Evening star., 1940-06-07
"Shum Neutrality"

Colonel Frank Knox, the Repub-
Hcan Vice Presidential nominee in
1885, did not exaggerate when he told
the Nation that our neutrality has
been a sham" and that it should be
discarded at once in favor of a frank
and open policy of helping the Allies
to the very limit of our ability.
American neutrality has been
sham, indeed but that does not tell
the whole story. This short-sighted
attempt of ours to walk serenely
down the middle of the road while
democracy is toppling in the Old
World, while a European balance of
power which has been the keystone
of our own defense structure is being
destroyed has been tragic mistake
Only now are the great majority of
the American people beginning to
realize that our own security is in
gravest jeopardy, that a totalitarian
triumph in Europe would result in
the most direct and the most men
acing threat to free America that
we have faced in nearly one hundred
years.
After the war in Europe had start
ed we adopted what we were pleased
to call Neutrality Act 1t had one
commendable consequence-the lift
Ing OF the arms embargo. But in all
other respects it tied our hands and
coerced our thinking with the result
that we were unable to extend to
France and Britain that full measure
Of assistance, short of American man
power, which we now know must be
given if this Nation is to look for
ward to single day of real peace,
to single moment of real security,
In the next generation. The Neu-
trallty Act was a compromise made
necessary by the eXigencies of our
political situation. But the circum-
stances which compelled it's adoption
eight months ago are not in the pic
ture today. During the two months
that have passed since the first Ger
man soldier marched into Norway
the American people have lost the
last of their illusions and we know
now that, whether we like it or not,
this war is our war and that we can
contemplate with nothing less than
dismay the appalling consequences
to us of an Allied defeat.
The Star has urged since the out
break of this war that we should not
permit fictional neutrality to inter-
fere with the giving of all possible
American help to the French and the
British-not for sentimental reasons,
but because that course, and that
course alone, held promise of security
for us. This necessity is more COM
pelllng than ever today, but the time
is growing desperately short The
assistance that we can give-planeS,
guns, munitions, food, medicines,
ships, credits, anything that the
Allies need and which we can possibly
spare-must be given now if our help
is to be of any real value, either to
the belligerents or to ourselves. The
crucial hour of this war is close at
hand, and delay on our part of even
a few weeks may be fatal.
A start has been made in the
decision to authorize the sale of fifty
planes, some old rifles and field
pieces. But this is only start. We
must do more, great deal more, and
If the Neutrality Act stands in the
way it will have to be amended or
repealed. There is nothing to be
gained and great deal to be lost by
deceiving ourselves on that point,
and the sooner we face this truth
the better it will be for us.
To delay at this time in making the
maximum effort of which we are
capable is to court disaster, the true
proportions of which are now taking
shape on the bloody battle ground of