Evening star., 1936-01-12
NEUTRALITY ACT IS SEEN
ASOPENDOORT COLLEAGUE
Pro.Leaguers Held Seeking to Make
Their Country Ally of Geneva
i'm All Wars.

League Is engaged III d struggle NlJA
Italy. So far the battle has been
largely fake because the two major
powers, Great Britain and France.
have refused to resort to effective
sanctions. such, for example, as the
closing of the SueZ Canal and the ap-
plication of an oil embargo. And they
have adopted this pussyfooting course
because they realize that to employ
effective sanctions would lead to mill
tary conflict.
In the hope that the United States
would decline to impose an oil en-
barge, the British and French govern
ments have postponed applying it
themselves. If Congress withholds the
power to apply an oil en- barge in the
present conflict, then London and
Paris. with sigh of relief Will pro-
claim their impotence and drop the
plan. If Congress authorizes such an
embargo, then the British and French
governments may feel constrained to
adopt it also. But they will then hold
Washington responsible for the war
that may result and, with reason, in
siSt upon American support for the
military as well as the economic phase
Of the League war upon Italy.
Inexact About Sanctions.
Even we're Italy brought to her
knees. however, this would not estab-
lish the efficacy CT the sanctions
system. Before that could be vindi-
Gated it would be necessary to resort
to economic and military action
against Japan. Once. however. the
precedent of American participation
in League wars had been established
in the Italian case, then it would
serve in the japanese instance
Furthermore, just as the League war
upon Italy has provided Japan with
an opportunity to seize Northern
China, so a League war with Japan
would provide similar chance for
Germany in Central Europe. And
again our participation in a League
war would be expected.
What is inexact, if not dishonest,
in the assertions of the American
pro-Leaguers is the declaration that
sanctions can be applied without
leading to armed warfare. The truth
is that this is only the case so long
as these sanctions remain ineffective.
And the proof is the failure of the
League powers to close the Suez
Canal or apply an oil embargo. On
the contrary they have postponed the
oil embargo until Italy has had time
to stock up and they have not even
considered closing the canal. Sig
nificant, too, was the fashion in
which The League maneuvered our
State Department into undertaking to
apply moral pressure to restrict our
oil exports and then ran away from
an oil embargo of their own because
Rome warned that this would lead
to military conflict.
What the American people have to
! recall at all times is that neutrality
consists in treating all belligerents
equally and that the moment coun-
try departs from such a course it
ceases to be neutral and becomes in
vo,ved. Accordingly it is not possible
/ to combine a policy of keeping out of
foreign wars with an experiment in
preventing them. If, before the
outbreak OF another foreign war,
American laws have been enacted re-
quiring the President to embargo
arms, war materials, foreign loans
| ard credits, then, in the event of con-
flict. his action in putting such laws
into effect and in enforcing them
equally in respect to both belligerents
| will constitute an actual neutrality
against which no country can protest,
even if the effects of such action are
more disastrous for one nation than
for another.
Rendered Service to League.
BY contrast, the moment at which
the attempt is made to use neutrality
| laws as a means of supporting the
League and thus of doing harm to a
country which Geneva is trying to
coerce, then the first step taken Is
destroying neutrality itself and the
way to involvement is open. Walter
Lippmann has pointed out with great
force that the new conception of
American neutrality-that which en-
visages the scrapping of the doctrine
OF the freedom of the seas-has, In
effect If not indeed by design, rend-
cred a vast service to the League,
since it assures that the United
States will not hereafter try to break
League blockades or to assert its neu-
tral rights at the expense of League
activities.
Is the purpose of the new neu-
trality act to be to keep the United
States out of European conflicts, or
to serve as a warrant to enable
Presidents to make their country the
ally and associate of the League of
Nations in its present and prospective
wars with Italy, Japan and Ger
many? That is the single question,