The Wilmington morning star., 1940-03-29
Editorial Comments
From Other Angles
wv PLANES FOR THE ALLIES
New York Herald Tribune

OF all the muddle about the European war
and American policy in regard to it now man.
lfest in Washington, the current disturbance
over the release of late-model airplanes to the
Allies seems about the most muddle- headed.
We have just witnessed the triumphant re-
suits of the policy of rushing every possible
aid to Finland except the sort of aid which
the Films really needed. After this experience
we are now going to adopt the principle of SELL
ing every kind of war supply to the Allies ex-
cept the supplies which the Allies most need in
order to win the war? And if so, why?
The theory behind our peculiar course to.
ward Finland was that if we did differently
we might somehow get involved in the war
which, however mistaken a theory, was at
least ineligible. But the difficulty being raised
about the a%irplines is a more subtly irrational
one. 1t rests upon the theory that by releasing
such things as the Bell Airacobra or Curtiss
P-40 in large quantities to the Allies we will
be interfering with our own military prepara-
tons and giving away military secrets. Even
the President, in defending the ~airplane sales,
at a press conference last week, had to go out
of his way to explain that no real military
secrets were embodied in these ships. But
what difference would it make, the average
citizen is likely impatiently to exclaim, if they
were?
What, in heavens name, are our own mill
tary preparations preparing for? Do the plans
for the Improvement of our defense seriously
contemplate a war with either Great Britain
or France, within the lifetime of any present
day military secret, as a possible eventuality?
If they do, they are founded on absurdity; but
If (as is quite evidently the case) they do not,
what possible disadvantage can there be in
allowing the Allies, since we have already
opened our markets to them, to buy the very
best and latest types of equipment which those
markets have to offer?
There is no distinction whatever in interna-
.tional law or morals between the sale of a
350-mile-an-hour military a%irplane and the sale
of a 440-mile-an-hour one. It Is improbable,
even, that the Germans will feel any happier
about the appearance Of the former over their
lives than they would about the appearance
Of the latter. The one question involved is
the practical question Of what course will most
rebound to the peace and safety of the United
States. On a strictly practical survey of the
present situation, there can be no doubt that
the best chance of this country's staying out
of war lies in the Allies winning a prompt VIC
tory in Europe without our Intervention. Is it
not the simplest of common sense, therefore,,
to sell the Allies everything they may need to
win that victory themselves, including any
military secrets or anything else we may have?
There are other grounds for the a1rplane
sales which evade the point. The President has
explained that no secrets are involved, that
these quantity sales abroad, SO far from inter-
fering with our own defense planes, only re-
duce the unit prices and expand available plant
at the Allies expense. That is all very we'll.
But are we not reaching the point where we
must learn to think with realism on the basic
questions OF defense and foreign policy, even
when they cannot be side-stepped in this way?