Evening star., 1939-04-16
James Roosevelt Calls Unsafe
A Policy of Isolation for u. S.
Dissertation From Rest of World Would Also Hurt
U.s. He Says, Leaving Four Choices as
to Protective Course
By James Roosevelt.

The European crisis and An.ertcas
relation to it are discussed here by
the eldest so, OF the President In a
letter ,Dritten to John N. Wheeler.
general manager of the North An,ert-
can Newspaper Alliance, Who re-
Quested and received permission to
publish 1t. James Roosevelt Is at
present on a business uisit to London,
1Chere he IS the guest OF Ambassador
Kennedy.
LONDON, April 15.-For the last sew
eral months I have been given the op-
portunity Of meeting many people In
various parts of the United States. The
anxiety concerning foreign affairs and
the relation of the United States to the
problems of the world is almost unbe-
lievably keen and widespread.
An interesting fact is the striking SINH
larity Of viewpoint expressed by all
groups of persons. Briefly, in spite of
considerable confusion and general un-
certainty, the questions most asked are
How can we show our disapproval, even
disgust, for the actions and policies of
the dictator states and, how can we ad-
vance and protect the cause of democracy
without involving our own country in
WARP"
Apparently the great preponderance of
public opinion wishes to express active
disapproval and even adherence of the
methods and theology of the totalitarian
states. To the American people, Nazism
and Fascism mean the substitution of
force for reason in the settlement of all
international and even national prob
lens. To them, totalitarianism means
the destruction of personal freedom and
democratic institutions, and, moreover.
the average American holds Germany
and Italy responsible for the present pre-
carious state of the worlds peace.
A Realization We Can't Be Aloof.
The problem, therefore, is what steps
short of war should we take as a Nation
for the vast number of Americans have
a distinct horror of war. This does not
mean that they are necessarily complete
paciflsts but rather that there is strong
national feeling that American soldiers
should not be required to fight on for
eign soil to settle other peoples prob
lens. Perhaps. even more fundamentally
the American people, in their hatred of
war, sense its futility as a means of de-
termining anything except the end OF
peace and stability.
Nevertheless, there is an ever-increas-
ing realization that the world is so tied
together In this modern day that we
may not safely be able to assume an at
titude of complete aloofness. What Mr..
Average Citizen, therefore. wants to
know. and what undoubtedly he has a
right to know, is, first, how to protect
American freedom and institutions from
the danger of foreign influence and
second, how we can protect those insti-
tutions by giving aid to other countries
with interests and beliefs similar to our
own. All of this he wishes to accomplish
without the actual necessity of combat
on our part.
These conversations have led me to
seek possible choices which we seem to
lace. Ihere is. Of course the position of
the complete isolationist. His theory is
to abandon all contacts, if necessary, with
the rest of the world and become COM
pletely self-suficient His thesis is built
about the conviction that we can avoid
not only entangling alliances, but all
relationships with any other country,
and that We should do so no matter what
the cost.
Would Have to Quit Trading.
1t would seem obvious that, in order
to dissociate ourselves from the rest of
the world, we must be prepared to aban-
don completely our. foreign trade. Al
though it is true that this portion of our
trade amounts only to approximately 10
per cent Of our total annual national in
come, the effect of loss of this percentage
and the adjustments inherent therein
would be so severe that the entire Amer
lean standard of living would be adverse
ly affected for long time.
Equally important is the probability
that, should We adopt such a course, the
trade that we would relinquish would fall