Evening star., 1941-10-22

cial in agriculture in the early days
Of the New Deal.
Senator Guffey, Democrat. OF
PENNSYLVANIA, who took Mr.. Reed s
| place in the Senate in 1885, Is a
member of the Foreign Relations
Committee before which his prede-
cessor appeared
The big question on Capitol Hill
apparently was no longer Senate
concurrence in the House approved
revision which would permit the
arming of ships. but whether the
House resolution would be broadened
to end all present prohibitions on
the movements of American flag
ships to belligerent ports or through
| combat zones.
Sure of Ship Arming o. X.
Advocates of outright repeal in
dicated they had no doubts about
the approval of ship arming, par
ticularly after yesterdays announce
ment of the sinking of the Lehigh
and the Bold Venture
The new sinkings put American
owned ship losses on a one-a-week
average for the period since Sep
tember s. Other ships sunk in the
period were Steel Seafarer, Mon
tana, Pink Star and I. c. White. In
the previous two war years only four
American-owned ships went to the
bottom.
With the Foreign Relations Com
mittee convening to hear opposition
witnesses on the armed-ship bill
Chairman Connally told reporters
it was obvious that Germany will
pay no attention to our combat
zones or to her oWn-She will sink
any ships she can any time she can
get to them.
But every time Germany sinks a
ship it makes it more certain that
our vessels will be armed promptly
There is no reason why our ships
should have to let German Subma-
rineS come up and play with them
like a cat with a mouse. If they are
armed, they may be able TO keep
some of these raiders below the sur
face"
Although emphasizing his convic-
ton that American merchantmen
should be armed, Senator Connally
reiterated his view that Congress
likewise should lift the restriction
on American ship movements.
Gurney Expresses Views
Senator Quincy of South Dakota,
one of the three Republican Sem
atorS sponsoring an amendment
calling for outright repeal, told re-
porters that he had acted from a
non partisan point of view
Il have no desire to take any par
tisan approach to this issue he
declared. Il don't think it is that
kind of an issue
Asked whether the Republican re-
peal group-composed Of Senators
Gurney. Bridges, of New Hampshire
and Austin of Vermont-Would
not place the administratio leader
ship in an awkward position by de-
manding complete elimination of the
present act. Senator Connally re-
piled that 1T would be awkward if
a majority of Republicans voted
for it, but If a majority would we
would not have any difficulty In
broadening the House bill"
Senator Connally said that, while
no decision had been reached by
administration leaders. it was pos
sible that his committee would vote
to eliminate the combat areas.
From Senator Lee, Democrat. of
Oklahoma, advocate of a proposal
knocking out the present restric-
tions on ship movements, came a
statement that the committee deci-
sion would hinge on the votes of
Senator George, Democrat, of Geor-
gia, ranking member, and White,
Republican, of Maine.
George Not Specific.
Senator George, in Atlanta on his
way back to Washington, was not
specific last night as to what his
final position would be-
He said he regarded the latest
sinkings as the beginning of inten-
sified U-boat warfare by the Nazis
and possible involvement of this
country in a limited war"
IF the Neutrality Act is modified
to the extent of permitting United
States vessels to enter belligerent
ports said Senator George. Il be-
lieve the people are ready to insure
safe arrival of these ships by con-
Voys.
IF We begin conveying and our
ships and naval units are in the
field of war, then we are engaging
in limited war"
The sinking of the Bold Venture
took place one day before the tor
pedo attack on the United States
destroyer Kearny, and in the same
general area off Iceland A new de-
velopment in the Kearny case oc-
CURED yesterday when Admiral
Harold R. Stark, chief of naval op-
erations, appeared before the For
eign Relations Committee in closed
session.
He was reported TO have said that
the Kearny was on convoy duty
when it was torpedoed