Evening star., 1939-09-15
Begging the Issue

must have been heard with deep
disappointment by those who had
hoped that the veteran Idaho legis-
lator would deal directly and can
didly with the fundamental question
of whether the arms embargo or a
-and-carry plan offers this
country the greater protection
against involvement in the European
war. There can be no question of
Senator Borah's sincere and abiding
desire to keep the United States out
of war, but it cannot be said that
his talk contributed anything to the
cause of peace.
During recent weeks the real issue
has been clearly drawn. On the one
hand, the embargo advocates con-
tend that the existing legislation
should be allowed to stand, that this
country should continue to lend in
direct aid to Germany by withhold
ing arms, munitions and implements
of war from France and Britain. It
zionist theory, that we should sell
these things to Italy and Russia,
Hitler's allies, but deny them to
Canada, our own neighbor. There
is another point Of greater impor-
tance, however, and it was not even
mentioned by Senator Borah. The
existing legislation draws a purely
arbitrary distinction between fin
ished arms and munitions and the
raw materials of which they are
made. We may not sell the finished
products, but we may sell the raw
materials, and we may endeavor to
carry them to belligerents in our
own ships. AS Senator Borah must
realize, some of our ships would be
sunk while trying to slip through a
blockade. What effect will the loss
OF American vessels and American
lives have on our attitude toward
the war? This is a question that
must be faced If America is to guard
against a very real danger of being
drawn into the conflict. Silence is
no solution, and Senator Borah and
his fellow isolationists are not con-
trlbuting to peace by seeking to
Ignore it.
The Roosevelt administration has
asked for the repeal of the embargo
and the substitution of a cash-and-
carry plan, which would open our
markets to any nation able to pay
cash and transport purchases in it's
own ships. Senator Borah made no
attempt to discuss the merits of this
plan, dismissing it with the easy as
sumption that it has no direct rela-
ton to the question of keeping this
country out of the war. The Sen
ator, in The Stars opinion, was beg
glng the issue, for the cash-and-
carry plan does have a most direct
and vital bearing on the question
whether the future is to bring peace
or war to this country. The cash
and-carry system would safeguard
American shipping and American
lives, while the present legislation in
vltes their destruction. That consid-
Grafton alone should balance the
scales against the position taken by
the isolationiSt spokesman.
Senator Borah made the additional
point that repeal of the embargo at
this time, when the nations of Eu-
rope are locked in mortal combat"
would be tantamount to intervention
In the war. That contention is not
valid. 1t is true that such action
would aid the French and British to
the disadvantage of Germany, but
that result would be purely Incl
dental to what Senator Borah ad-
mits would be the exercise of the
sovereign right to repeal the act.
Such repeal, it is important to re-
member while indirectly aiding the
allies, would directly protect the in
terests of the United States. And in
that connection, it should be remem-
bered that the change now sought
was proposed months ago-in time
of peace when it could not have been
construed as favoring one belligerent
as against another-and that Sen
ator Borah was in the van of those
who fought against it. The Idaho
Senator, as much as any other indi-
vidual, is responsible for the fact
that the United States must face in
wartime delicate problem that
could and should have been settled
before hostilities had begun.
With many others, The Star be-
lieves that the cash-and-carry plan
should be substituted for the en-
barge because, while offering
greater measure of security, 1t also
would enable us incidentally to
supply the hard-pressed European
democracies with arms and ammuni-
ton. That would be true because