The Waterbury Democrat., 1944-09-21

British or American, who have Ron to Paris" Gill said have done SO because the military needed them Some British and American business men, both In uniform and In civvleS have gone to Paris to get the FreneA branches of their factories started because the Allied armies need the products from those factories and need them urgently,
 Not Surprising
 Tt is not surprising either that business men and teehnicianS who are able to get these factories going are in tho army, or that army transportation takes them to Paris.
 But tho allegation that Shaet Is allowing Americans travel priv ilegeS for private purposes k abso. lutely untustified. I know heeauS,' I have had many inquiries from American bushes men wanting to get to Paris, and my stock reply Is There iS no way you can get to Paris unless military authorities need you there"
 "The Daily Mall article Is entire. ly iniSehieVouS because it jumps at unfounded and dangerous conclu. Sions concerning British and Ameri can entirprise at Q time when the French business men are most Wor. ried about British and American business competition"
 The Daily Malls charge that the British Chamber of Commerce was refused permission to 60 to ParlS despite the British governments ap' proVal was denied by 6 spokesman for the French section of the Bri- tish Chamber of Commerce, who told the United Press "our preSl. dent, c. J. Henderson, reached ParB two days ago in an effort to solve some problems
 No Representative
 Gill said there was no repreSen. tatiYe of the American Chamber of Commerce in Paris.
 The spokesman for the French section of the British Chamber of Commerce declined to comment on the allegation that American busi- ness men utilized army rank and uniform to reach Paris ahead Of their British rivals.
 Naturally" he said, "all our member firms are most anxious to reopen their Paris offices, but they find 1t slow going"
 Although the Daily Mall charged that the Shaef organization was such that permits to enter France depend almost entirely on the good- will of American officers, anyone covering Shaef was inclined strong ly to doubt that statement because the whole Shaef command is "in- tegrated," with British and Ameri- car officers intermingled in every office.
 This intermingling-as opposed to parallel or opposite number staff where each post has one American and one British officer protecting the national interest-is what Eis- enhower has called his Allied team and what Field Marshal Sir Ber- nard L. Montgomery has described as the British and Americans being really mixed up"
 British officers
 Tn this connection. any corres- pendent covering Shaef knows that the majority of officers who give out Shaef information at the ministry of information are British-about three British to one American-and still Americans have not charged that Shaef information depends al- most entirely on the goodwill of British officers.
 The article, signed by Colin Bed- nall, carried an editors note that the newspaper knew it would be as- sailed both in Britain and, America. but we feel that only good can be done by bringing into the open subject which already has caused serious damage to Anglo-American relations"
 Bednall claimed that unless quick action was taken and explanations given "a grave and tragic misunder- standing is going to arise between Great Britain and the United States"
 Tt is being stated now in definite terms that agreements into which Britain entered for purely military purposes have been deliberately ex- plotted by certain American inter- ests for purely commercial reasons" he said.
 Tn one case, Bednall asserted, 1t was alleged that one of the first American units to land in France had with it, in the uniform of Red Gross offlcer, the representative of a very powerful financial corporation.
 within @ hours of the Allied