Evening star., 1937-12-22

absurd illustration which could never
actually take place; that even II such
q hostile approach should occur no
President would permit the letter of
= constitutional amendment to deter
him from taking defensive action.
Such argument ignores the basic vice
and poison of the Ludlow proposal.
The destructive effect Of such . pro-
posal would be felt long before the mo-
ment Of action. Its pressure would
ham-string the long course Of prepa-
ration upon which our present de-
fensive policy Is based and upon which
our outer line has been resting. 1t
would encourage those who WOULD
cut the necessary appropriations for
our Navy and our airforce. 1t SINH
larly would reduce the necessary
equipment and garrison Of our outer
fortresses. 1t would destroy the initi-
ative and spirit Of our personnel.
Would Destroy Our Unity.
1t would set in motion . long pro-
cess OF deterioration and decay, which
would ultimately make our present
plan entirely impossible. The funda-
mental policy behind the amendment
is basically inconsistent with the
fundamental policy Of our present de-
fense. The one could not be adopted
without destroying the other.
have thus far spoken only of the
material and mechanical aspects Of
the proposal Its greatest evils would
be its psychical effects upon our people
themselves.
When . nation faces the mortal
test of war, those psychical elements
constitute the most important factors
in its chances OF success The influ-
ence Of our country and the respect
with which it has been held by some
Of its most important neighbors in the
world have been based upon the pa
triotism OF its people: upon their unity
and loyalty and the efficacy with
which they have in the past proved
ready to follow their leader when
necessity arose Those qualities, in
herent in our individual citizens, have
been fostered in time of war by our
present system of leadership embodied
in our system of representative gov
eminent.
As have already said. We gave q
fine example Of it in our mobilization
and campaign during the Great War.
Consider what the effect upon such
superb unity of spirit would be II the
methods of Mr. Ludlow's proposal
were substituted for our time-honored
methods Of the past. Instead OF being
trained to look forward in such a
matter to the guidance Of our respon-
sible leaders. obliterating all thought
of party and faction when once our
President and Congress had spoken
we would at that very moment be
thrown into the politics Of Nation
wide referendum
Effective Disruptive Force.
On the one side there would be
destroyed the terrific and SOLDERING
sense of responsibility which now rests
upon the President when he makes
his recommendation for war, of which
Mr.. Wilson so eloquently spoke in his
war address to Congress in April, 1917.
In its place the President would be
forced to consider the arts and
Vaccinations of the political leader
and the methods necessary to high
pressure mass appeal On the other
side the people would be diverted from
their consideration Of the national
purpose involved in the Presidents
recommendation and would be dis
tracted by the lower appeals and
cross-currents put forward by every
kind Of selfish leader or faction for
every conceivable political purpose.
At best when the referendum was
over the President would have behind
him the support of people tenn
porarily delayed and distracted by
irrelevant local appeals. At worst We
might enter the war with q popular
support which had been openly divided
and weakened in the face Of our
enemy No more effective engine for
the disruption of national unity on
the threshold of national crisis could
ingeniously have been devised On
the most charitable supposition it
could only have been brought forward
in an atmosphere of complete de-
tachment from the realities of the
modern outside world and from 'ex-
perience with the necessities of \
successful national defense.
Not for a moment is this warning
to preserve our national security to
be taken as q counsel of despair by
any earnest workers for peace For
many years in public and private life
have supported the effort by CO.
operative action among the nations