Evening star., 1939-07-28

oAbiC ChCCpIiUIlS,
are for once this session in complete
accord on a matter vitally affecting
our international relations.
This new-found unity between the
executive branch and the Senate
for there is no doubt the approving
views Of the committee accurately
reflect the views of the Senate as q
Whole-is doubly gratifying because
1t follows so close on the recent fight
over neutrality and the mistaken in.
ferences which the totalitarian DOW.
ers may have drawn from the divi-
sion on that question.
Through the action of the Secre-
tary OF State-which, of course, had
the full concurrence Of the Presi.
dent-and the chorus OF approba-
ton from the Senate, the United
States let's 1t be known that in the
upholding Of treaty rights guaran-
teed to its citizens, there Is a point
where partisan differences vanish
and united front takes their place.
Politics Clouded Picture.
Unhappily, there were political
circumstances (among them resent
ment OF the third-term ambitions
imputed to the President) that pre-.
vented true test of sentiment on
the administrations neutrality pro-
posals at this session. The whole
subject became clouded with spites
and jealousies, with prideful stand
Ing on recorded opinion, with q
lamentable degree of outright par
tisanship. The result-postponement
OF the issue to the next session Of
Congress-gave greater impression
OF disunity among Americans on the
broad question of our attitude
toward international banditry, than
the facts warranted.
The present move with respect to
Japan, opening up as it does the
possibility of embargo action at the
end Of the six months remaining of
the treaty period, is clearly one Of
those steps short of war" recon-
mended as means of dealing with
the aggressor nations 1t ought to
do much toward erasing impressions
of American weakness in the face of
aggression.
The fact will be noted abroad, no
doubt, that it was no partisan of
the President who suggested that
the Senate adopt resolution favor
ing abrogation of the Japanese
treaty, but Vandenberg of Michigan,
an outspoken Republican opponent
and perhaps the leading candidate
for his party's nomination for the
presidency. Vandenberg disagreed
with the Roosevelt neutrality pro-
posals; he is at one with Roose-
velt and Hull on the denunciation
Of the Japanese treaty and the
necessity for a new treaty which
faces realities as they are"
Committee "Acts" Afterward.
The fact that the Foreign Rela-
tions Committee, just prior to Hull's
drastic action, had voted to postpone
consideration of the Vandenberg
resolution till later meeting, loses
significance in the light Of the COM
mittee's subsequent almost unani-
nous approval of Hull's course.
There is added cause for gratifica-
ton in the fact that the firm stand
taken by Hull in defense of treaty
rights-a stand that fits the pat
tern of his whole consistent course
in the State Department-shows
the United States in the Far East
following strictly its own line. Clear
ly there is no deferring here to the
policy of Great Britain, which, in
contrast with the American atti-
tude, has seen fit to recognize the
special requirements" of Japan In
the occupied areas Of China.
1t has always been the reply Of
the State Department when charged
with too great tenderness toward
Great Britain, that whether or not
1t takes parallel action with Britain
IN any given case depends wholly
on what action it regards as best
for the United States. It denounces
the idea of secret understanding
with the British-though in some
what more diplomatic language-as
so much poppycock. Certainly to
any one familiar with the character
and record of Secretary Hull, this
form Of denial is none too strong.
IT the bugaboo of secret British
American arrangement persists In
any quarter, what we are now doing
IN the Orient should go far toward
wiping it out.