WAR FRONT: Comprehensive Picture?

Plans for getting “the most comprehensive and accurate picture of all foreign-owned property in the United States” were announced by the U.S. Treasury last week. The President ordered the picture taken when he froze the U.S. assets of all Europe (TIME, June 23) and it was to include the assets of every nation, from Abyssinia to Yugoslavia—every conceivable asset worth over $1,000,* from stocks and bonds and bank accounts to antique furniture and “several head of cattle.” It was to include every foreign-owned or controlled asset, frozen or free, that is physically in the U.S.

But if the Treasury really wanted a “comprehensive” picture of all foreign property in the U.S., the terms of its order made a strangely narrow-angled lens. Exempted were all foreign nationals, including Chinese and Japanese, “who have been domiciled in and residing only in the U.S. . . . since June 17, 1940” (or since earlier dates in 1940 for nations whose assets had been frozen earlier). Such people were presumed to be longtime residents, almost U.S. citizens, who had to report to the Government anyway, via the income tax. Actually this group includes many of the wealthiest international capitalists, who had fore-handedly brought their negotiable assets to the U.S. ahead of the Blitz (or sent them in care of brothers and wives). There are undoubtedly many pro-Axis assets in the midst of this innocent fugitive capital. They will not show on the Treasury’s film.

But like a torn and faded snapshot that turns out to be crucial evidence at a murder trial, the Treasury’s order may serve one long-term purpose. This was the only aspect of the census that really frightened the big international camera-duckers: the U.S. might use it as a club in post-war negotiations. With assets physically under its jurisdiction, and so recorded under oath, the U.S. could dicker as to their release to their country of origin after the war; could if need be insist that they be invested in U.S. industry (rather than withdrawn in a deflationary period); could exact a tithe, a fifth, a half, as the price of safekeeping in a world where nothing was safe. For this purpose, even incomplete records could be of value. Probably not a handful of U.S. Government officials dreamed of so using the records last week.

For foreigners not exempted, the Treasury’s order meant a complicated headache. The 30-page “Public Circular No. 4” and its rainbow-colored forms made the income tax’s Form 1040A look as simple as a blank check. Despite high penalties for not filing —$10,000 fine or ten years in jail—there was no indication of how the Government hoped to ferret out non-English-reading refugees, warehousemen, etc. who fail to file.

* Except patents, trademarks, etc., and leased safe-deposit boxes, which must be reported no matter what their value.