy to infer that the American
Government is not yet ready to sub
scribe to the Russian program of terri
torial changes for Poland and that the
American Government may possibly
have something to say in dissent if COM
PEELED to speak now. The fact Is that
Mr.. Churchill, in warning America not
to accentuate differences of opinion
among the Allies, intimates fear that
Mr.. Roosevelt ultimately may have to
take position at variance with that
of the Prime Minister.
The President is in a delicate spot
He knows that Americans are unfamiliar
with the background of the Russo Polish
dispute and various other ticklish mat
ters which he has hitherto been inclined
to feel should be left to the European
Allies to determine since they are sup
posedly not within our sphere of IN
f1uence." But to upset the Atlantic Char
ter that way only spells trouble and hard
shedding for the Dumbarton Oaks pro-
posals of a new league
Maybe Mr.. Roosevelt is waiting fol-
American public opinion to crystalline
Certainly it is understandable why in
the face of these big, unsettled questions
conference of the heads of states has
been delayed Maybe the simple truth
is that they aren't ready yet to agree.
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