U.S. BANKERS OPPOSED

Dominion, Volume 37, Issue 237, 4 July 1944, Page 5

U.S. BANKERS OPPOSED

Scheme For International Monetary Fund DIVERGENT VIEWPOINTS (By Telegraph.—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (Received July 3, 5.30 p.m.) NEW YORK. July 2. The majority of American bankers would oppose the plan for an international monetary fund ton which nations might draw to adjust international payment balances! said the United States spokesman, Mr. Harry White, at the Bretton Woods conference, according to the “New York Times.” Criticism was also voiced by various delegations among the 44 participating countries. Mr. White said that discussion on the fund would have priority over the discussion on an international bank, because the fund was of more immediate importance. The London correspondent of the “New York Times” reports that the British representatives will not make commitments interfering with the internal price level or maintenance of England’s position within the sterling bloc. The British reservations are threefold: First, a fear of the repercussions of a possible postwar American boom and slump on British economy; secondly, a desire for full freedom to regulate employment governmentally; thirdly, a fear of an attempt by creditors after the war to transfer too rapidly the £3,000,000,000 sterling of balances to dollars.

The British attitude to economic questions is widely divergent from the American, because the British feel the conference ought not to consider the technicalities of an international monetary settlement so much as fresh practical policies in terms of the goods and services needed (or world reconstruction. Mr. White pointed out that the Press is enjoying full access to the conference, in sharp contrast to the secrecy prevailing at the U.N.R.R.A. meeting last year. He explained that, the arrangements were made because of the complicated nature of the discussions and the desire to keep the public fully informed. The American Secretary of State, Mr. Hull, sent a message to the chairman, Mr. Henry J. Morgenthau, describing the conference as one of the most important and historic international meetings, having a far-reaching effect on the reconstruction of the world.