U.S. WAR SUPPLIES

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVII, Issue 20440, 28 December 1940, Page 11

U.S. WAR SUPPLIES

PEAK OUTPUT IN 1942 WILL ASSURE VICTORY EFFORTS FOR BRITAIN SIR W. LAYTON’S VIEW (British Official Wireless.) Reed. 2 p.m. RUGBY, Dec. 26. Sir Walter Layton, the well-known economist, who has just returned to Britain from a Government mission to the United States in relation to supplies from that country, spoke to-day of the last fortnight in the life of the late Ambassador, Lord Lothian. Lord Lothian, he said, was particularly preoccupied with the financial position, and had been criticised in some quarters in both countries for having spoken bluntly about the dollar position when he landed from the Clipper in the United States after his recent brief visit home.

Sir Walter Layton said he knew that Lord. Lothian deliberately made up his mind, having given the matter great thought, when he was held up at Lisbon before crossing the Atlantic, that American opinion ought to be regarded for the fact that the finance of all problems had to be regularised. He was certain until the end that his judgment was correct, and his view had been amply justified by the recent statements - of President _ Roosevelt regarding his own solution of the dollar exchange problem, arising out of British war supply orders placed in the United States,

Pessimism Disappears Sir Walter Layton added that in November there \was a certain feeling of pessimism in America about the outcome of the war, to which such episodes as the bombing of Coventry had contributed, but this had been completely changed by the news of the Greek victories and the British successes in Egypt. The courage of the British people in the bombed English towns had created a stupendous effect in America.

Sir Walter Layton concluded: “The British must not expect miracles. The full effect of the American war potential will not be felt before the late summer of 1941 and will not reach its apex until next winter and the spring of 1942. The full mass of war production was still to be organised, with a consequent effect on peace production—a unique task to be undertaken by a non-belligerent country—but it would come in a huge volume and, if Britain could hold her own throughout 1941, then American production will make ultimate victory certain.”