Evening star., 1939-06-04

would still be able to produce arms from
raw materials purchased largely in the
United States The United States would
have been put in the position of provid-
ing Japan with the sineWs of war while
denying them to China. The fact that
each belligerent wanted different mate
rlals-Japan raw materials China fin
ished arms-was irrelevant; the prac-
tical effect would have been the same
American assistance for Japan in carry
ing out her aggression in China, which is
not neutrality.
Garry" PrOvisO Protested.
The cash and carry" section au-
thorized the President to forbid Amer
lean vessels to transport certain ma
terials other than arms, which he should
list, to belligerents and required that
no American interest be maintained in
goods of any kind being exported to
belligerents Although the cash" por-
ton of this law could scarcely be OBJ
jected to, the isolationists criticized the
carry section on the ground that it
gave all the advantage to the belligerent
controlling the sea-Great Britain in the
Atlantic, Japan in the Pacific.
Re-enactment of the neutrality law
in the form proposed by Secretary Hull
and Mr.. Bloom would retain all the
desirable features of the present law
while purging the statute of the chief
objectionable element-the arms en-
barge. Without this provision neu-
trallty legislation assumes at least a
more neutral character.
Mr.. Hull made six recommendations
to Mr. Bloom and Mr.. Pittman in his
letter Of May 27: Prohibition of Amer
ican ships from entering combat areas;
restriction of travel by American citi-
zens in combat areas; mandatory trans
fer of title to foreigners before exports
are made to belligerents: continued en-
barge on loans and credits to nations
at war; regulation of the solicitation
and collection of funds for belligerents,
and continuance of the National Num-
tions Board
The nucleus of the Bloom bill is power
for the President upon the outbreak of
war to establish areas of combat opera
tions through which American citizens
and American ships are prohibited to
go, reminiscent of 1915 and 1916, when
Germany proclaimed a war zone"
around the British Isles within which
her submarines would destroy enemy
merchantmen.
Defects in Combat Area Plan.
The combat area plan, while less HARM
full to American economic interests per-
haps than the carry" portion of the
now-expired "cash-and-carry section
which it is designed to replace-because
it permits trade in all kinds of goods
to continue with belligerents through
ports or sections of coast which are not
within war zones, is still full of defects
which would make its operation, if not
actually unneutral to one side or the
other, at least extremely unwieldy and
full of possibilities for controversy with
belbgerents.
The establishment of combat areas
would be left to the discretion of the
President, whose decisions as to whether
w al piiliC OpCl dllOllS "clC SOlllS VII WUulu
be subject to challenge not only within
the United States but from the bellig-
erent adjacent to which the area was
proclaimed.
Combat areas, furthermore, are some
times extremely flexible and difficult of
exact definition because of the shifting
character of naval warfare. Areas effec-
III u l.
cluded within such zones, but interna-
tional law is already specific on this
point. giving the belligerent the right to
visit and search neutral vessels for con-
traband of war.
Blockades are not always effective,
however, and the determination of
whether belligerent is actually block
aiding an area which he claims to block
ade is subject for expert investigation.
The use of mines also raises the question
of whether an area which is claimed to
be mined has actually been mined so as
to be dangerous for American vessels.
Disputes in Prospect.
The interest of the belligerent in main
ldlIllllB lIdue WIN ueulTdlS can reason
ably be expected to lead to disputes over
whether American declaration that
war zone exists along his coast is justi-
fled by the facts.
Thus the technical difficulties of de-
termining and specifying at all times
the areas of danger for American ships
and citizens could we'll render illusory
the hope of avoiding loss of American
lives and property during wartime.
Use of the combat area section of the
Bloom bill would be entirely at the dis
cretion of the President, however, and if
he found that it was leading to dangerous
differences with nations at war it would
be within his power to abandon it, re-
turning to the maintenance of Ameri-
can rights under international law.
In other words, the power for the
President to specify combat areas would
be available if he found that protection
of the citizens of the United States so
required. Otherwise American neutrality
policy would be maintained in its tradi-
tional form-fulfillment of the obliga-
tions of neutral and insistence upon
respect for the rights of neutral.
Tz1s Elsll