Evening star., 1945-01-04
British Criticism of US.
Seen as Healthy Move
Will Bring Out Some Information
On Allied Policies, Says Writer
BY David Laurence

On Allied Policies, Says Writer
By Dapid Laurence
The drive Of criticism which the Brit
ish press is directing against our policies
or lack Of policies is a healthy develop
ment. 1t will tend to bring out from
behind the scenes, where there has been
too much hush-hush already, some In
formation on two important questions.
Have the British been deluding them
selves with the idea that certain
segments of American opinion which
favor spheres of influence" and "bal-
ances Of power" really represent Ameri-,
can thought?
Has President Roosevelt failed in his
secret conference with Stain and
| Churchill presumably to back up the
| public utterances Of Cordell Hull and
the American Congress in behalf of q
universal organization of sovereign
| nations?
The two British newspapers - the
| Yorkshire Post and the London Times
which now have joined the London
| Economist in criticism of the Ameri-v
can Governments vacillation, talk as3
| If they never heard of the Moscow
| declaration or of the Connally Fulbright'
resolution which was embodied in it and
passed by almost unanimous vote of
both houses of Congress.
The British press with a surprising
| innocence asks now whether the Ameri-
can Congress intends to underwrite the
defense of Europe as if this question
had never arisen before and as if the
conference at Dumbarton Oaks had
never taken place.
Development Of Alibi.
What it begins to look like Is the
development of an alibi by those sections
of British and American opinion which
have encouraged propaganda for the
division of the world into four regional
systems to be policed by four major
powers, respectively, on the balance-of-
power plan. Now when the sphere Of
influence" scheme is brought into the
open and the propaganda backfres, the
British recoil with hurt surprise that
Americans of another school of thought
condemn all this as violation of the
principles of the Atlantic Charter.
Likewise American observers who had
been led to believe that policies in lib
Grating Europe would be international
and multilateral rather than the act of
one government in its own sphere of
influence" have looked askance at the
Stain policy in the Baltic with respect
to Poland and the British policy in
Greece. Both policies contradict the
promises that the Allies would handle
all these matters jointly and not singly
and that boundaries would be left to the
final peace conference to decide.
The London Economist, which started
the present wave of criticism against
American policy, is owned by a COM
pany at the head of which is Brendan
Bracken, Minister of Information in
Churchill's cabinet. The Yorkshire Post
is owned by a company over which q
member Of Anthony Eden's family
presides.
What this whole situation looks like
Is Squabble inside the two govern
ments-British and American. Mean
while, the people on both sides of the
Atlantic are being kept In the dark, and
President Roosevelt at his latest press
conference on Tuesday indicated he
would like the darkness to continue.
| Obligation To People. 2
There are some suggestions that Mr..
Roosevelt believed in regional alliances
about two years ago when an officially
approved article appeared under the
signature of Forrest Davis in the Sat-
urday Evening Post.
Is it possible also that American pub
Lie opinion believes more strongly in
the League of Nations idea and is more
opposed to the special alliances and
spheres of influence" than Mr.. Roose-
velt anticipated and he is caught now
with situation that grew out of his
passive attitude in the early stages Of
the Churchill Stain Roosevelt con-
ferences?
Or may 1t mean that Mr.. Roosevelt.
believing heartily in the principles Of O
universal organization, has been OUT,
maneuvered by both Mr.. Stain and Mr..
Churchill?
In fairness to himself and his coll
leagues in the American Government,
the truth ought to be fully disclosed, and
there Is still, OF course. an obligation to
the American people, so many of whom
are beginning to ask in their bewilder-
ment why American boys are fighting
in Europe. Even Mrs. Roosevelt speaks
OF receiving letters in that tenor.
No worse blow at the morale of our
war effort could be imagined than q
sudden smothering of ideals and an
implication that only three men in the
world are entitled to know for what
aims and purposes in the postwar
world our troops are giving their lives
today on the wintry battlenelds Of
Europe.
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