Evening star., 1939-10-14

that time, by vote of 214 to 173
the House adopted the Vorys
amendment, restoring to the Bloom
bill the arms embargo
The vote on the Vorys amendment
was a shock to. the administration
at the time-and 81 Democrats voted
for 1t. But now it is asserted that
more than 81 of the these Demo-
Gratis will shift their votes from
AYE" TO mo" on the embargo. Not
voting on the VoryS amendment
were nearly so members of the
House, and there is nothing definite
yet to indicate how these members
will stand when the question of en-
barge repeal comes up in the House
again.
The administration leaders are
intent upon rolling up as large a
majority in the Senate for embargo
repeal as they can, They believe,
naturally enough. that an impress
sive Senate victory will have a dis
tinct influence on the action Of the
House, which is to come later.
House Listens to Voters.
The House, however, has done
some amazing things in the last
year-after the Senate has acted
Many of the House members have
reserved their decision up to date
on the arms embargo as it is pre-
sented since the European war be-
gan. Many of them are listening to
what their constituents have to say
about the matter-have been listen
ing for the last three weeks while
the Senate Foreign Relations Com
mittee and the Senate itself have
been struggling with the neutrality
bill. So-called. Probably the House
will have no opportunity to express
itself on the issue for another two,
or even three weeks. In the interim
sentiment in the country may be-
come even more crystaliZed for or
against embargo repeal. The war
itself may progress in manner
which will influence some of the
members.
Already in the House, despite the
fact that the neutrality bill is not
before that body, debate over the
merits and dement's of the admins
tration's proposals has broken out.
Some of it has been acrimonious in
the extreme Representative Wood
rum. Democrat, of Virginia stirred
the membership when he launched
an attack last Monday on the Ma
tional Committee to Keep America
Out .of Foreign Wars. headed by
representative Hamilton Fish of
New York, Republican-calling it
propaganda racket" This COM
mittee is composed of 38 members
of the House. and has been engaged
in lining up sentiment against arms
embargo repeal. He withdrew the
word racket and substituted pro
gram" when Representative Scha-
fer of Wisconsin charged Mr.. Wood
rum with accusing Mr. Fish of con-
ducting a racket. But the fat was
in the fire.
Includes World War Veterans.
On this committee are many vet
erans of the World War-men who
served overseas, including Mr. Fish.
There is large membership of
World War veterans in the House
at present, and many of them are
entirely unsympathetic with the
arms embargo repeal-which they
see as an unneutral act at this time
and likely to involve this country in
the European struggle. The great
majority of them are determined
that the country shall not be drawn
into the struggle.
There has been no determination
yet as to the procedure in the House
when the neutrality bill is returned
to that body from the Senate. Mr..
Fish and others are insisting that
there shall be time for thorough
debate.
Under the parliamentary situ-
alton, the administration bill will be
substituted in the Senate for the
Bloom bill, passed by the House last
summer. The House bill, better
known as the Bloom bill, will there
fore be laid again before the House
with a Senate amendment. The
House must either concur in the
Senate amendment as a whole, or
send the bill to conference. 1t will
be impossible for the House to act
on the new measure section by Sec
ton and paragraph by paragraph.
If the House sends the bill to con-
ference, the House Conference Com
mittee is likely to be loaded with
supporters of the embargo repeal,
and in the conference with the Sem
ate Committe, the embargo will go
by the board. But one way or an
other, the opponents of repeal in the
House are determined to get a
separate vote, if they can, on that
amendment of the Senate.
In the Senate. general debate on
the neutrality bill has not yet been
exhausted, although the bill has
been before the Senate for two
weeks. A plethora of amendments
are to be offered and discussed.
The debate has indicated some of
the amendments will deal with the
"title-and-carry'' provisions and the
financial transactions section.
Points to Credit "Out."
Senator Danahar. of Connecticut
has called the attention of the
Senate to one feature of the bill,
which he insists will make it pos
sible for belligerent nations to have
on order huge supplies at the time
that a proclamation is made by
the President putting the new law
into effect, for which they will be
able to make any kind of credit
terms they desire. The bill, he
says, exempts from the prohibition
against credit buying such orders.
1t reads: "The provisions of this
section (relating to credits to bel
ligerent nations) shall not apply
to a renewal or adjustment of such
indebtedness as may exist on the