Evening star., 1939-09-21

Honorable Desire for Peace.
Because l am wholly willing to
ascrlbe an honorable desire for peace
to those who hold different views
from my own as to what those
measures should be, I trust that
these gentlemen will be sufficiently
generous TO ascribe equally lofty
purposes to those with whom they
disagree. Let no man or group in
any walk of life assume exclusive
protectorate over the future we'll
being Of America-because I con-
ceive that regardless of party or
section the mantle of peace and of
patriotism is wide enough to cover
us all. Let no group assume the ex-
elusive label of the peace bloc We
ali belong to it.
I have at all times kept the Con-
gress and the American people in
formed of events and trends in
foreign affairs. now review them
in spirit of understatement.
Since 1881 the use of force instead
OF the council table has constantly
increased in the settlement of dis
putes between nations-except IN
the Western Hemisphere where
there has been only one war, now
happily terminated.
Trying to Avoid War.
During these years also the build
ing up of vast armies, navies and
stOrehouses of war has proceeded
abroad with growing speed and
intensity. But, during these years,
and extending back even to the
days of the Kellogg BRAND pact,
the United States has constantly,
consistently and conscientiously done
all in its power to encourage peaceful
settlements, to bring about reduc-
ton of ornaments and to avert
threatened wars. We have done this
not only because any war anywhere
necessarily hurts American security
and American prosperity, but be-
cause of the more important fact
that any war anywhere retards the
progress of morality and religion
and impairs the security of civiliza-
ton itself.
For many years the primary pur-
pose of our foreign policy has
been that this Nation and this
Government should strive to the
utmost to aid in avoiding war among
others nations. But if and when
war unhappily comes, the Govern
ment and the Nation must exert
every possible effort to avoid being
drawn into the war.
Executive Branch Did Utmost.
The Executive Branch of the Gov
ernment did its utmost, within our
traditional policy of non-involve-
ment, to aid in averting the present
appalling war. Having thus striven
and failed, this Government must
lose no time or effort to keep the
Nation from being drawn into the
war.
In my candid judgement We shall
succeed in these efforts.
We are proud of the historical
record of the United States and
of all the Americans during all
these years because we have thrown
every ounce of our influence for
peace into the scale of peace.
I note in passing what you will
all remember-the long debates on
the subject of what constitutes ag-
gression, on the methods of de-
termining who the aggressor might
be, and, on who the aggressor in
past wars had been. Accidentally
this may have been instructive as it
may have been Of interest to his
torians to discuss the pros and cons
and the rights and wrongs of the
World War during the decade that
followed it.
But in the light of problems Of
today and tomorrow responsibility
for acts of aggression is not con-
cealed, and the writing Of the record
can safely be left to future his
torians.
Close to Our Own Shores.
There has been SUFFICIENT realism
in the United States to see how
close to our own shores came dan
gerous paths which were being fol-
lowed on other continents.
Last January l told the Congress
that n war which threatened to en-