Evening star., 1940-04-13

and French David Lawrence.
than ever before.
Protestations against American
entry into the war are numerous
and vehement. There can be no
doubt that however sympathetic
Americans are generally, their men,
bers of Congress are careful not to
reflect sympathy for any proposal
to join the war. But, nevertheless,
experienced observers who saw the
way public opinion fiuctuated in the
last war merely utter now a word
of caution about making predictions
based on any set of events thus far
revealed.
When war can be thrust on an
innocent country overnight and
without warning of any kind, it is
a far different world than it was
from 1914 to 1918, when some of the
older rules of warfare and custom
were observed. Today the theory of
coup d'etat or sudden seizure of
territory is uppermost in the minds
of the world What can a. nation
do suddenly and quickly to another
nation? And what defenses are
available to ward off sudden blow?
Planes and Ships Co. ordinate.
The Army and Navy experts here
naturally urge greater and greater
preparedness. Military men never
concede they are prepared. They
are inevitably concerned now with
the relative merits of war in the
air and war by surface ships, but
there seems no question that COM
bined aerial and surface operations
constitute the latest form of at
tack and defense, so that nobody
any longer begrudges necessary ex-
penses for armament that includes
both services.
The one thing that seems to stand
out is that armies will not be needed
for overseas duty Those on Capitol
Hill who are promising that they will
never vote to send American soldiers
across the ocean to fight are not
really taking much of a chance that
the issue will ever arise. 1t is sea
power and air power that America
could furnish the allies if American
intervention is ever decided upon.
But the chances are that even this
is not in the cards just now, judging
by what is known at this stage of the
war about the way things are going.
The assumption that the allies will
win without America S help is still
maintained by most persons in Con-
gress. They refuse to consider what
Americas position would be if this
assumption falls to the ground and
Nazi domination of the European
continent becomes certain.
The only concrete issue that the
American Congress may have to face
before long-and doubtless not be-
fore the autumn elections at that's
whether the johnson Act forbidding
loans to the allies shall be revised.
At present such repeal could not
be gotten through either House. But
If the allies are running out of money
and need credit and if they are fight
Ing with their backs to the wall, it is
anybody's guess as to what American
public opinion would be.
There was a time last year when
It was freely predicted on Capitol
Hill that the embargo on arms would
never be repealed. But it was. And
the Presidents leadership on that
occasion won him substantial sup
port in both political parties, ire
spective of previous dissension on
domestic issues.
Bad Debts in Way.
The principal argument against
lending money to the allies is that
they did not pay back their last
loans. The allies make the argument
that they never were able to do it
and that lncapacity to pay rather
than unWillingness was the reason
for their policy. They insist also that
Germany repudiated all her repara-
tion obligations to the allies and this
deprived Britain and France of their
principal source of funds. It is fact,
OF course, that even though the
British and French did not pay their
debts to the United States, the inter-
nal debt burdens of those two coun-
tries have been colossal and that
the tax drain per person is much
higher than anything known in
America. On top of this came in
recent years the necessary prepara-
tions for another war with Germany.
Great Britain and France have not
made any move indicating that they
wished to influence America to enter
the present war. But what they feel
is that, since they are battling for
democracy, they should not be de-
prived of credit in time of need. The
cash-on-the- barrel policy is causing
no end of complications for Ameri-
can exporters and it would not be
surprising if the agricultural States,
especially the cotton growers in the
South and fruit growers of the West,
would ultimately find themselves
more lenient about extending credits
to Britain and France than the
present johnson Act permits.
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