Evening star., 1940-08-20

war Ilan Nnelll-
er the United States should send 5o
destroyers, or whether conscrlptlon
should be promptly adopted, or
whether the Canadian American
defense agreement means prepara-
ton to reDel a Nazi invasion.
So far as neutrality is concerned,
1t has long vanished. There is no
pretense of it here any more. A
government which lends money, as
does the Reconstruction Finance
Corp, to private industry TO build
airplanes for the use of an active
belligerent is not neutral in the
sense in which the term has been
historically used in international
law. To refrain from selling so de-
stroyers to England on the ground
that a government should not sell
Warships to a belligerent because
it's unneutral is as untenable prop
osition as 1t is for the advocates of
such measure to insist that the
dispatch of these destroyerS would
be a measure short of war"
In realistic sense today there are
really no measures short of war"
If Nazi Germany were able at this
moment to attack America and
needed a justification under in
ternational law, the steps taken by
the American Government in under
writing financially the production of
airplanes for British use would be
adequate.
BefOgs Real Issue.
AS a matter of fact, Herr Hitler
didn't need any justification for
violating the neutrality of Holland
or Belgium or Denmark Only rea-
sons of strategy or eXpedienCy pre-
vent the Berlin government nova
days from characterizing as unneu-
tral all the material aid heretofore
given the Allied cause by the United
States.
The question of sending so de-
stroyers befogs the real issue. What
England needs is the help of the
entire United States Navy in the
Atlantic and such air force as can
be utilized in overseas combat or in
protecting the merchant shipping.
If. as Ambassador Bullitt says, the
United States is going to be attacked
by Hitler as soon as the latter dis
poses Of Britain, then the argument
for sending some old destroyers will
be followed logically by the plea to
send also as many of the Warships
as possible at once to prevent Hitler
from winning over Britain now.
The Roosevelt administration has
tacitly approved the course Of AM
bassador Bullitt. who. in an eXtraor-
dinary speech in Philadelphia over
the week end, pleaded for the dis
patch of so destroyers and the
prompt passage of the corscription
bill Mr.. Bullitt's address was an
eloquent statement of the case from
the viewpoint of those who think
there Is no time to lose in helping
Britain. but it was transparently
political attempt, too, to place the
blame for delay on Congress when
the truth of the matter is the Presi-
dent of the United States did rot act
on Mr.. Bullitt's dramatic reports
during the last two years about the
course Of events in Europe. There
are no signs yet that the White
House is as exercised as Mr.. Bullitt
about the need for haste in getting
the defense program Under way, or
else Mr.. Roosevelt would be on the
radio making impassioned pleas and
f1reside chats for the early i'assage
of the conscription bill, or for the
building quickly Of those defense
plants which Secretary of War
Stimson told a congressional COM
mittee last week were being DELAYED
because of the amortization prob
lem.
80 Valuable Days Lost.
If the situation is as serious as
Ambassador Bullitt paints it then
America should be better prepared
today than it is and 80 valuable days
have already been lost this summer