Evening star., 1939-04-19
No Middle Ground
On nNeutra|ity,L Long
Tells Committee
Former Envoy to ItoIy
Books 'Cush-und-
Corry' Provision
BY the Associated Press.

oS tuC noSuCldLcu FIeSS.
Breckenridge Long, former Ambas-
sador to Italy. told the Senate For
eign Relations Committee today that
any neutrality policy Congress adopts
"either will get us into war, or it
will keep us out of war
There is no middle ground" he
said.
Mr.. Long explained that he be-
lieved conduct Of foreign relations
should be left to the President
whoever the President may be-" but
that since Congress apparently de-
sired legislation, he favored the Pitt
man cash and carry proposal.
The Pittman plan would permit
sales Of munitions to belligerents for
cash, on condition the goods are
shipped in foreign vessels.
A witness before the House For
eign Affairs Committee, Maxwell S.
Stewart of New York, recommended,
meanwhile, that the Neutrality Act
be revised to strike particularly at
Japan.
Mr.. Stewart. associate editor of
The Nation and national chairman
of the American Friends of the Chi
nese People. agreed that such action
would be discriminatory He added:
"We have a choice between dis
elimination against lawlessness and
connivance in crime. We would not
think of aiding crime in our own
community.
why, then, should we be accom-
plices in international crime? Why
should American iron, American
steel, American copper, American oil,
American chemicals and American
aircraft be used to destroy and kill
in China?'
Mr.. Long, who was an Assistant
Secretary of State during the World
War, criticized suggestions for a
wartime embargo.
1T is similar to the blockade"
he said, which is also a war-like
measure and associated in the minds
of people abroad and in internation-
al law, along with the embargo.
with the idea of war and punitive
activities.
Signify Unfriendliness.
"The blockade prevents goods
from entering country. and the
embargo prevents them from start
ing to a country. Each of them has
the effect of participating in the
struggle, even if on the negative
side, and each has the significance
of unfriendliness and may have one
of hostility"
Mr.. Long said discussion of en-
bargoes under existing law referred
only to arms and ammunition
sought by warning nations.
I'VE do not include the cotton
that goes into the explosives and
clothes their armies" he said, NOR
the grain and meats that feed their
military establishments, nor the oil
which means mobility for the mec-
hanized forces of today.
Furthermore, If we attempt dur
ing the existence of a war to en-
large our list of contraband-to in
clude, for instance, olive imme-
diately find ourselves considered by
the government affected as taking
an unfriendly step-to have aligned
ourselves with the powers opposing
that particular belligerent because
we have allegedly changed our po-
Slt1on during the war"
Close Favors Stop Japan Move.
Upton Close. writer and lecturer
on Far Eastern affairs, told the
House Foreign Affairs Committee
at yesterdays hearing that the best
way to get at Germany and Italy"
was by stopping Japan in China.
The best way to stop Japan, he said,
was policy" law shutting OIL the
flow of American arms and war ma
terials to Japan, as proposed IN q
bill by Representative Codee, DEM
ocrat, Of Washington.
Such action. he predicted, would
result in the overthrow OF. the Jap
anese government and military
party, with the wealthy party taking
control and conferring with the
United States on "how to save some
thing in North China and turn the
rest back"
With her gold almost gone, Japan
economically is on the ragged
edge" he said. The reason Japan
contemplated an alliance with Ger
many and Italy, he said, was to OBJ
tain help for her armies In China
IN return for giving them the as
sistance Of her feet.