Evening star., 1940-02-11
A Fortnight ToIk

WIN
In his message to the American
Youth Congress, President Roosevelt,
obviously annoyed by palpable mis-
representations of his administra-
tion's attitude toward the Russo
Finnish war, answered his critics in
fortnight language which merits
careful reading by all Americans,
young as well as old.
The President took particular ex-
ception to the recent action of the
New York Council of the Youth Con-
gress in voting, 995 to five, against
American loans to Finland on the
ground that the proposal to advance
these credits was an attempt to force
America into "the imperialistic war"
Properly describing this reasoning
as "unadulterated tWaddle," Mr..
Roosevelt, with admirable restraint,
said that it was based perhaps on
sincerity, but, at the same time, on
80 per cent ignorance of what they
were talking about" Most Ameri-
cans will find it difficult to believe
that there was any element of sin
cerity in this "twaddle" about the
"imperialistic" war, which has been
Moscow's favorite alibi for the
wanton assault on Finland, but if it
may be assumed that the council
members were sincere it will be even
more difficult for sensible people to
take seriously anything else that they
may say.
After this sharp rebuke, Mr.. Roose-
velt made an admirable statement Of
this country's real attitude toward
Finland. American sympathy, he
said, is SO per cent with the Firms
IN their effort to stave off the
Russian invasion, and America wants
to help by tending or giving money
to them to save their own lives"
In these words, the President, by
implication at least, was taking a
much stronger, and, in The Stars
opinion, much more realistic posi-
ton, than was the case in his recent
pronouncement to the effect that
America should confine itself to max
Ing loan which the Firms would not
be permitted to use Cor the purchase
of weapons to resist the invader and
protect their own lives, but only for
the purchase of surplus products of
this country's farms and factories.
Mr.. Roosevelt, to be sure, did not tell
the Youth Congress that he now
favors an unrestricted loan, but he
plainly indicated his belief that the
great majority of the American peo-
pie want to offer effective aid to the
Firms, not empty gestures.
The President also spoke out Wig
orously against claims that American
aid to Finland would tend to involve
this country in war with Russia-as-
sertions which have been made not
only by members of the Youth Con-
gress but by a number of Senators
and Representatives as we'll. This
claim, Mr.. Roosevelt said, is about
the most absurd" that he has ever
heard.
Concluding this phase of his talk,
he reviewed the abuses that have
sprung up under the Communist re-
.gime in Russia, which he described as
''a dictatorship as absolute as any
other dictatorship in the world"
There was no exaggeration in Mr.
Roosevelt's description of the Soviet
government, nor in his analysis of
the facts underlying the attack on
Finland. If anything, he was guilty
of understatement. The President,
of course, was not directing his re-
marks to the question of whether we
should or should not make loan to
the Firms, but he could hardly have
made a more persuasive argument
for the rendering of effective financial
assistance If he had been dealing
specifically with that grievously mis-