The Senate and the Loan
There can be little patience in this country with the hesitations of the United States Senate over the proposed loan to Britain. A strong body of British opinion has always opposed the loan on the ground that the conditions attached to it will deliver our over- seas earning power on a platter to American business. Even those who, on a careful balance of relative disadvantages, have come to the reluctant conclusion that it is better to accept these conditions than to forgo the immediate benefit of the goods that $3,750,000,000 will buy are beginning to waver in the face of the barrage of insults to British and American intelligence which is thrown up daily in the Senate. The present position is that, although a numerical majority for the acceptance of the loan agreement exists it cannot become effective so long as the recalcitrant minority continues to obstruct. All attempts to introduce an element of reason have so far failed. A proposal to apply the closure to the debate did not secure the necessary majority. Senator Barkley's decision to go on until a decision is reached has so far not stopped the flow of words. The enlightened Senator Pepper's attempt to alter the Senate rules to allow a vote to be 'taken will probably break down. In the meantime the discussion of amendments has now begun, presumably at the lunatic fringe, with Senator McFarland's proposal that the United States should be given per- manent possession of the Atlantic bases which Britain, in her ex- tremity, leased in return for fifty old destroyers. Now that this has been disposed of, progress towards sane discussion may possibly begin—but only possibly. And if it ever ends there is still the House of Representatives to be reckoned with. If the loan ever goes through, its passage will be a famous victory over embattled stupidity.
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