The Redwood gazette. [volume] (Redwood Falls, Minn.) 1873-1940, 1939-06-08
What It Means:
BY MORGAN NJ. BEATTY

4 i
derstood word in the English
language is having new fling on
page one.
That word is
| NEUTRAL
Secretary Hull tossed it into the
national arena with his latest
memo to Congress. He advises re-
peal of the arms embargo part of
our neutrality laws.
Congress is now carrying the
subject into public hearings,
4 where all shades (and that means
coolies of shades) of opinion con-
tribute to the headline parade.
Neutrality as a WORD is about
600 years old. For 400 of those
years, men and governments have
been trying to make it mean
| something.
Neutranty is dangerous BUSH
ness. 1t got the United States into
two disastrous wars-the War OF
1872 and the World War.
1t is the answer to campaign
orators prayer. To him it is a
''taIk-more- and-say-lesS" subject,
like taxes.
| (Note: Both major political
parties have publicly laid the
groundwork to put neutrality in
rheir 1910 platforms. Both nave
the same general aim-to keep
America out of war. GriSt for the
orators is HOW that can be
| done)
| Plenty OF Ignorance
Despite all the danger and talk,
neutrality is surrounded by fog
Of plain and fancy ignorance to
daunt the courage of Spartan.
LeastWayS the famous Amer
lean authority on neutrality =
Philip c. Jessup of Columbia
University-says ignorance of the
history OF neutrality is the cause
of many of our international diff
ficultieS. In neutrality quiz, he
hazards the guess that 300 edu-
Gators and other master minds
would turn in 800 wrong answers.
International trade and its pro-
fits are the flies in the neutrality
ointment. No less a great Amerl-
can than jefferson was all for
young America making profit out
of the other fellows war. Of the
Russo-Turkish war in 1922, he
said.
"The life of the feeder is better
than the tighter. -. Wen milk
the cow while the Russians hold
her by the horns, and the Turks
by the tall
eve tried that in the World
War, by the way. The cow kicked
us into the war, and spilled our
milk to boot)
All of this means our policy on
neutrality may be either one OF
two extremeS-or somewhere in
between.
/. Wee reassert the freedom
of the seas-Whatever that means
and insist on selling our goods
where we please, or,
2. We can abandon our rights
on the oceans, and insulate our
selves by isolation. -
Most authorities agree that Ex-,
treme No. / is a sure invitation to
war-if the world has another
war. We'd simply repeat our 1916
drift toward trouble. Finally,
we'd have to jump in to defend
the honor-Or trade-Of some OF
our enterprising statesmen in the
international market. Nations at
war simply will not watch the
goods OF a neutral going to the
enemy.
On the other hand, if history
means anything much, Extreme
No. 2 might lead to an internal
economic crisis, as it did in 1872.
| Literally thousands of seamen
and workers in the export and
| import business would be thrown
out of jobs. The clamor for a
fair profit would be deafening.
Could political leaders resist il?
| They never have.
The mere fact that Extreme
No. has twice led us into war
has been enough to drive Con-
gress further and further toward
Extreme No. 2.
Close To IsolatiOnism
Most authorities seem TO agree
! that we're now about tWo-thlrdS
up the ladder toward isolationism.
Secretary Hull would bring us
down rung or two and put us
about midway of the two eX-
| tremes. He figures it's better not
| to tell the world in advance eX-
actly where we would stand in a
new World War.
Here's the situation:
1. Our present law leaves it to
the President to declare when
| hostilities between nations be-
! comes war, since it is no longer
fashionable or customary to ode
clare" wars.
2. Once the President proclaims
a war in progress, American citi-
zens and ships are forbidden to
carry arms to any warning pow
er, or to any other nation for
/ trans shipment to a belligerent.
| 8. Americans can't lend money
to warning nations.
4. The President MAY prevent
armed foreign vessels from COM
ing to the United States for sup
plies.
! 5. American merchantmen can
not arm themselves against attack
on the high seas.
/ One more provision-the fam
] Gus "cash and carry" section
expired May /. In the face of
pressure from exporters on the
one hand, and extreme isolation
lists on the other, the lawmakers
could not decide what to do about