Evening star., 1938-03-21

one OF the mysteries OF the inter-
national situation, as far as Wash
ington is concerned, is the strange
absence of any voice Of protest in Con-
gress. Since Hitler's seizure Of Austria
10 days ago. no flaming word of resent
ment or revulsion against the crime of
the decade has issued from any Ameri-
can official quarter. Secretary Hull's
recent arraignment of international
anarchy" does not qualify as a rebuke
because events at Vienna weren't even
mentioned by him. Moreover, the re-
sponsible conductor of our foreign re-
lations is prevented, by the nature OF
his position and the niceties of the dip
lomatic code, from calling spades spades.
No such restriction applies to Congress.
Senate tradition. in particular, calls for
plain speaking and stentorian tones on
such an occasion. Silver-tongued moral
lists like Borah and Hiram johnson have
seldom been backward about coming
forward under conditions like those
now convulsing and challenging civin-
zation. Certainly as grave things are at
stake, even for an apathetic America, as
there were when the Idahoan, the Cali
fornian and their brother irreconcilables
were tearing their hair and making the
welkin ring on Capitol Hill during the
League of Nations fight.
X **
1t isn't too late for somebody with in
testinal investiture and the requisite
spiritual and intellectual capacity to rise
to the opportunity. The emergency is
still here. It clamors for the man.
civ in,
of them may be the man" It is this
observers definite opinion that the men,
ber of House or Senate who takes his
courage in both hands, sets forth in un-
diplomatic language exactly what the
American people feel about the Austrian
outrage, and declares that the system
it represents will not be indefinitely toll
Grated by the land of Washington, JEFF
ferson, jackson, Lincoln. Cleveland,
Wilson and Theodore Roosevelt-such a
Representative or Senator it is here be-
lieved, will have positive claim on the
country's attention and admiration. If
there's cross-of-gold speech in him,
he may ever, invite the fame and i'm
mortality of a William Jennings Bryan.
He will at least demonstrate at home
and abroad that through the veins of
the Congress of the United States some
red blood still courses. In passing, it's
worth recalling that in June, 1888,
shortly after Hitler's anti Semitic pro-
gram was launched, Joe Robinson, Sem
ate majority leader, delivered an elo-
quent protest against it, couched boldly
in chapter-and-verse terms.
Something of about the right tone
was struck by Assistant Secretary. of
War Louis johnson in an address at
Bucknell University on March II. En-
titled ITO Provide Tor the Common De-
fense," it was obviously prepared In the
light Of last weeks developments in Gen.
tral Europe. The husky Virginian,
past national commander of the Amer
ican Legion, subscribes wholly to the
doctrine enunciated by Newton D.
Baker-that peace will not come by
merely wishing for it. We must work
for 1t. We must fight for it." johnson
declared that world peace today "is en-
dangered principally by two types of
nations. FGst, the bully who arms him.
self with q big stick and with little or
no provocation or warning brings it
down upon the head of a weaker people.
At the opposite pole stands another type
OF state that also encourages war-one
which, completely ignoring the world
Of realities and failing to keep itself
strong sooner or late4falls prey to it,