Knights Errant

In Britain's economy, Argentina is still the sixth Dominion. The huge British stake in Argentine frigorificos, public utilities and railways is a healthy hunk of Britain's overseas investments.

Last week the British were lobbing trade missions across the South Atlantic like cannon shells.* The first, or 6-inch, mission was a Board of Trade venture. Suave Sir Percivale Liesching, who headed it, had already conferred with Foreign Minister Juan Atilio Bramuglia. But he was only scouting for Sir Wilfrid Eady's 16-inch, or Treasury mission which arrives this week. Sir Montague Eddy had come along to advise on railroads. And if the knights needed any help, there was the Marquess of Linlithgow, ex-Viceroy of India, now missioning in Argentina for the Midland Bank.

Sir Wilfrid and his fellow missionaries had two tough nuts to crack: 1). find some way of making good the $750 million credit, now frozen in Britain, that Argentina built up with wartime food shipments; 2) get a return on their own $1 1/2 billion investment in Argentina.

The two problems could conceivably cancel each other out. If Argentina would not turn the $750 million into an interest-free loan, the British might let them use it to buy back the great, unprofitable network of British-owned railways which fan out across the pampas. Argentina would prefer the $750 million payoff in capital goods. One obvious British fear: that an industrialized Argentina would no longer complement Britain's economy.

Facts & Figures. While the Government-directed bargainers haggled (politely), U.S. businessmen in Buenos Aires grumbled: "We do business with Argentina in spite of our State Department." But the fact is that the U.S., which outsold Britain in Argentina during the war, is still outselling her almost 2-to-1.

Last week U.S. foreign traders got a lift when Washington (on U.S. Ambassador George Messersmith's okay) freed $700 million of Argentine gold that had been stored (on suspicion that it was Nazi) in Federal Reserve vaults. They thought that action forecast better relations with Juan Domingo Peron.

But even if Peron decided to do business, he was still, and first of all, a confirmed nationalist. He could be counted on to look after Argentina's best interests. UNRRA, for instance, would not get its promised wheat, corn and linseed oil until it hiked prices up to Peron's figures (as much as 100%).

* For other news of British trade, see BUSINESS.

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