The Waterbury Democrat., 1935-10-07

Suppose Italian planes bombed Addis Ababa and American mis- sionaries and nurses were killed? Such things may happen. %
 Should 8 European war involve, say, Italy and Germany, and Brit ain, with her great sea power, re- mained neutral, Britain would cer- tainly make an effort to preserve neutral rights at sea, just as the United States did during the World War. Britain has even more at stake. The pressure on the United States to join in such a move would be tremendous.
 Certain Trouble Source
 In a war involving Germany and Russia, Germany would almost cer- tainly blockade the whole Baltic sea, and the first step of Japan III war with Russia would be to make 8 war zone of the entire Pacific coast of Russia, perhaps the whole east coast of Asia. Should Americans be allowed to travel in such zones during war! On ships of warning nations? On neutral ships? On armed ships! On private business? What if such Americans are killed, their status not defined in advance? An effort was made to solve this problem, too, during the World War. Early in 1916 (nearly a year after the Lusitania and a year be- fore the United States entered the war) the famous Gore-McLemore resolutions were debated in Con- gress. They provided that the U. s. government would issue no pass ports to Americans sailing on armed belligerent liners.
 By this time both President Will son and a rising public sentiment joined in defeating the resolutions. By standing firm on the principle that American neutrals had the right to travel where and how they pleased despite the war, Americas eventual entry was practically as- sured.
 Problems Sure to Rise
 The plan to enforce the right of American neutral ships by arm ing them was proposed after diplo- matic relations with Germany had been severed, but this plan was beaten in the Senate by fiilibuster.
 An effort was then made to carry out the policy without Congress, authority, but as the first armed merchant ships sailed only month before war was actually declared, little test of the effect was made
 Propaganda, about which the United States learned something during the World War, will be with us. again in a bigger and bet ter way if there should be a new war.
 All the tried-and-true methods developed in 1914-1918 will be brought to bear on American opin- ion, with new ones added.
 The universal efficiency of radio communication, developed largelJ since the World War, eliminates national borders and dependence on cables, and gives any country at war direct channel to the ears of neutrals. British Cut Cable .
 But this has it's ood side, too The first act of the British navy during the World War was tt dredge up and cut the direct cable from Germany to the United States.
 Thereafter, almost all European news had to come to America through London. Thre 1t passee through 8 filter of British censor ship.
 Matter unfavorable to the Allied cause or favorable to the Centra Powers was simply thrown out ol altered. Repeated and bitter pro tests by American newspapers anc correspondents netted exactly noth' ing.
 For a while mail from neutra countries was uncensored, but ever that was tempered with later, ant news sent by mail was always s' much later than the British cables as to be worth little.
 Lid on Even Now
 A rough idea of how much i'm provement has been made oVel this wartime censorship may b. had from the fact that American newspaper correspondents are sim ply thrown out of Russia, Germany or Italy if they write things Whlcf displease the governments of thos' countries.
 An this even before there is an! war. You may guess for yoursel what will happen to impartla news if war is declared.
 Some of the cruder lies in tn war propaganda of 1914-l9l8 hay been exposed as sheer deliberat fabrications, such as the story tha the Germans were processing int fats the bodies of their dead sol dierS.
 Washington neutrality seeker agree that despite their best effort at legal guarantees of neutrality the only true safeguard is a stead fast public opinion which de mand it.
 Vivid Picture by Twain
 They know that the best descrip ton of the slippery road Una leads down to war is the one Mar Twain wrote many years ago, be fore there was any Spanish wal