Evening star., 1940-10-30

which could be taken from the
viewpoint of Great Britain than
our declaration of war. 1t is
clear that the minute war is de-
clared, our armed force: will take
over, and in all probability they
would resolve all doubts about
shipping material to England In
favor of keeping it here for our
Army and our Navy Such dec
laration of war 1oud also greatly
increase our responsibilities in
the western world Our obliga-
tions to preserve the integrity of
the Monroe Doctrine would be
expanded; and these obligations
would further drastically limit
our power to give effective aid to
England.
If we declare war, our own best
interests would be harmed. Eng
lands valiant fight is giving us
time to prepare. Without as
sistance from us the British will
find it much more difficult to
carry on. Viewing the problem,
then, from either the British or
the American angle, declaring
war would be foolish.
If President Roosevelt were as
wicked as his opponents charge,
which he is not, and even if he
had undisclosed commitments,
which he has not, the facts are
against our participation in this
war.
Yesterday I received a letter
from a colleague who was with
me in Washington and who is
head of one of the great in
dustries. He said it was my duty,
regardless of any friendship I
might have, to inform the Amer
lean people if, as he believed,
there was a secret commitment
beyond what the American
people had been made aware or.
unknown to the Congress, a COM
mitment by Roosevelt to Great
Britain to lead us into war.
No Such Commitment
Made to Great Britain.
Mr.. Roosevelt has already
denied that, and I, as the Ambas-
sador of the American people in
London, who would certainly be-
come aware of this fact in one
way or another, can assure you
now with absolute sincerity and
honesty that there has been no
such commitment.
So far as war is concerned,
what do we do if we declare war?
The thing which most people are
afraid of is that we will send an
army to help the British. Walter
Lippmann in a recent article said,
and very rightly so, 1T would be
absurd to consider sending an
army to Europe" Where would
an army disembark, with Hitler
holding all the ports of con-
tinental Europe?
When one considers the ton
mage required to move a soldier
with the type of equipment that
1t is necessary to have in this
kind of a war, the problems of
transportation alone become
staggering. We can't compare a
movement of troops today with
the movement of troops of the
last war. This is machine war.
This is not a war of men-but a
war of industries. Moreover,
there are not available to this
Government now, or in sight,
shipping facilities adequate to
transport a modern army to
Europe. And how would they land
and where would we secure the
needed protective planes?
Only this morning the British
Admiralty confirmed the report
that the Empress of Britain Of
$4,000 tons was sunk within the
range of German bombers. To
suggest, yes, I say to even sug-
gest, that our boys will soon be on
the transports in this kind Of
war, under these conditions, Is
completely absurd.
England Not Looking for
Man Power in a Machine War.
Another factor is that England
is not looking for man power. She
has not even called up all the
men she has eligible I repeat,
this is a war, not of men, but of
machines. Modern warfare re-
quires a particular skill that is
not furnished on the drill field.
The time elements for training a
mechanical army properly would
be so great that an American ex-
peditionary force is just not in
the cards.
There is thus no sense to a
declaration of war. Congress
should wait long, long time be-
fore declaring any war. No ir-
ritants, no incidents, should blind
us to what happens when war is
declared. Democracy-our free
doms-all become jeopardized.
The British Parliament only last
May passed the emergency
powers act, which gives to the
government the power to take
over every person and all pro-
perty-that iS-to go totalitarian.
That's what happens when war
Is declared.
The problem of attacking us
presents the same difficulties to
any belligerent that our attack
ing them does. I have seen an
outnumbered but brave band of
r. A. F. flyers and about 20 miles
of water keep back the German
invader. The answer still rings
out-speed in rearmament.
Three thousand miles of ocean,
while handy, in and of itself, is
not enough protection for us.
But with an adequate navy we
are assured of a greater measure
Of safety. We must also re-
member that while the British
navy remains unconquered and
while the British nation con-
tinues to fight its gallant battle
for its existence and its ancient
democratic way of life, we are
given time, precious time, so that
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