Imperial Valley press., 1941-02-11
By PETER EDSON

WASHINGTON, FEB. H. - Inc
more complicated any issue DE-
GENES. the greater is the tendency
to over-simplify it by trick words
catch phrases and catch-as- s-catch-
can debate. This is particularly
t,11o of current arguments on ald 10
E,ritain and ii will be further evil
,1ent as the house debate concludeS'
as the senate hearings drag on
and as thc issue plods lts SLOW
and tortu2us way to a decision even
now fairly obvious.
Ham Fish, opening arguments
against the lease-lend bill III inc
three-dav debate on the floor OF
the h9use, damns the Whole ousl-
ness by calling it the Dictator
War-B Bankruptcy Bill SOL biooiil'
answering for the administrator
recognizes the effectiveness OF thlS
tvpe of Logic by marshaing argu-
ments to refute the charge that
the bill empowers the preSloehO
to give away the navy.
The mere names and nlcknames
given the bill are further evidences
of the attempt to over-simphly'
The lend" tagline by Whlch
the bill is most frequently loenu-
fled is, if anything, tco neat
summary. The bills NUMBER IN
the legislative hopper, II. II. lno'
is seized upon to label the 1ight
as another battle of l7T6 to Sale-
guard most sacred liberties.
On top of these, however Is
whole glossary of bromideS ana
cliches which creep into proIes-
sional legislative or amateur PACK
fence and street corner arguments
carried on in any effort to settle
this most important problem Oh
foreign policy since the diSarma-
ment conference of 20 years ago
TOO, TOO
CLEVER, CLEVER
Bitter enmity, name calling ana
internal diSsenSiOn we cannot al
ford are stirred up by Senator
Wheelers designation of Roosevelt 5
policy as plan to ploW uhoer
every fourth American boy.
Yet it is no more mlsleaolng
than to have that policy summed
up by its proponents as plan 10
make America the arsenal OF de-
mocracy.'
Behind such nifties as IAN un-
limited budget for arms! and
Billions for defense not NIL
lions!" the national debt limit IS
raised to 65 billion dollars-65.
Complex problems of basic econ
omy. of capital and labor, we at
tempt to solve with u shrug and a
gag-line of "Conscript Wealth as
Well as Men, or I'VE Must Fight
the War in thc Fectory as WHli @
in the Field"
We mu~t have an About de-
fensc rrogram. We must DO in 10
Months What Hitler Did in Six
Years" And we must not let the
Business as Usual crowd inter-
fere. Anyone who does is an "Ap-
peaSer."
All this is brought up here to
point cut that in times like these
the phrase maker is snake in the
grass, and the good citizen who is
hypnotized by him is a sap. 1t
takes deeper thinking than the
mere coinage of clever bits and
pieces to win an argument CT a
war.
WILLKIE GETS ON
ANOTHER SLOT
Wendell Wilkes appearance be-
fore the senate committee conduct
ing hearings on the lend-leaSe bill
will place the ex-Republican candi-
date on another of the spctS hc
las manifested a mania for gettinG
on. He will be the first witness Wh1
is right fresh from the scene OF
action, all the others having been
long distance experts. AS such, what
Mr.. Willkie has to say Will be moro
than the one day sensations earlier
witnesses have been.
Members of the administration
who lauded his pre-departure stand
On aid to Britain are prepared tc
give him a big hand, and Republi
cans who have been damning him
ever since won't love him more.
Willkie himself is taking step
to soc that what he has TO say will
not be forgotten. He is scheduled
to make the Lincoln's Birthda