SOLUTION DEVALUATION?

Chronicle (Levin), 23 August 1949, Page 5

SOLUTION DEVALUATION?

(N.Z.P.A.

. — Reuter

U.S. Views On SterlingDollar Talks

. Copyright) .

Received Monday, 7 p,m. NEW YORK, August 21. The decision by President Truman to have the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr. John Snyder, preside at the forthcoming doilar talks in Washington, has resulted in. a deepening of the pessimism over the success Of the conference, says the Herald-Tribune's Washington eorrespondent. The British in partieular 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 conseq.uences that would attOnd a British .economic collapse. The British would have preferred Mr. Acheson. They fcel the crisis demands something more thaii ,a banker 's approach to the problem. What is at stake iS the whole structure of the Westem alliance against Soviet RuSSia. The State Department is fully aware that Britain will go bankrtfpt by Christmas unless the rapid deeline of her gold and dollar reserves isr ehecked. It also knows that the present crisis is the most dangerous and most delicate to eonfront tlie West sinee 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 ihe Administration meaut to treat the crisis merely as an , economic problem. j On the American side" there seems to he 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 1 the pound and increased austerity for her people. Senator Kenneth Wherry (Republi- ' can, Nebraska), minority tloor leader, in a staternent tonight warned the Administration not to try to bvpass Congress in the dollar talks. He declared that Coagress would have the final sav ou 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 seeurity. The dollar sliortage is a symptom and not the cause of Britain 's ailment. The priniary cause, in the opinion of competent observers, is Britain 's fail.ure to price her goods to capture the world markets. "Britain, like the United States, is alilicted by extravagant expenditures. That is the customary byproduct of socialism wherever it has heen tried. When Britain wins world markets through efficiency, quality and competitive prices, her dollar shortage will disappear. Until her problem is attack- ' ed along that line, there is no sense in pouring the American taxpayers' money into a bottomless pit. ' '