FREE ENTERPRISE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25952, 19 September 1945, Page 5

FREE ENTERPRISE

FAVOURED BY AMERICA AFRAID OF SOCIALISM (N.Z.P.A. Special Correspondent) LONDON, Sept. 17. Violent statements against Britain were made in the House of Representatives last week, reports the New York correspondent of the Yorkshire Post. “ They were an inaccurate gauge of British and American relations,” he says, “ but disturbing trends can be seen here by those wishing to see an improvement in those relations. It is beginning to be fully appreciated that harm was done by the abrupt termination of lend-lease, which was not only a great device furnishing war aid, but a living symbol of economic co-operation. The sudden destruction of this pipe line has weakened the inclination for co-operation among the Americans which the late President Roosevelt so carefully built up. “ It is also being recognised in some circles that the sudden termination, before careful financial arrangements could be made, has placed Britain in the unfair and unfortunate position of a suppliant rather than a friend and associate. Britain has thus been made vulnerable-to all those here who entertain anti-British feelings. These range from those with sincere objections to the British policies in Greece, Italy, India, and Palestine, to those wishing to keep Britain weak commercially so that they may become all the stronger. Britain is' accused here, by some, of being an Imperialist Power with selfish designs, ana envied by others as a Power which successfully built up the greatest world Empire. "President Roosevelt realised clearly, and made the American people realise, the importance of their ties to Britain. There is a danger now that those ties may be allowed to become less close. “Among some political and financial circles the results of the British general election undoubtedly engendered a more hostile attitude towards Britain, but other forces here, particularly Labour and its sympathisers, welcomed those results, and now favour close co-operation with the Socialist Government. A large body of the public here is still frightened by Socialism. In Congress, and out of it, there is a tendency more and more to make the United States the last bulwark of free enterprise, rather than join the trend towards Socialism.”