Glacier County chief., 1940-10-25
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Washington, d. C.
EMBARGO ON JAPAN DEBATED
The group inside the cabinet
which favors a complete stoppage
of Japan's raw materials of war,
especially her oil, includes Secre-
tary of War Stimson, Secretary of
the Navy Knox, Secretary of Interior
Ickes, and Secretary of the Treas
ury Morgenthau-also certain admit
rails in the navy. Perhaps it is sig
nificant that the strongest advocates
of complete embargoes against ia
pan are the three Republican men,
bers of the cabinet-Stimson, Knox
and Ickes.
On the other hand, the state de-
partment plus some of the admirals
favor a go-slow policy toward ia
pan. They believe in applying the
embargoes gradually, or as Mr..
1ckes describes it, cutting off the
dogs tail by inches"
The state department concurs that
cutting off Japan's oil would para
lyze her fleet after her present 2h
months supply was exhausted. But
they also believe it would force ia
pan to move into the Dutch East
Indies Immediately in order to get
more oil.
Last week one argument over this
point and over general naval policy
in the Far East developed into
hot debate between the navy, on one
side, and Hull and Welles on the
other. 1t took place at the White
House, in front of the President, who
did most of the listening.
Hull and Welles commended that if
we stopped Japan's oil supply she
would certainly attack the Dutch
East Indies, and that the United
States could not possibly afford to
have ships in that area because they
might be needed in Atlantic waters.
Welles pointed out that the Germans
might seize the Azores or the French
naval base at Dakar, West Africa,
which would menace s. ! America.
To this, Admiral LIE. now gov
ernor of Puerto Rico and one of
Roosevelt's closest naval advisers,
replied:
"Gentlemen, we don't have to
worry about Dakar and the Azores
now. The British fleet can still pre-
vent Germany from taking them.
But a few months from now it may
be different. By next spring, or
even this winter, the war may have
gone against the British in the Med
iterranean, and then we'll have two
oceans to defend. Now we have
only one"
U. S.-BORN JAPANESE
Only insiders are aware of it, but
the new nationality act slaps down
another embargo on Japan.
1t plugs up hole in the old immi-
grafton laws which permitted Amer
ican-born Japanese to 60 to Japan,
serve several years in the Japanese
army, then return to the U. S. A.
and resume citizenship. This has
been quite common among the large
Japanese population in Hawaii,
where many Japanese parents con-
slider it their duty to the emperor
to send their children to Japan for
military service.
That the new law is specifically
aimed at Japan-and her Axis al
lies-is shown by the fact that when
the act was originally written, any
one who enlisted in foreign army
automatically forfeited citizenship.
This would have expatriated Ameri-
cans serving with the Canadian and
British armies.
The bill actually passed the house
in this form, but then the senate
immigration committee did some
editing. AS finally passed, citizen
ship is not lost if no oath of ale
glance is taken. Canada and Brit
ain do not require the oath of Ameri-
cans. Japan and her Axis pals do.
Note-The new law also provides
that American parents of children
born abroad must have resided in
the U. S. at least 10 years prior to a
birth in order to transmit citizen,
ship. This is aimed at expatriates
who retain their citizenship, with all
its obligations on the government tc
protect them, but don't think enough
of the United States to live in it.