DOLLAR CONFERENCE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27166, 23 August 1949, Page 5

DOLLAR CONFERENCE

Presidential Appointment . Causes Concern MR JOHN SNYDER AS CHAIRMAN NZPA—Copyright Rec 10.10 p.m. NEW YORK, Aug. 2. The decision by President Truman to have the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr John Snyder, preside at the forthcoming dollar talks in Washington has resulted in deepening pessimism over the success of the conference, says the Washington correspondent of the Herald Tribune. The British, in particular, are disappointed over the Administration’s choice of Mr Snyder, a former Missouri banker. Mr Snyder, in his recent visit to London, seemed to the British to display little appreciation of the enormous political consequences that would attend a British economic collapse. The British would have preferred the Secretary of State, Mr Dean Acheson. They feel the crisis demands something more than a banker’s approach to the problem. What is at stake is the whole structure of the Western Alliance against Soviet Russia.

The State Department, the correspondent adds, is fully aware that Britain will go bankrupt by Christmas unless the rapid decline of her gold and dollar reserves is checked. It also knows that the present crisis is the most dangerous and most delicate to confront the west since 1945. Perhaps Mr Snyder also appreciates the magnitude of the impending disaster, but he did not show it in London. His appointment was interpreted as an indication that the Administration meant to treat the crisis merely as an economic problem. On the American side there seems to be little hope or expectation of a major achievement There is a general conviction, although not officially expressed, that the only real solution is for Britain to accept devaluation of the £ and increased austerity for her people. Senator Kenneth Wherry (Republican, Nebraska), the minority floor leader, in a statement to-night warned the Administration not to try to bypass Congress in the dollar talks. He

declared Congress would have the final say on any agreement reached at the conference. “ Something better than give-away shows is wanted in the interests of Britain and the maintenance of American prosperity and security. The dollar shortage is a symptom and not the cause of Britain’s ailment The primary cause, in the opinion of competent observers, is Britain’s failure to price her goods low enough to capture world markets. Britain, like the United States, is afflicted by extravagant expenditures. That is the customary by-product of Socialism wherever it has been tried. When Britain wins world markets through efficiency, quality and competitive prices, her dollar shortage will disappear. Until her problem is attacked along that line, there is no sense in pouring the American taxpayer’s money into a bottomless pit.”