Last week President Roosevelt pondered figures in preparing his first report to Congress on the administration of the Lend-Lease Act. Far from clear, the report was based on figures showing the overall results of the Aid to Britain program, did not sharply differentiate between British money spent and money spent under the Lend-Lease appropriation. Some points:
>Total exports to Britain since the war began: $3,515,200,000. Before the fall of France, monthly average was around $136,000,000. Since last July, monthly average has hovered around $200,000,000. Lend-Lease exports did not begin to show up until April, when the total ($253,700,000) set an all-time record.*
> Contracts have been let under the Lend-Lease Act for more than 200 merchant ships (approximately $500,000,000) and more than 50 new shipbuilding ways ($500,000,000), with most of the ways "almost completed'' in the 64 days up to June 1.
> As of June 1, out of $7,000,000,000 appropriated for the Lend-Lease Act, $4,250,000,000 had been allocated for contracts. With the $3,400,000,000 of contracts made by the British themselves, this made the total contracted-for aid to Britain amount to $7,650,000,000.
> The report stressed the forms of U.S. aid—the World War equipment that reached Britain after Dunkirk, the 2,000,000-ton shipping pool, the repairs of British ships in U.S. yards. But it gave only dollar totals and comparative figures (twelve times as many planes in the first five months of 1941 as in the same period in 1940), did not show whether Britain was getting enough, left aid to Britain under the Lend-Lease Act still largely in the category of "on hand and on order."
*Approximately 10% of U.S. supplies to Britain have been send on the way.