NEWS OF THE WEEK
THE news of the efforts of the Paris economic conference to pro- vide the raw material for a Marshall plan, and of the State Department to see that that plan is put into effect in time, is almost uniformly good. The Paris conference has given an earnest of its efficiency in performing its exacting task by issuing a series of reports on Europe's resources and needs over the next four years for coal, electricity, oil, ships, food and transport. Further instalments are still to come on monetary stabilisation, the distribution of European pro- duction, a Customs Union and the balance of payments. These reports should be ready for signature by the Foreign Ministers in Paris on September 15th, and it is to be hoped that they will be collected and widely published, since • they will form a basic docu- ment of the European economy for the next few years. The American representatives also seem to be putting out a great effort to make the Marshall offer a practical success. Mr. Kennan has been convinced of the reality and urgency of European needs, Mr. Lovett, the Acting Secretary of State in Mr. Marshall's absence, and Mr. Nitze, of the State Department's Office of International Trade Policy, have both indicated the need for an autumn session of Congress to put through a first instalment of the plan, and Mr. Marshall on Wednesday virtually confirmed their opinion. Mr. Harriman's Com- mittee are said to have heartening news of the ability of American industry to meet requests for aid. A few Congressmen are themselves showing anxiety to meet, though Senator Vandenberg has put the responsibility for calling and justifying a special session firmly on Mr. Truman. In fact, the movement towards a new phase of co-operation between the United States and Europe is working up to a climax. The discordant notes are the possibility of having to find more dollars for Western Germany, the Grimethorpe strike, and Mr. Bevin's jeu d'esprit concerning the Fort Knox gold. All these things will make it more difficult to convince Congress, but there is a reasonable hope that they will not make it impossible.
