Evening star., 1939-09-22
A Plea for Peace

n fIe0 tOr fe0Ce
President Roosevelt's message to
the special session of Congress was
noteworthy in at least two respects
first, for the sincerity with which he
re-stated his devotion to the cause
of keeping this country out of war,
and, second, for the clarity and
forcefulness of his exposure of the
inconsistencies and the frailties of
the arms embargo section of our
neutrality law. The message was a
final answer to those Senators who
have not hesitated to question by
implication the good faith of the
President while willfully refusing to
face the question whether the en-
barge does, in fact, protect the
United States from involvement in
war
MIR. Roosevelt demonstrated to the
satisfaction of all who have not
closed their minds to the truth that
the present legislation is a positive
menace to this country's peace and
safety, that it is in conflict with our
traditional foreign policy and that
it has no counterpart anywhere
among the family of nations. And
this showing was made in concrete
and specific terms, with the President
abstaining from the vaporous gener-
alities which have been the out
standing characteristic of the con-
tentions advanced by his opponents.
The message is calculated to force
the isolationist Senators to abandon
half-truths and to deal with the real
issues at stake, and If it accomplishes
that result and no more it will have
served an eminently useful purpose.
The President made it clear that
he is not seeking only the repeal
of the embargo. That step alone
would not provide adequate pro-
lection against our involvement in
war, and Mr.. Roosevelt recon-
mended four additional legislative
moves to reinforce American safety"
Those recommendations were, Cd
that American merchant vessels
should, so far as possible, be re-
stricted from entering war zones, (2)
that American citizens be prevented
from travelling on belligerent ships,
or in danger areas, (3) that foreign
buyers be required to take transfer
OF title in this country to all COM
modities purchased by belligerents,
and a. that no war credits be ex-
tended to belligerents.
With the purpose of these restric-
tions, the second and fourth of which
are already in effect, The Star is in
full agreement.
The first and third provisions would
constitute what has been called a
cash-and-carry plan. The "cash"
proposal, that relating to transfer of
title in this country, is adequate,
but the Presidents suggestion with
respect to the carry" section-the
proposal to deny our merchant YES
sells access to war zones-could be
made more explicit, and, in the opin-
ion of The Star, this should be done.
With the embargo repealed, our
first concern should be to shield
American merchant ships from the
blockading forces of belligerents. This
objective might be attained through
the Presidents war zone" plan, but
a simpler and surer method would
be to adopt plainly worded require
ment that any belligerent nation
desiring to purchase any commod-
tiles in this country must be pre-
pared, first, to pay cash, and, second,
to transport the goods so purchased
in its own vessels. That hard and
fast rule might affect our merchant
marine adversely to some extent, but
it would also effectively guard against
the danger of American vessels being
sunk and the consequent hazard
that we might be drawn into war.
Mr.. Roosevelt, as matter of ne
cessity, dealt principally with the
menace to this country in retaining
the present legislation and the great
er measure of safety that would re-
suit from adoption of the changes
he suggested. With fully as much
factual justification, he might have
discussed specifically the potential
danger to the United States that
would arise if Britain and France,
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