Evening star., 1940-02-11

In the Presidents message to Congress
in January when he spoke Of the i'm
possibility Of q good life anywhere In
the world ruled by force" and referred
with contempt to those who wished to
build "a high wall of isolation" around
the United States.
Mr.. Hull was working for at least
three years prior to the outbreak of the
present conflict to build up a solid bloc
of nations in the Western Hemisphere
bound together by common trade
agreement. He hoped to see another
and related bloc formed in Europe from
the small nations, Great Britain and
France. It. was Mr.. Huu's idea that
then these united powers should con-
front the totalitarian states and say, in
effect. I'VE have agreed upon fair trade
relations and We want you to come in
with u.s." The Secretary of State be-
lieves that the present war actually
might have been averted if such an
economic union of states had been
formed in time and he blames the in
ertia of British Tories as much as the
interference and opposition that came
from the dictator nations.
If American foreign policy under Mr..
Roosevelt looks forward to economic re-
construction of the world, this policy in
the past has been based to large degree
on the need to discipline bad" or totali-
tartan powers Both by word and deed
the Roosevelt administration has from
time to time sought to chastise Italy,
Germany, Russia and Japan. It was
two years ago last October that the
President made his historic Chicago
speech calling for quarantine" of
"aggressor' nations. There had been
earlier suggestions of this attitude and
repeatedly since that time it has been
reaffirmed.
Particularly in the Far East the State
Department has insisted on maintain
ing international rights" In rebuking
the Japanese for putting up economic
barriers, its concern has been not SO
much for the American financial stake
in China, which is not large as for an
abstract ideal-the rights" of other ma
tions in China.
The Moral Embargo.
In addition to words, the State De-
partment placed moral embargo on the
shipment of aircraft, aircraft engines.
aircraft armament. parts and acces-
sories bombs and torpedoes to countries
engaged in civilian bombings This was
applied to Japan in June of 1885, With
out any legal sanction, the embargo was
enforced by department pressure backed
presumably by public opinion. Since
last September this moral embargo has
been enlarged and made to cover Soviet
Russia as well as Japan. On December
1t was extended to include materials
essential to airplane manufacture"
which meant particularly molybdenum
and aluminium and the alloys made of
these metals by special American pro-
cesses.
Not only in the Far East but In Eu-
rope the administration has taken
whole series of steps to discipline and
rebuke the dictator nations.
The most positive phase Of recent
American diplomacy is the alignment of
Latin American countries with the
United States in neutrality bloc. This
was achieved in remarkably short order
at the conference in Panama, held not
long after the outbreak of the war. Ties
with Germany were severed and even
those nations most suspicious Of the
good-neighbor policy. such as Argentina,
were willing to sign up.
The future depends, of course, on what
the picture is when that conflict ends.
But definitely the United States will be
in that picture, perhaps in the center of
1t, In the view of those who shape our
foreign policy. The present is a time of
watchful waiting. No move is at pres
ent possible in the foreign field and
major domestic issues must wait on
world readjustment. Meanwhile the
President, as the best-informed indi-
vidual in the world-so his advisers be-
heve-is prepared to take a major role
on the world stage.