The Loan's Last Fence
The proposed loan from the United States to Great Britain now awaits its turn on the floor of the Senate, having successfully weathered all storms in the Banking Committee. Clearly there is more trouble ahead. That peculiar blend of chauvinism with faulty information, both elevated to the stature of national virtues, which makes British people wonder what sort of beings American Senators are, is again expressing itself. Senator McFarland, of Arizona, wants bases for his money—full possession of all bases now leased to the United States. Senator Warren Magnusson, of Washington, also wants all the bases he can get in the British colonies, and touches new heights by wishing to acquire the Pacific island of Manus. Since the loan, after all, is for the United Kingdom, whereas Manus is administered by Australia, the settlement of this nice constitutional point may perhaps be left to direct negotiation between. Senator Magnusson and the Australians. Unfortunately, considerations of this kind, however fantastic to British eyes, sometimes have pro- found practical effects in the United States. For example, they have already upset the Bermuda Agreement on international civil aviation. This arrangement, in certain of its features, always looked a little too reasonable to survive. As an executive instrument it was examined by the Senate Commerce ComMittee, who declared it illegal. If it survives at all, it will now have to be called a treaty, and treaties are the affair of the Senate. Fortunately, the loan, after its long and arduous journey, does not stand in such danger. It will probably go through. But the issue is still sufficiently doubt- Jul to have called forth yet another exposition by Mr. Byrnes of the arguments for it, which all Americans, except Senators, ought to have by heart by now.
