FDR AND CHURCHILL MEET IN AFRICA; WILD SEES HOPE OF TANGIBLE RESULTS

Although no specific facts or military plans have yet been laid before the people, the chances are that the meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill has resulted in increased coordination of United Nations strategy, Payson S. Wild, associate professor of Government, said last night.

"In particular it's encouraging that the two leaders made such a complete survey of all the war theatres," Wild stated on the basis of the late news, "and that they were able to guarantee supplies to every Allied nation." The fact that De Gaulle and Girand, representing the Free French and the French fighting in Africa, have met and agreed is also very important.

Stalin, Chiang Kal Shek Kept in Touch

"The absence of Stalin and Chiang Kai Shek from the ten-day Casablanca conference should not be construed in any way as meaning that they were excluded from the proceedings," Wild explained, since it has been stated definitely that they were kept in constant touch as negotiations proceeded.

Calling it "excellent political propaganda and a move towards establishing a good basis for the peace," the Government professor heartily endorsed the President's guarantee of the safety of the inhabitants of the Axis nations at the end of the war.

Eden's Statement Significant

Also of significance is the news that Anthony Eden in the House of Commons yesterday stated that negotiations were on foot for a more permanent organization of United Nations policy, said Wild. This, taken in connection with the report of firing off Trondheim in Norway, might just possibly connote immediate repercussions from the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting.

In any event Wild felt that there was no reason to suppose a rift had been created between American and British generals by the De Gaulle versus Giraud issue. "On the face of it the new agreement between the Free French and the African French may be the most important announcement yet received from the conference," he said.

"If behind the screen of words we have heard thus far, the meeting between Roosevelt and Churchill has laid a real foundation for coordinated United Nations action, then it was an event of historic significance; otherwise it can mean very little," Wild said, although adding that the evidence at present indicated that a great deal more had been decided at Casablanca than could or would be released.

"Unless China and Russia had delegates at the Africa meeting, and unless comprehensive plans were made there with reference to each battle area, it is hard to see how much significance can be attached to the whole episode."

Wild qualified this statement, however, by saying that latest reports from North Africa and London gave good cause for believing that the apparent scarcity of hard facts concerning the Roosevelt-Churchill meeting was only the result of the necessity of keeping vital military plans secret until they could be put into effect against the Axis.