Evening star., 1939-04-17

3
some time to come.
The Presidents move, formulated
after many months of consideration,
and studied at length with Secre-
tary Hull and his advisers, has not
been withheld because of any doubt
as to its wisdom, but only because of
desire to time the intervention
when it might have the best chance
OF success.
Those who have been suspecting
the President of wanting to drag
America into war" have done so
mostly because of the sudden in
crease in armament and the
speeches and statements of denun-
citation which have been coming
from the administration in COM
ment on developments in the totali-
tartan states, but those who have
been suspicious would not have felt
that way had they known what was
really going on behind the scenes.
And, unfortunately, in matters of
diplomacy it is not possible to dis
close plans which require constant
oelicacy in handling.
President Will Be Shown Hero.
Some day the Presidents efforts
tor peace which have been known
to those behind the scenes will be-
com public and then the sniping
which has been going on among
those who are carrying over their
prejudices against Mr.. Roosevelt on
i,,fo i,,+o
matters will appear more and more
unfortunate. Those many Repub-
llcans who have been cautious about
accusing the administration of
wanting war have been wiser than
their few brethren who have been
ready to read into every action
of the President some relationship
to an ambition for 1910.
But even from a political point
OF view, the snipers have been
wrong. Anybody who knows the
fundamentals of political strategy
can observe that keeping a nation
out of war merits far more ap-
plause and support at the polls
than dragging it in. If Mr.. Roose-
welt wants to run for a third term,
his best chance of reward lies in
having a prosperous America and
peaceful world. For it is note
worthy that even the administra-
ton, which has been inclined off
and on since 1888 to disregard world
conditions as basic cause of Amer
lean economic disturbances, is ready
row to concede that the world is
an economic unit and that pros
perity and unemployment can come
come out of a natural stability
throughout the world based on trade
end not out of an artificial sta
bility based on armament building.
Has All to Gain.
Mr.. Roosevelt has everything to
gain and nothing to lose from the
standpoint of political party pres
tige, economic recovery and his
place in history irrespective of
whether he ever runs for Office
again if he becomes the vehicle
through which the world declares
a truce for 10 years or more and
world trade is revived.
How will Mr. Roosevelt proceed,
and what can moral force" really
accomplish? In the first place, mo-
raj force" in its essence, means the
employment of every form of COM
munication available to reach the
hearts and minds of peoples both in
the totalitarlan countries and in the
democracies of the world: 1t means
constant discussion. When the Hit
ler and Mussolini replies come in
1t means answering them and put
ting the debate in the open so all
mankind can listen again and read.
Even the censorships abroad will not
prevent the texts of these important
proposals and replies from becom-
ing widely known.
When the German and italian re-
plies are studied, the question then
arises of removing the obstacles
which may be cited by Hitler and
Mussolini. 1t means examining their
replies and then applying to the
democracies process of honest
determination. America, having
no entanglements in Europe, is in
particularly fortunate position in be-
ing able to look effectively at the