The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1937-05-20
IE:58!6|jE{|3s|A|||
Bly, Iaa1 sR9|9. +

For their peace of mind, the pres
ent neutrality law certainly is help
full. My suggestion is, however, that
they look the facts in the face. When
one of these overt acts is commit
ted, in we will 60 regardless of the
neutrality law.
might advert to some of the
things that happened between 1914
and April 6, 1917. President Will
son, a sincere advocate of peace,
did the best he could to prevent our
participation in the World war. 1t
was matter that actually brought
about his reelection in 1916 because
his campaign leaders used the slo-
gan, 'He kept us out of war"
Events came through with such
startling speed, however, that a
month after he was inaugurated for
his second term, he was standing on
the rostrum before a joint session
of congress asking for immediate
passage of a resolution placing our
country in the war on the side of
the Allies and against Germany and
the Central Powers. Two days later
we were formally in the fight and
then, once we were made a bellig-
erent by the decision of our govern
ment, it became ga war to make
the world safe for democracy"
I think I need not review all OF
the various slogans that were en-
ployed in the national propaganda
to solidify our nation behind it's mil
itary forces. There were many OF
them. The nation was ninety-five
per cent behind the government in
war to end all wars. Hundreds
upon hundreds of millions of dollars
were borrowed from our citizens
who bought, first, liberty bonds and
later, victory bonds. For the first
time in later history of our nation
we had tremendous national debt,
more than ten billions of which were
loaned to those nations with which
we were associated in the war. The
remainder of these funds was spent
like money in the hands of a drunk
en- sailor, ashore for the first time
in the year. Nor is there criticism
to be made of that spending be-
cause we were not prepared for
war.
So, while I do not now foresee our
participation in any conflict within
the next few years, am quite con-
WINGED that Mr.. Roosevelt has pur-
sued an absolutely sound program
in advocating strong navy and a
strong army. 1t will serve us well
and will cost us very much less
than if this building up process had
to be accomplished overnight as il
was in 1917. It may be surprising
to a good many people to know that
our army at present ranks as num-
Der II in the list of armies of ma
tions even though our country is one
of the largest and one of the richest
in the family of nations.
My belief is that if our navy is
made to rank with the greatest and
plans are worked out as Mr.. Roose-
welt is trying to work them out SO
that our army will be possible OF
expansion, taxpayers money will be
much better spent than through
boondoggling or wasted through
useless development of theoretical
schemes. 1t certainly will be much
more effective as an influence upon
other nations than a hundred neu-
trality laws which, at best, are moth
ing more than the belly-wash OF
agitation. I feel rather keenly that
the best neutrality policy we can
have as a great nation, with terri
torial possessions and commercial
interests throughout the world, is an
armed force with which other ma
tons will not invite trouble.
AS the battle over President
Roosevelt's proposal to pack the SUI
preme court of the
SuPrene United States with
Court six new judges
grows in heat, it
becomes increasingly evident that
members of congress are looking to
the political aspects of the situation
to greater extent than obtained in
the early stages of the fight. This
circumstance certainly is working
to the advantage of those who OPP
pose the Presidents scheme and it
is interesting to look at the picture
from that angle.
My observation of congressional
activities in the past leads me to be-
lieve that every President must ex-
pect in his second term a certain
amount of detection, certain
amount of running away, among the
supporters who stood by him I'M
flinchingly during his first term. Of
course, most of his stalwarts will
stick by him through thick and thin
but it always has happened that a
rather deep fringe of his party will
begin to balk or duck when they
reach the second lap and know that
the head of their party will not
seek election to a third term. The
reason must be quite obvious. All
members of the house and one-third
of the senate membership have to
seek votes in their home districts
every two years. With a President
in his second term, the interest of
these candidates for office must
turn to what their voters think rath-
er than what the President thinks.
All of this has been related to
lead up to the fact that there is
great unrest in congress now. No
one can foretell how serious it is go
ing to be but it is quite evident that
the Presidents court packing pro-
posal has served as the springboard
that can be used by many Demo-
Gratis who want to make some plans
of their own rather than be gov
erned by national party policies.
That is, they are now of the opinion
that they must satisfy their voters
at home rather than the President