Evening star., 1939-08-27
Arms Embargo
.Spurred Nazis,
Says
Action Of Congress
Called Invitation
To General Conflict
BY the Associated Press,

BY the Associated Press.
ROANOKE, Va. Aug. 26.-Assist-
ant Secretary of War johnson to-
night told the convention of Young
Democratic Clubs of Virginia here
that the arms embargo provision Of
the United States Neutrality Act was
"bluntly and obviously a discrim-
ination in favor of Germany, and
therefore an invitation to try O
general conflict.
Said Col. johnson:
We meet in a dangerous hour
which l cannot now discuss; but one
word about 1t is definitely in order.
The international crisis. bad as it
is, has had one salutary effect. It
mas taught some of our friends a
lesson in practical international
affairs.
Moves in Favor of Peace.
The attitude and policies of the
United States are a definite factor
in European affairs. What we do
affects what happens over there,
whether we like it or not. The Pres
ident's move last October had a dis
tlnct bearing on the avoidance Of
war. His kilograms last April to
Hitler and Mussolini, though they
were not answered, did have mate
rial influence in keepiAG the peace
last spring, as We now know. His
move to change the Neutrality Act
was a move in favor of peace.
The policy of the United States
was to maintain, if possible, the
peace of the world. You do not do
that by discriminating in favor of
one of the countries likely to get
into war. Our embargo on export
Of arms was. bluntly and obviously,
a discrimination in favor OF Ger
many.
The present crisis was built
largely on the balance of military
strength between two groups. To
announce in advance that there
would be discrimination in favor of
Germany in the matter of arms ex-
ports amounted simply to encourag-
ing her to gamble on a general
war. When the administration pro-
posed, as it did last spring, that the
discrimination be removed and that
a real neutrality act be passed it
was a definite step in favor of
peace. The President and Secre-
tary Hull made this perfectly clear
at the time. You will remember
that it was Republican bloc, aid
ed by small minority of Democrats,
which prevented that step from
being taken. Every one knows this
now, and it is lesson that ought
not to be forgotten"
Praises Defense Program.
Col. johnson had high praise for
the national defense program of
President Roosevelt. realization Of
which, he said, would leave us
better prepared than ever before in
our history to meet any thrust
that may be made against our ter
ritory, our lives, our property and
our interests
The United States Army, he de-
clared, has achieved a complete
renaissance
I'VE are undermining, he said.
"We are motorizing. We are mech
anizing We are adding officers and
enlisted men. We are strengthening
our National Guard. We are train
ing more Reserve officers. We are
laying the foundations for an air
corps that can defend this continent
against attack. We are building
modern barracks. We are conduct
ing large-scale maneuvers. In short,
we are giving moral and material
support to the Army and bringing
it up to a high state of efficiency"
Col. Johnson said relations with
industry had improved "immeasur-
ably" since 1888
Never before in the history of our
lSee Johnson pace Al