Relief Measures Depend on Political Developments Washington, Feb. 14.
It was considered in Washington today that any definite decisions taken by the United States regarding the supply of foodstuffs to France would depend upon developments of the Political ation in that country.
The political interests of the United States, linked with Great Britain's position, particularly regarding the maintenance of the British naval blockade, overshadowed other considerations.
American diplomatic circles stressed that a relaxation of the blockade in France's favour depended upon the extent to which France was prepared to collaborate with the Axis powers. As long as it remained impossible to gauge the extent of this collaboration, American suspicion of France would not be removed and it would be extremely difficult to satisfy France's request fof foodstuffs.
It was feared iù Washington that to supply foodstuffs to France would create a precedent which could be invoked by other Gountries, such as Spain, whose conditions were similar to those prevailing in France as far as shortage of foodstuffs was concerned.
Spain's attitude regarding Gibraltar was being closely' watched in the United States. There again, diplomatic considerations overshadowed humanitarian motives, atid the American Government was not prepared to supply foodstuffs to Spain as long as the latter's attitude towards Gibraltar remained uncertain.—Havas.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.