The Ely miner. [volume] (Ely, Minn.) 1895-1986, 1939-07-27
OUR CONGRESSMAN
Letter Written for The Ely Miner by
WILLIAM A PITTENGER
Member of Congress- Eighth Minnesota District


Unless something unforeseen occurs in
the meantime, the present session of
congress will be near its close when
this appears in print. The consensus
of authoritative opinion now is that ad-
journment will come some time be-
tween July 26 and August /.
Nobody now believes there is the
slightest chance that the administra-
TONS last minute attempts to Stave
off adjournment and bring about enact
ment of neutrality law, such as
President Roosevelt and Secretary Hull
are Pumping for, will succeed.
On the contrary, the feeling is dom
inent in informed circles that the latest
appeals of the new deal leaders to
congress to stay in session until neu-
trality has been definitely disposed of
were not made in the hope that
majority of the solons would acquiese,
but merely for the purpose of showing
the dictators abroad that the American
government, at least the executive de-
partment thereof, has not changed it's
mind but is ready to WELD its in
fluence and power in behalf of the
democracies and against the "aggres-
sors." What effect this will have, if
any, time undoubtedly will reveal.
Secretary Hull's reasoning is that the
aggressive dictators would at least hest
tate, if not be deferred altogether, to
continue their aggressions which will
inevitably, many believe, lead to war, if
they knew for certain that the United
States would serve as a munitions and
food depot for the democracies in case
of war. Those who do not agree with
him take the attitude that if the axis
leaders are determined to have their
way, they will go to war no matter
what the United States does; that, if
the American attitude is any factor in
future war developments, the present
uncertainty about what this country
actually will do, is the most potent
deterrent to axis action imaginable
under the circumstances.
However, it ought to be obvious to
every thinking person that to call the
current controversy debate on neu-
trality is manifestly misleading. The
fact of the matter is that the question
be neutral, but which side We are going
to line up with-the demorcracies or
the autocracies. AS a matter of fur
ther fact, we are in a position now
where we can't be neutral in fact but
only in theory. For under the present
embargo act, some say we are giving
aid to the axis; and that if we repeal
it, then we would be giving England and
France all the advantage. It's clear
case of damned if we do, and ditto if
we don't.
This unquestionably has much to do
with the marked Discrimination of a
majority of both houses of congress to
lay off of this piece of legislation as
long as possible. Should war break out
in Europe, in the next few weeks, con-
gress undoubtedly will be called into
lextra session. Then it will be up to
Congress to decide whether or not his
tory is to repeat itself and we are once
chestnutS out of the fire to our own
huge cost both in wealth and man
power My guess is that the American
people have had enough of this sort Of
futile sacrifice as far as the future
welfare of humanity is concerned. The
only ones who benefit from this wal
mania are the munitions and arma-
ments makers and their financial
hackers, the international bankers.
BY common consent, neutrality wa.
the only legislation which threatened
to block early adjournment. Person.
Tally I cannot subscribe to that. There
are a number of problems confronting
the nation which should have the i'm
mediate attention of congress and j
has no business adjourning until thest
have been solved, or it has been made
clear that man has no solution fol
them. For congress to adjourn withou
making a sincere effort to find out VIII.
more than 100000 able and willing
workers cannot find jobs but must b.
fed, clothed and housed at public ex
pense, and what to do about it, is tot
much like Nero fiddling while ROM
burned, to reflect any credit on our in
telligence.
Either the administration now il
power does not want to effectively solv,
this problem, or it does not know how
An item in the Congressional Recorc
one day last week tends to create th
impression that the former might b
the case. I refer to the remarks by /,