The Battle Bill
The British public has been made sufficiently familar, in the past ten years or so, with accusations by American Congressmen that aid which has been granted to this country has been misused, or that the United Kingdom has had trading relations with Com- munist countries of a kind antagonistic to the interests and policies of the United States. We have learned to discount these stories, since their originators, besides'being ill-disposed towards (heir allies, have normally been ill-informed and also unable to shake the good sense of the United States Administration. But a new measure—the so-called Battle Bill—which is now before Congress and likely to be passed, proposes to give to the sponsors of such criticisms a legal means of pressing them and of actually cutting off American aid to countries which do not conform to an American definition of what trade with Coin- munist countries is permissible. It is true that decisions on action would have to be taken by the President himself, but the fact still remains that legislation framed on the assumption that America's Allies are not to be trusted places greater strain than ever on the will to make allowances for Congressmen. It is per- fectly understandable that Americans do not wish inter- national aid to be misapplied for the benefit of Communists. But )t should be equally easy for Americans to understand that the recipients of aid also disapprove of such misuse of it. And as Jo the very numerous borderline crises in which goods which might conceivably be put to strategic purposes are exported to Communist countries in return for other goods which are essen- tial to Western Europe—Mr. Eden mentioned a few of these cases in a statement in New York on Tuesday—the one thing that is certain is that all the necessary decisions about them can- not possibly be made by an American official, acting as a poten- tially hostile referee. The effect of this Bill on relations between America and her Allies is hound to be bad.
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