Evening star., 1939-04-15

d pIO1Oullu cl
feet in Europe today.
Commitments to war cannot be
made except by the Congress, and
President Roosevelt knows this, but
he is aware also that the Repubi-
can party, as well as the Democratic
party, has affirmed time and again
its adherence to the Monroe Doc
trine. Even the proponents OF a
constitutional amendment to require
a referendum before war could be
declared specifically exempt attacks
on the Monroe Doctrine.
Mr.. Roosevelt, however, gives a
realistic Interpretation to the Mon
roe Doctrine. He points out that
Canada is part of the Western
Hemisphere, fact which is often
ignored because of the gradually de-
veloped conception that the Monroe
Doctrine was merely means OF pro-
tecting republics when, as matter
of fact, 1t was a pronouncement OF
American aid to maintain the status
quo in the Western Hemisphere ir-
respective of the form o. govern
ment.
Defense Pledge Made.
The Canadian people, ever since
the League of Nations covenant OF
the treaty of Versailles granted
them a seat in the Assembly as an
independent nation and ever since
the United States and Canada have
exchanged Ministers, are regarded
officially as an independent nation.
But it remained for Mr.. Roosevelt,
in his speech at Kingston, Ontario,
last summer, to pledge the co-opera-
ton of the United States in de-
Tending the territorial integrity OF
Canada as it would any other state
or republic in the pan-American
family.
Mention by Mr.. Roosevelt of that
Kingston pledge was casually con-
veyed in his message as an example
of how the nations OF America CO.
operated with one another without
raising questions of "encirclement,
but it is nevertheless of tremendous
Importance that the President
should refer again to Canada's posi-
ton in world affairs.
AS pointed out in these dispatches
earlier this week. if there is world
war, Canada will become England's
granary and arsenal and the Ger
man air forces and submarines
would do everything possible to
harass Canada or bomb her fac
tories. Canada would certainly be-
iYxrN1uaI vyl,o NHr
velt says the United States would
feel bound to protect Canada. he is
merely voicing his expectation of
what the sentiment in Congress
would be in the event that our
northern neighbor became the vic
tim of outside attack.
Match Force With Force"
The President was careful to
mince no words about resisting at
tacks from the military or naval
forces of other nations, and the ex-
act phraseology of his public pledge
Is worth reproducing, because it will
have historic Importance:
''The American peace which we
celebrate today has no quality of
weakness in it. We are prepared
to maintain it, and to defend it to
the fullest extent of our strength,
matching force to force if any at
tempt is made to subvert our in
stitutions or to impair the inde-
pendence of any one OF our group"
This is as plain a statement of
military alliance for defense of the
Western Hemisphere as could be
written. The President then goes
on to discuss economic force, rec
Qgnizing, indeed, that this is the
way the Nazi propaganda and bar
ter deals have sought to cause dis
sension as between Latin-American
states and the United States. He
says:
Should the method of attack be
that OF economic pressure, I pledge
that my own country will also give
economic support, so that no Amer
lean nation need surrender any
fraction of its sovereign freedom to
maintain its economic welfare. This
Is the spirit and intent of the dec
laration of Lima; the solidarity of
the continent"
There were two other passages in
the address which indicate careful
preparation on the part of the Sec
retary of Safe, Cordell Hull, and the
officials of the Department of State,
In the preliminary work that must |
have been done before such an i'm
portant pronouncement could be
made. 1t was the assertion of eco
nomic unity in the world as it re-
lateS to trade and even to interna-
tional wars fought across oceans as
against colonies or affiliates of Eu-
ropean empires. This excerpt is
especially interesting in its obvious
attempt to refute recently expressed
"tsolationist" sentiment.
Beyond question, within a scant
few years air fleets will cross the
ocean as easily as today they cross
the closed European seas. Eco
nomic functioning of the world be-
comes increasingly unit; no inter-
ruption of it anywhere can fail, in
the future, to disrupt economic life
everywhere.
NIL. 1OOOSCSClG . dOuICSS WILL
stop the speeches of opposition in
Congress which lately have been di-
rected toward him on the assump-
ton that he is indulging in war talk
for political reasons-an arugment,
incidentally, which is also made by
the Nazi press. But this pronounce
ment and pledge of mutual defense
made by President of the United
States at this moment in world af-
fairs will convey to Latin America
and to Canada a profound reassur-
ance which, in the sense that it
promotes security on this continent,
tends to stabilize trade and none
tary relationships. And this is en-
tirely apart from the meaning Herr
Hitler and Signor Mussolini may get
out of it when they look overseas in
vain for opportunities in Latin
America to get the export trade
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