SPIRITED REPLY

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 20914, 14 October 1942, Page 3

SPIRITED REPLY

BRITISH WAR AIMS EMPIRE OR ALLIES? AMERICAN CONTROVERSY (By Ttsffigraph—Press Assn. —Copyright.) (9 a.m.) NEW YORK, Oct. 13. "The editors of the magazine Life touched off a bitter British-American controversy over the basic United Nations war principles by demanding in an open letter that the British should quit fighting the war to hold the Empire because ‘lf you cling to the Empire at the expense of the United Nations you will lose,’ ” declares the paper P.M., which severely criticises Life. P.M. was unable to reach Mr. Henry Luce, the publisher of Life, but his wife. Clare Booth Luce, the famous playwright, said: “I am absolutely certain that there was no intention of suggesting a separate peace.” P.M. asks Mr. Luce editorially: “Where do you want the British people to cease holding the Empire together? Australia? The Australians have more to say about that than the British and have not we at stake out there, too? Egypt? The Lord knows that General Rommel is doing all he can to pull the Empire apart there. The east coast of Africa? The Vichy French would like that, for then Laval would be able to bargain with the Germans and Japanese over Madagascar, just as Vichy sold out Indo-China. The west coast of Atrica? Remember that Freetown is our side’s closest base to Dakar, which threatens us in the hands of Vichy. Canada? The Canadians, like the Australians, should decide for themselves.

“We are not defending the imperialists or Colonel Blimps, but when Life puts out big nice sounding generalities without being specific it does not help the war effort either here or abroad, for such statements are apt to be read by people who will accept them without thinking them through—any more than you thought them through as you wrote.” ■

A London message states that the editors of Life have issued a statement there claiming that all their open letter really demanded was that the British war aims be stated and that they should be United Nations aims and not merely Empire aims. “The accusation that we are seeking to drive a wedge between Britain and America is false and unrealistic,” they added.