Evening star., 1941-10-27
Calls for War
On Hitler Now
Bishop Cannon Supports
Declaration Against Nozis
In Behalf of Freedom
To the Elitor of The Star:

To the Eltor of The Star:
On May IT, 1910, wrote an open letter
to Secretary Hull urging him to use his
great influence with the President and
Congress to secure a declaration of war
against Hitler and his fellow monsters"
Why? I had written for the press in
1889 that the defense of the oppressed,
the prosecuted and of human rights is
both necessary and Christian" That
the police, militia Army. Navy and courts
are for the defense of human rights.
Freedom of conscience speech, religion,
press. freedom of the seas are all at
tackled by Hitler, who oppresses, perse-
cutes and kills those who claim such
freedom Austria, ho-SlOvakia, Po-
land, Finland, Norway, Denmark, and
now Holland Belgium and Luxembourg,
all small neutral nations have been at
tackled without provocation or warning,
directly contrary to lying pledges made
them. The United States has not only
done nothing to defend these innocent,
helpless people, but under our coWardly
Neutrality Act our own ships are for
hidden to trade with these countries.
How cowardly, how humiliating for
great Nation
Our forefathers insisted upon free
dom of the seas for our ships to trade in
every part of the world. Presidents
Adams and jefferson both made war
against pirates to defend our rights to
freedom of the seas. President Madison
fought the War of 1912 for our rights TO
the freedom of the seas. This freedom
was never again challenged until 1916,
when Germany began her unrestricted
submarine warfare. Then in 1917 Presl-
dent Wilson urged Congress to declare
war against Germany to maintain un-
impaired this freedom of the seas, and
freedom of the seas was one of his ba al
IA points. Had the United States de-
clared war against Germany in 1899 TO
maintain her rightful freedom of the
seas l do not think there would have
been any war against Finland, Denmark,
Norway, Holland Belgium and Luxem-
bourg. BY so doing I believe we would
have preserved our historic rights, our
national self-respect. and would have
saved the freedom OF these small neutral
nations.
IN October, 1899, I emphasized in
press articles Htler's attack upon all
human rights, and then in 1889 I op-
posed especially the passage of the
cowardv Neutrality Act"
But the advocates of peace at any
price in October, 1899. were too strong
and had their way, and the President of
the United States signed the bill al
though he practically admits today that
he should not have done so. I also wrote
Secretary Hull on MAY It, 1910: Il
abhor war as much as any man can, but
l sincerely believe that justice and
righteousness are more precious than
peace If the United States would repeal
the Neutrality Act, declare war against
Germany because of her attack upon our
rights by submarine warfare and her
declared policy of ruling the world by
force. there would instantly be a great
change in the attitude Of the nations of
the world Instead of fear there would be
hope. The morale of the German peo-
Pile would be tremendously shaken, and
there would be no menace that the
cowardly sword-rattling Mussolini would
enter the war.
1T would be a great calamity to the
world for Hitler to win this war. What
ever may be the known, acknowledged
faults or mistakes of Great Britain and
France, yet the things for which they
stand, as opposed to the things for
which Hitler stands, are so vital for the
preservation Of life and liberty that it is
impossible. without feeling of horror,
to think of the overthrow of Great Brit
ain and France, of their conceptions of
freedom of conscience. thought, speech,
religion. action and the substitution Of
Hitler's domination by brute force, per-
secution of the Jews, the church, his
concentration camps and firing squads
in all the countries which he has over
run"
After the open letter to Secretary Hull
I had the heaviest mail in my life lex
cept in 1929, about third agreeing
with me, the other two-thirds denounc-
ing me as unworthy to be called Chris
tian, much less bishop of the Method
ist church. But such attacks did not
change the awful fact that the Christian
world in May, 1910, faced the same situ-
alton as did Charles Martel, when at the
battle of Tours he saved Europe from
being overrun by the Mohammedan
hordes, or when Sobeski defeated the
Turks before the walls of Vienna and
saved Europe from Turkish domination.
say now, as in May, 1910, the sooner
the United States repeals the cowardly
Neutrality Act, declares war against Ger
many, as restricting our rights to free
dom of the seas. as the enemy of all
freedom, and rids our country of all
officials of Axis powers, that much
sooner will Hitlerism perish and the
grave, ever-increasing menace of the
economic strangulation of our industry
and commerce be removed, which menace
would certainly face us should Hitler,
with his impressed slave labor, dominate
not simply Europe, but also Asia and
Africa The American way of life would
be so tremendously affected that it is
hard to predict what would be the
result.
I know that it will be declared in op-
position to the repeal of the Neutrality
Act and to declaration of war that the
United States is not prepared for war.
Certainly she is not fully prepared. But
she is far better prepared today than in
April, 1917. However, 1 stated in both