Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-31
Member of the Associated Press.
Unfinished Story

Each of the major presidential
candidates seems to be pulling his
punches in discussing the underlying
significance of American aid to
Britain. Although each man talks
all around the subject, neither Presi-
dent Roosevelt nor Mr.. Willkie quite
gets down to the essential facts of
the case, neither places the major
emphasis where it properly belongs.
The talks at Baltimore and Boston
last night illustrate the point. What
does Mr.. Willkie mean when he
speaks of aiding Britain ito the limits
of prudence" for our own safety?
Why does the President, in discussing
the increasing aid that we are giving
to Britain, place so much emphasis
on the thought that we are not going
to send American boys to fight in
foreign wars" on the pledge to
resist aggressors by methods short
of war?
These statements, as far as they
go, are not subject to serious criti-
cism, but they do not go far enough
and they are leading national think
ing in the wrong direction.
The fact of the matter is that this
war in Europe is our war. We are
involved in all but a military sense,
and both candidates know it. Time
and again they have limited at this
truth, but neither has developed it
as major thesis. And yet, the
picture is clear, the conclusion in
escapable.
We are helping the British to fight
a common enemy. The aggressors
threaten us as well as Britain. The
difference is only one of degree Our
purpose in sending planes and guns
to England Is not, as Mr.. Roosevelt
suggests, merely to gain time in
which to step up our own produc-
tivity, to pile up greater store of
armament at home. We have those
detectives in mind, of course, but the
larger purpose is to bring about the
defeat Of the common enemy 5000
miles away, to prevent the war
from coming to America. II
Britain falls we will have suffered our
first major defeat, for then the one
great outpost which still surely keeps
the war from our shores will have
been swept away. Our whole foreign
policy is based on acceptance Of this
premise, on the theory that our best
interests will be served by making it
impossible for Hitler and his as
sociateS to come to this hemisphere,
and not primarily by making our
selves strong enough to drive off an
aggressor once we have been attacked
at home.
This, perhaps, is selfish attitude,
but it is sound strategy. Why, then,
is so much stress laid on keeping
American soldiers out of a foreign
war? What foreign war is the Pres
ident talking about? This is not to
suggest that we should send troops
W GuIOpS, 1OI IlldG Is OuU VI Vic Quco-
ton, but the people of the United
States should not be misled. They
should be told again and again that
this is our war and that we have an
intellectually vital stake in its out
come. It is not a struggle in which
we can afford to aid Britain to the
limits Of prudence, whatever Mr..
Willkie means by that term. Pru-
dence, under any definition, impera-
lively demands that we aid Britain
to the very limit of our ability in
every way that good strategy permits.
We cannot be half in and half out
of this frightful upheaval that is
shaking the world to its very founda-
tons. The American people are
capable of facing the stark truth,
and they ought to be told the whole
story.