Evening star., 1939-02-04

State, Cordell Hull, knows that the
American Government has no SYM
pathy with the totalitarian states
and has a great deal of sympathy
with the democracies. Likewise 1t is
a matter of common knowledge that
this Government wants to see arma-
ment limited by international agree
ment and wants no entangling alll-
ances with any other nation.
Then why was it necessary for the
President to make a public an
nouncement Of the obvious? Simply
because there has been an attack
from critics to the effect that Mr..
Roosevelt was secretly trying to
inveigle the United States into war.
This charge goes to the root Of what
has been happening in the National
Capital these last few days. 1t pre-
supposes that Mr.. Roosevelt would
venture to do such a horrible thing
In order to advance his own politi-
cal fortunes or to divert attention
from domestic problems. It is a
direct questioning of the sincerity
of the President of the United States
and it comes mostly from those who
have made up their minds that Mr.
Roosevelt was bent on a course Of
individual conduct which would
drag the Nation into war.
Bitterness Noticeable.
In partisan atmosphere such
charges are understandable, but not
justifiable. Bitterness of personal
and political feeling on Capitol Hill
has been noticeable ever since the
purge" campaign last spring. From
the moment the President notified
Congress that he planned to build
up the national defenses, there has
been a persistent effort to discredit
his motives and attribute to him
political rather than patriotic OBJ
jectives
Unfortunately some of the Re-
publicans have adopted that course
and they have been Joined by a
few Democrats who have not been
friendly to the administration on
domestic issues.
The outburst which came when 1t
was discovered that the French gov
ernment was buying airplanes in
the United States and was being
given exceptional opportunities to
examine the latest airplane models
would never have become national
sensation if there had not been on
Capitol Hill a distinct desire to
exploit anything that might dis
credit Mr.. Roosevelt. Likewise,
when the President invited men,
bers of Congress to be given in
formally his views on why the
French Government was permitted
to examine airplanes for purchase
from private companies, the stories
were circulated that, in effect, the
President was on the verge of send
ing American forces to France. It
was widely published that the
President spoke of our frontier being
In France. The press. however, is
not to blame for printing this. The
words of some of those who partici-
pated in the conference must have
given rise to some such phrase as
the frontier in France" or the
neWspapermen never would have
recorded it.
Garbling Natural Consequence.
1t is regrettable that the President
accused the press of disseminating
q false report. The garbling OF his
conversation was a natural conse-
quence of the discussion with Sena-
tors of delicate matter of foreign
policy and the effort to swear Sena-
tors to secrecy. There is no such
thing as secrecy" even with respect
to the secret executive sessions OF
the United States Senate.
The alternative-an open dis
cussion of foreign affairs-is not
always practicable. But a direct
quotation from the White House ex-
planning the incident of the air
planes and statement of Amer
lean purpose to give to foreign
countries the right to buy American
products might have reduced the
area for misinterpretation. In a
sense, the President has said the
same thing in one point of his