Only Logic

Plump, brilliant Geoffrey Crowther. editor of London's influential Economist, also edits Transatlantic on the side. Its purpose: to interpret Americans to Brit ons. In a recent issue of his monthly, Editor Crowther -appraised British and American attitudes toward each other in the dusk of Lend-Lease cancellation, Big Power troubles, hunger in Europe and plenty in America. What he had to say was still news last week in a U.S. playing host to Clement Attlee and negotiating a loan for Britain.

In British Eyes. The two nations, he wrote, are passing through a period ". . .

when one partner [Britain] says, 'Well, of all the dirty tricks . . .' and the other [the U.S.] says, 'What do you take me for, a sucker?' "

In Britain, food rationing has continued, clothing rations are reduced, and "the only relaxations from full wartime austerity have been the end of the blackout and the return of the (very small) basic petrol ration.

"But every day brings further news of returning luxuries in America and further evidence . . . that the war is almost forgotten and its aftermath ignored. Europe is moving toward its worst winter for three centuries; Governor Lehman, the head of UNRRA, explains with how little sacrifice to themselves the American people could save Europe from starving, but nothing seems to be done. . . ."

In American Eyes. Americans "want to return immediately to a world in which dollars are provided only on commercial loan terms. They also profess to want a world in which international trade moves freely between the countries without such wartime obstructions as exchange controls, license restrictions and discriminations. Now clearly they cannot have both, for the two aspirations contradict each other.

"Since we have only a limited supply of dollars, what would the Americans prefer us to do with them, pay interest or buy goods? ... In the end it will be a question of which side can exert the strongest influence on Congress and the Administration."

On the one side, Crowther thinks, will be most of the U.S. press, and U.S. exporting industries with a profit-&-loss interest in world affairs. "On the other side, there will be all the many groups who want to stop 'giving,' who want the Federal Government to balance its budget . . . who do not really see the need for Americans to depend on any other nation's aid and good will. . . .

"It is by no means certain which side of this American argument will win. But if I have to hazard a prophecy, it will be the pessimistic one that the wrong side will win. They have, after all, the strong force of popular instinct on their side, while their opponents have only logic."

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