Harriman for Wallace
It would be a big mistake to regard the episode which has ended With the replacement of Mr. Henry Wallace by Mr. Averell Harri- man as United States Secretary of Commerce as a British quarrel.
It is the American constitution which allows Cabinet Ministers to do battle in public about foreign policy with the President acting as an unwilling and confused referee. It is a purely American over- simplification which represents the international situation as a com- petition between Britain and Russia for American support. Conse- quently the American Press comment that the appointment of Mr. Harriman will soothe the British is neither here nor there. The new campaign of isolationism and denigration of Britain which the so-called American Liberals, having executed a spiritual somersault, are now conducting, is something that Americans can and will get out of their systems. The fact that this campaign will continue to have the support of Mr. Wallace will not alter the fact that it is nonsense. If the British have any interests in this incident, they are first in the efficiency of the Department of Commerce, which materially affects the major task of keeping America and the world out of violent trade fluctuations, and second in keeping clear of the violently anti-Russian and uncritically pro-Russian factions which are now at grips in the United States. As to the first point, there may be a preference for Mr. Harriman, a practical New Dealer, over Mr. Wallace, an emotional New Dealer. And as to the second, the Wallace affair is a new spur to vigilance.
