AMERICANS IN FIRST ?

Grey River Argus, 22 September 1944, Page 5

AMERICANS IN FIRST ?

For French Business LONDON RESENTMENT (R«. 7.45) LONDON Sept. 21. The statement that the repiesex tatives of American ests have been entering France wit the American forces .and auxiha is featured by the Daily ' an article. It says: Unless quick ac tion is taken and. explanations are made, a grave ml . sund ® rs^.p d ai n° a nd coins- to arise Between Britain .anu America. It will be one oentnng on industrial and commercial rival rices There now is danger of these overshadowing common aims in war. Agreements into which Britain tered, for purely military purposes, ‘have been cynically exploited by certain American interests for purely commercial reasons. In one case, n is alleged, one of the first American units landing in France took in, in the uniform of a Red Cross officer, a representative of a very powerful financial corporation. Less than 4» hours after the Allied entry into Faris it is said, this gentleman disappeared from the Army, and was sitting in an office in Pans. He had changed into civilian clothes, and was busy with clients. Since then, responsible people report . observing i a stream of American business men | passing through England on their wav to the French capital. It is stat-, ed that a whole plane load on one j occasion, crossed the Atlantic to-1 gether. It is learned that the British Chamber of Commerce was one of the first organisations to ask for per mission to return to Paris. It had this permission from the British Go- i vernment, but permission was over-, ruled by S.H.A.E.F. It is even at i this juncture denied an entry to j -Paris.' The S.H.A.E.F. organisation! is such that the question of permits | to enter France rests almost entire-, ly on the decision of goodwill of American Nobody had seemed to realise before D Day that this would be the case. It has been apparent since. The “Daily Mail’s” Paris correspondent says: Since the liberation of Paris, a very large number of American civilians have been here, finding time, -amid other duties, to indulge to the full in the well-known 1 American penchant for energetic private enterprise. These civilians are provided with American officers’ uniforms, but without badges of rank.

STRONG AMERICAN DENIALS (Rec. 10.30) NEW YORK, Sept. 21. The “Herald-Tribune’s” Washington correspondent says: The War Department, the U.S. Foreign Economic Administration and the American Red Cross have joined in an emphatic denial of the allegation that American commercial travellers are being granted travel priorities to Europe, and particularly to France, as reported by the London “Daily Mail.” The State Department said: Many civilians have applied for passports to Europe for commercial purposes, but all have been, turned down. The Red Cross officials said: “We would' like to know the identity of the person whom the ‘Daily Mail’ charged with entering France, wearing a Red Cross uniform, and opening a business office two days later • in civilian clothes. We would clear that up in two minutes if we had the name.”