WHY AMERICA FOUGHT

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 74, 9 January 1936, Page 6

WHY AMERICA FOUGHT

MR J. P. MORGAN’S EVIDENCE. FINANCIAL INFLUENCES (United Press Association— Copyright.) WASHINGTON, January 7. Mr J. P. Morgan informed the Senate Munitions Investigating Committee that his banking house “turned loose with loans to the Allies m 1915 as soon as President Wilson consented to it. He added that his firm’s sentiments were from the beginning with the Allies, “but bankers had nothing to do with settling the laws of neutrality. When the Government changed its policy we turned our toes around too. He contended that Germany’s insults and injuries, and the invasion of Belgium, rather than loans to the Allies, drew the United States into war. “That the Allies found us useful and valued our assistance is the fact of which I am proudest in all my business life,” he declared. The hearing to-day cast considerable light on William Jennings Bryan’s break with President Wilson and the subsequent appointment of Mr Kobei t Lansing as Secretary of State. A secret memorandum which Mr Lansing prepared as Counsellor of the State Department, dated October 23, 1914, showed that Mr Lansing pictured liesident Wilson as believing “that as trade with the belligerents is legitimate and proper, it is desirable that obstacles such as interference with the arrangement of credits or easy- methods of exchange should be removed.” A copy of the memorandum was supplied to the Morgans and other bankers, but was not made public to-day. This policy was completely at variance with Mr Bryan’s idea of neutrality, and was apparently one of the causes of his resignation.