Evening star., 1946-02-06
Loan to Britain Held
Vital to u. S. Trade
Writer Urges Congress to Weigh
Measure on Economic Merits
By Dapid Laurence


Measure on Economic Merits
By Dapid Lawrence
A test of the simple issue of whether
the American people or their represent
atives In Congress have learned the
true meaning of the last war is coming
shortly. 1t will come when the vote is
taken on the proposal to lend the gov
ernment Of Great Britain $3,375, 600, 600
to straighten out her finances and
assist in the economic reconstruction OF
the world.
Will the subject be enveloped in pref
udice and emotion or will it be
thoroughly studied on its merits?
The American people haven't the
faintest idea of how it feels to have
their homes bombed and their houses
destroyed. The United States was
spared the horror of air bombing be-
cause Britain stood up and thwarted
the NaA ambition.
The territory Of Great Britain was
the most valuable airbase the forces
Of the United States could have had
to turn back the tide of Nazi aggression.
Now the resources Of that nation are
entangled. Unless American aid comes,
Britain viii become the center OF
economic chaos and the repercussions
will be felt in this country.
American Commitments.
The American Government has un-
rtoiy,
serve the peace of Europe. Sentiment
is unanimous to prevent third world
war But history shows that wars come
out of economic unrest and economic
disturbances. Communism thrives on,
economic anarchy. ,
The need for a loan to Great Britain
has been admitted by many experts in
finance and banking, irrespective of
political party. Conservatives and lib
erals can be found who agree on the
facts of Britain's economic plight. Who
then is trying to defeat the proposal?
Certain groups which oppose anything
that in the slightest degree would aid
anything British are fighting the loan.
Likewise, there are other groups which
want America to adopt a program Of
economic isolation with high tariff
walls to protect their inef1ciencies.
Restoration of worldwide trade is an
essential to the return of economic sta
bility in the world. And unless there
Is economic stability the seeds of future
wars will be sown.
If the economic problems of Central
Europe had been solved in the last post
war period by the Allied governments
and peoples, Hitler would never have
had his political opportunity to capital
ize on the distress and desperation in
which the people found themselves.
Unfounded Arguments.
Many arguments will be heard that
the proposed loan will be used to finance
the British Labor partys socialistic pro-
gram. This is unfounded. The loan
will be used to provide dollars for ex-
ternal exchange. The internal program
of the Labor party can be kept from
going to further socialistic extremes
only if the private enterprises of Great
Britain are permitted to thrive once
more. To accomplish this, they need
to be able to finance their operations
in foreign markets.
The future prosperity of the United
States depends on full employment of
our manpower and full utilization of
our industrial plants and facilities. We
may sell to foreign countries only 10
per cent of our total volume of goods
produced, but this is an essential 10
per cent because in some industries it
means as much as 50 per cent of the
total volume
The whole economic structure of the
United States will be strengthened If
the exchange problems which are ex-
pected to be solved by the loan to
Britain are surmounted Our position
will be correspondingly weakened If we
compel Britain to carry on her trade in
pounds sterling which cannot be con-
verted readily into dollars in world mar.
kets. This would mean that American
goods would be kept from the markets
of a considerable area of the earths
surface.
The American loan to Great Britain
can be justified a hundred times over
as an expression Of gratitude to .
nation which held the line for us till We
could send over armies to beat Hitler,
but 1t can be justified even more per-
suasively as an economic measure in an
era of world rehabilitation.
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