OPEN LETTER TO BRITAIN

Marlborough Express, Volume LXXVI, Issue 240, 12 October 1942, Page 5

OPEN LETTER TO BRITAIN

WHAT AMERICANS WANT. NOT DEFENDING THE EMPIRE.

P.A. Cable.

NEW YORK, Oct. 10.

Americans may disagree affiong themselves about what they are fighting for, but they are sure they are not fighting to hold the British Empire together, declared the editors of Life magazine in an open letter to the people of Britain. "If your strategists are planning the war to hold- the Empire together, sooner or later they will find themselves strategising alone," says the magazine. Life claims that it is speaking for 134,000,000 United States citizens. "A second front rnight not be so important in a war to hold the Empire, but in a war to assure victory for the United Nations it seems dreadfuliy urgent," the magazine adds. "Here is one concrete concession we demand as partners in battle. Join us, together with Russia and the other Allies, in fighting the ^ jmn* JT A—mr * jruur *mar JT M

war by whatever strategy is best for all. You can decide what to do about the Empire after the war, but if you cling to the Empire at the expense of the United Nations you will lose the war because you will lose America." Declaring that the United Nations must fight for something bigger than England and America, Life adds: "It is no use pretending that America will go all-out in such a war unless it becomes clear that the war is a war to establish certain principles of freedom. We realise that England has a difficult problem in India, but in the light of what she is doing there now, how can England expect us to talk of principles or look our soldiers in the eye? If you want to keep us at your side you will find our side extends to Africa and Asia." OFFICIALDOM PERTURBED. In an explanation of the open letter, its author, Mr Russell Davenport, has said: "I had no intention of implying that America might make a separate peace. I am saying that the American people will not wage an enthusiastic war while Britain carries on the apparent strategy of holding her Empire together. Americans are unhappy. We want to fight for freedom, not for the British Empire." The letter is stated to have disquieted and perturbed both British and American officials, and it is understood that the publisher of Life, Mr Henry Luce, is being asked to give similar space for a British reply. It has been recently indicated that in the opinion of some observers American war strategy demands that "the fate of England be staked on the table" in a common effort for victory, and that England, from the cold military standpoint, is America's advanced base.