Doubts and Fears

In the House of Commons last week a new subject came up for Anglo-U.S. debate : postwar merchant shipping. Laborite Emanuel Shinwell began it by announcing that Britain started the war with 20 million tons of shipping, would end it with no more than 9 million. He believed that the U.S. would probably begin peacetime shipping competition with between 15 and 30 million tons. To "Manny" Shinwell things to come were clear:

"We shall be supreme no longer at the close of the war. The ball has passed to the United States. ... I am all in favor of international cooperation, but we are not speaking in terms of idealism. We must be realistic. ... Is it suggested that there will be international shipping control at the close of the war? ... Is it suggested that there will be Anglo-American shipping control? . . . There is no evidence that there is any desire on the part of those associated either with the American Maritime Commission or American industry for anything of that sort."

Emanuel Shinwell then voiced the concern of many a Briton: "We are not speaking of the America of President Roosevelt or the America of Mr. Henry Wallace.. . . We are dealing with the America of big business, the America of Wall Street, of those who believe that they can use the huge reserves of the United States to adopt an investment policy all over the world and to enable their shipping facilities to respond to that policy."

Up spoke Sir Arthur Salter, Joint Parliamentary Secretary to the Ministry of War Transport: "There have been two periods in this war when the shipping situation was so serious as to threaten the whole issue of the war. Twice the balance was restored, and, to use a transatlantic phrase, twice we have got out from the red by the efforts of the United States of America."

If there was to be shipping competition between the U.S. and Britain in the peace. Sir Arthur was not afraid. "The share of the world's shipping business will not depend solely upon the amount of tonnage that happens to be under the flag of the different countries at the time when peace comes. It will depend on the competitive cost of building and the competitive cost of operations as well as on the policy of the different governments with regard to support and subsidy, and the general framework of international trade and agreement in other spheres. That being so, we shall take advantage of lower cost of production and lower cost of operation. . . ."

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so reader's discretion is required.