Evening star., 1947-11-09
Senate 10 Investigate
u. 5. Assets Of Nations
Seeking American Aid
By Steffon Andrews

pf StcIIuU SNQIcWS
North American Newspaper Allones
The Senate has started broad
- investigation Of foreign assets in
= this country, to determine why these
funds are not used to help finance
the European recovery program.
Spurred by scores Of complaints,
the Senate Finance Committee has
directed a formal inquiry to three
I Government agencies, ordering
them to report the amount Of
foreign gold reserves, dollar bal
/. ances and "other hard money as
sets In the United States.
=. Specifically, the Government
p agencies have been asked to re
port in detail" the foreign funds
and investments held in this coun-
p try by governments and. citizens OF
countries who are in debt to the
United States or who are asking
for loans from this Government.
=, To Force Question into Open.
The inquiry is so broad, according
- to a committee spokesman, that 1t
. Is almost certain to force into the
. open the whole qeustion Of using
the hidden assets of European in
j, vestors to help finance the Marshall
. plan.
The three agencies which have
= been asked to supply the data are
J the State, Treasury and Commerce
Departments. Top officials have
ss assured the committee the informa-
.. ton would be forthcoming by the
next regular congressional session.
A. The agencies so far have un-
= covered figures showing that more
than s17,oO0,00O,0Oo in foreign
owned assets is invested in this
s%country. Two-thirds of this wealth
> Is believed owned by European ma
tionals.
i. Congressional sentiment voiced
thus far is that legal steps should
be taken, if necessary, to force
some of the wealthy European in
vestors to put up some of their
United States money to help pay
:" for the costs of recovery in their
own countries.
Major Steps Considered
While most Government officials
= agree that the Marshall program
would be much more likely to sue
ceed if foreign-held assets as well
as United States money were used,
b the vexing question is how this
Is to be done.
r Briefly, here are the three major
:, steps considered to mobilize foreign
wealth in support of the recovery
: program:
l. Seizing assets and using them
as collateral for loans from the
Export Import Bank and the Re
construction Finance Corp. A prece-
dent for this move was set in l941
when the British pledged their
United States securities to back a
s425, 100000 RFC loan.
2. Issuing bonds and forcing the
foreign owners to accept British,
French or Italian certificates in
exchange for their United States
securities. The objection here is
that unless owners voluntarily ac-
cept the bonds, the move is not
likely to produce many dollars.
3. Selling as alien property the
United States assets of all foreign
holders who do not declare these
funds with their governments within
specified period. The threat OF
hquidating the funds is believed suf-
ficient to force the assets into the
open.
Names of Owners Not Known.
The big obstacle to all these moves
Is that nobody really knows the ac-
tual owners of a great bulk of the
hidden wealth. Much of the hoard
Is believed owned under Swiss dos
siers. The Swiss in turn have in
vested these funds of other nation
ais in United States corporations.
Unless a law is passed compelling
American banks and corporations to
disclose the names of their foreign
depositors and shareholders, officials
doubt if much money can be mo-
bilized in support of the European
recovery program.
The French, SWedes and Nor
wegians have asked their nationals
either to declare or register their
. secret United States holdings. In
each case the step was taken pre-
sumably with the intention of using
these funds. But results have been
meager.
Much more successful, apparently,
In tapping assets of nationals, is
Great Britain. In six years, Eng
land has sold more than $780, 100000
of its United States held assets to
meet dollar shortages.