The Skyland post. [volume] (West Jefferson, N.C.) 193?-1988, 1939-03-16

dent and his councillors are still
looking across tn Atlantic and
Pacific oceans. The Senators and
Representatives in Congress are
sharply divided as to whether
external or internal affairs call
for the chit attention Of the Unit
Cd States. e~-7'si'.'' -'s.s ~ &. -. va
There is almost hundred per-
cent agreement that the nation
should put its military, naval and
air defenseS into first rate condi-
ton, proof of which is found in
the almost unanimous vote to
appropriate 500 million dollars
TO the War Department, the large
st peace-time fund ever granted
for that purpose. The President
has asked for another 1873 mill
lions for supplementary Army
purposes, and pobably will get it.
Where Congress and the Execu-
tive disagree is on the question of
the nations foreign policy. There
is feeling that Mr.. Roosevelt is
stirring up the animals" by his
frequent utterances aid at the
relationships of Europe.
He did that again in his speech
before Congress in celebration of
the 150th anniversary of that body
when he took crack at the dicta-
tors by asking whether the Unit
ed States should sit passive while
religious freedom was suppress
ed in other nations.
May Reveal Secrets
No sane person believes for a
moment that Mr.. Roosevelt wants
to lead the United States into
foreign war, but the belief that
his frequent denunciations of the
governments of the very nations
from which the country has most
to far are at least provocative, is
freely expressed and deplored by
even his most devoted adherents.
The demand on Capitol Hill for
a full revelation of the interna-
tional situation as it affects the
interests of the United States is
increasing. It is not minimized by
such statements as that made on
the floor by Senator Lunden, of
Minneoato, that Mr.. Roosevelt, in
his confidential talk with men,
bers of the Committee on Military
Affairs, disclosed stunning sec
rets" which, if made public, would
shock the nation.
The feeling that the public
should be taken into complete
confidence on anything which so
vitality affects everybody is
strong, and the possibility grows
that stenographic report of the
Presidents talk with the Sena-
tors may be made public.
Meantime the movement for a
Constitutional amendment prohi-
biting Congess from declaring
war without a popular referen-
dunn, except in case of actual in
vasion has been revived.
Recent disclosures of the activ-
tiles of japanese spies on the
Pacific Coast are stirring up in
ternational distrust. The disclo-
sure by high Army officer that
German aviators were using in
the attack on Barcelona a new
kind of airbomb charged with Ii
quid oxygen, capable of killing |
everybody within quarter of a |
mile from where it strikes, has
furnished fresh impetus to the
program of a bigger and stronger
air force
The removal of the general
headquarters of tn Army Air
Corps from Langly Field, Virginia
to Scott Field in Illinois, as soon
as the new buildings can be fini-
shed, is part of the general pro-
gram of shifting the more vulner-
able points of national defense
away from the seaboard and into
the interior, where they will be
safer from air raids from over
seas.
Building Huge Reserves
Part of that program is the
building up of huge reserves of
war materials in the Mississippi
Valley, and of enrolling some ten
thousand industrial establish
ments, mostly in the same region,
to be prepared to turn out imple-
mentS of war on short notice. AL
so, as part of the great new de-
tense program, interest in the
Florida Ship Canal has been re-
vived, on the principle that it will
provide a safe, sheltered water
route from the Mississippi Valley
to the Atlantice Coast in time of
war.
The War Department has re-
ported to Congress that the Flo
rida Canal would be of vital i'm
portance to commerce in peace
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