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Two Circumstances made it possible for Mackenzie King to go ahead, certain that Canadians' reservations about the snooty U. S. would be put away for the time being. First, by the defeat of France, as Minister of Defense J. L. Ralston remarked, "Canada has suddenly been put very much on her own." Britain could no longer supply Canada with articles which, with France's assistance, had been surplus. Second, the imminent attack on Britain left many loyal Canadians wondering whether Canada might not be independent (or at least without a mother country) much sooner than she wanted to be.
The same two circumstances made the Canadian reaction to the joint defense plan unanimously favorable. Equally affirmative and pleased was response to the prompt action of Messrs. King and Roosevelt last week in appointing members to the Joint Defense Council. Each chose a spokesman for Army, Navy and Air Forces, a civilian, a diplomat.
The Canadian members are Deputy Chiefs of Army and Navy General Staffs, Brigadier Kenneth Stuart and Captain L. W. Murray; Colonel Oliver Mowat Biggar, one of Canada's brightest constitutional lawyers; Air Commodore A. A. L. ("Pat") Cuffe, R. C. A. F. officer responsible for coastal defense; and Dr. H. L. Keenleyside, Counselor of the External Affairs (i.e., State) Department.
The U. S. members are Lieut. General Stanley Dunbar Embick, Commander of the Fourth Corps Area, charged with Atlantic coastal defense; Captain Harry W. Hill of the Navy's War Plans' Division; New York City's omnipresent Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia; Commander Forrest Sherman of the Navy and Lieut. Colonel Joseph T. McNarney of the Army Air Corps, who will alternate on aviation questions; and the State Department's Assistant Chief of the European Affairs Division John Dewey Hickerson.
First Meeting. Into Ottawa—which with all its bustle last week still had the stately, leisurely air which earned it the name "Land of the Afternoon"—a train pulled this week, the rear car of which was painted service khaki. It carried the U. S. members of the Joint Defense Council. Photographers asked Fiorello LaGuardia to stand on the car steps and wave his huge hat, but the mayor put his chin down, refused to pose, and rebuked them: "This isn't exactly a joy ride."
The little mayor, in a baggy dark suit and clutching a worn brown drummer's dispatch case, was a picture of determination as the Council members strode off to lunch. Afterward Prime Minister King led them to Parliament House. On the way up the front steps Mr. King stumbled and Fiorello LaGuardia darted to pick him up. The Council retired into the long, narrow, oak-paneled Liberal Smoking Room (No. 497), and set about considering the strategic possibilities of eastern Canada and the northeastern U. S. The proposed lease of British bases to the U. S. was largely outside their bailiwick. Asked what he expected of the conference, the Little Flower of Manhattan snapped: "Results."
*CANADA: AMERICA'S PROBLEM — Viking $2. 75.