The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1945. WHY BRITAIN MUST BE HELPED

Dominion, Volume 39, Issue 29, 29 October 1945, Page 6

The Dominion. MONDAY, OCTOBER 29, 1945. WHY BRITAIN MUST BE HELPED

British claims for temporary assistance during the transition period apparently 'are receiving strong, if unofficial, support from prominent Americans. Among them is Mr. Morgenthau, formerly Secretary to the Treasury in the Roosevelt Administration, who has been very outspoken in his advocacy of British requirements. The picture he presented of Britain in’wartime was as follows:

Britain’s men and women alike were universally assigned to some sort of national service. Their standard of living; was painfully reduced. Luxuries which we in the United States have been accustomed to regard as virtual necessities were forsaken. ..The United Kingdom was converted, indeed, into one vast arsenal—and into a great stationary aircraft carrier, and a launching platform for the invasion of Europe.

The American financier made one particularly interesting reference to British financial policy prior to the inauguration of .the lend-lease system. He stated that, in the first stages of the war, Britain tried by every means at her command to enlarge her export trade in order to pay for imports essential to the war effort. No doubt that system would have been continued, although obviously at the expense of war work had lend-lease not been established. There would have been no other way by which the supplies could have been procured, and, had that course been necessary, the country would have come through the war with its industrial capacity very much greater than it is today, though this course necessarily would have told against its war effort. When, however, the supply of foodstuffs arid raw materials was assured by lend-lease, the conversion of British industry to war purposes was carried to limits not equalled by any country, and that is why the sudden cessation'of these deliveries has created such a serious problem for the British Government.

-With the conversion of factories’to war work went the overseas markets which, over very many decades, British trade had developed. Mr. Morgenthau puts the loss, in the volume of goods shipped, as three-fourths of the pre-war total, and the enforced sale of foreign securities, made in order to.obtain funds prior to lendlease coming into operation, involved the loss of a large sum annually. He expressed the opinion that, for various reasons, the income to be derived from what investments are left has fallen by one-third or one-fourth.

Turning to the future, the American economist holds that British exports can be increased to the aggregate required to ensure stability only in a world in which the entire volume of foreign trade is greatly expanded. He estimates that if the pre-war barriers to world trade are removed, it would be possible for it to double, in terms of money, the total recorded in 1938. That, he says, would enable Britain to double her exports without depriving other countries of their markets. Given these conditions he expresses confidence that “with the same determination Britain-Misplayed in war, she can in the next two or three years put herself in a position to resume exports on a scale sufficient to pay for her imports.” That, of course, would not be sufficient, for there are the wartime debts to be liquidated, and Mr. Morgenthau stated; in that respect, that “the British can pay off debts they already owe and those they , may incur only in a world which offers them an opportunity to double their volume of foreign trade.” Altogether the American’s analysis of the British position is shrewd and appreciative. What remains for countries such as this to do is to provide, as far as lies within their power, markets for British goods.