Evening star., 1941-09-18

VtIttCtfuttO oupPN' PN'f'S~
out that this provision in no iUay
circumscribed potOer President
holds under Constitution as CON-
mander in chief OF Navy.
Nv the Associated Press.
With conveys ploWing the At
lantic and grim raider hunt on IN
the Pacific, the United States Navy
let actions do the talking back today
to repeated Axis threats of dire con-
sequences.
When Germany believed there was
a possibility of conveys months ago,
no less a person than Grand Ad-
miral Erich Raeder openly warned
the United States that the Reich
would consider such a step IAN open
war act" and that the German Navy
would use its guns if necessary
against American warShips on such
duty.
But all uncertainty on the ques-
ton of American conveys was dis
sipated late yesterday when Secre-
tary of the Navy Knox disclosed
that the Atlantic Fleet was using
all methods, conveys included, to
safeguard British bound lease-lend
cargoes in the 1000 miles of the
North Atlantic that are regarded as
defensive waters"
WithhOlds Details.
This Navy chief thought 1t ''un-
wise and indiscreet" to go into
further details, and he declined to
answer a question as to whether the
American escorts we're turning over
the protected cargoes to the Royal
Navy somewhere off Iceland for the
final 800-mile voyage to port.
At the same time, however, Mr..
Knox revealed that the Navy be-
heved an Axis surface raider was
operating near the Galapagos
Islands in the South Pacific and,
while the fact had not been posi-
lively established, the hunt was on.
We'll tell the world about It,"
Mr.. Knox promised, If any raider
was caught.
The twin disclosures gave official
notice that no halfway measures
we're being employed to enforce the
policy which President Roosevelt
enunciated in his speech a week ago,
when he barred defensive waters"
TO Axis raiders and ordered the
Navy TO protect all shipping in
those areas.
THE sole responsibility rests with
Germany" Mr.. Roosevelt asserted
then. There will be no shooting
unless Germany continues to seek
it."
AS far as words went, the an
nouncement of conveys appeared to
join one issue squarely, for Admiral
Raeder already has placed himself
on record that lease-lend cargoes
would be attacked, regardless of
the nationality of their escorts.
Since the nature of the cargoes
OF conveyed ships, according to
American admissions, was estab-
lished from the very beginning as
contraband," he declared May 25,
resort to this type Of convoy system
would not be a neutral convoy In
the sense of international law or
American treaties, but an open war
act and bare, unprovoked attack.
German naval forces would
therefore be justified in taking
measures against these contraband
carriers, according to the law of
sea warfare and would, by exercise
of these rights, have to repulse by
arms If necessary any hindrance,
even against American warships.'
Admiral Raeder summed up by
saying that conveys mean shoot
Ing" and attributed authorship OF
that phrase to President Roosevelt.
press records of the day the
expression first appeared attrib-
ate 1t not to Mr.. Roosevelt, but
10 an unnamed high authority
here who said that the admins
tFation view was that conveys
might result in shooting and that
shooting was close to war;
Debate Expected.
Admiral Raeder's statements, be-
cause of their direct application to
the United States, were considered
even more pointed than Adolf Hit
ler's earlier dictum: Every ship
with or without convoy that comes
within range of our torpedo tubes
will be torpedoed."
The announcement that conveys
and all other means of protection
were now in use was expected to
kick up a furor OF some duration in
Congress, where the subject already
has caused much acrimonious de-
bate.
Secretary Knox and other cabinet
officers who appeared before con-
greSsional committees while the
lease-lend bill was pending coun-
seled against a no-convoy amend
ment. They said that, while no plans
for conveys existed then, the inter-
national situation was subject to
rapid changes and such a prohibi-
ton might tie the Government S
hands in an emergency that required
immediate action. They also con-
tended the ban would greatly weak
en- the administrations hand in
world affairs.
House debate yesterday found
Representative Woodruff, Repub-
lican, of Michigan asserting that
President Roosevelts order to at
tack German U-boats and raiders
was nothing less than a declaration
of war" and that neither the Army
nor Navy was ready for war now
Representative Rich, Republican, OF
PENNSYLVANIA said the President
should be taken out of office" be-
cause he was deliberately violating
a pledge to keep American ships out
of certain areas" With Representa-
tive Hoffman, Republican, of Mich
lean he joined in repudiating Wen
dell L. Willkie as a party leader
Mr.. Willkie, last years Republican
presidential nominee. is a supporter
Of the Roosevelt foreign policy.
New York Harbor Filled.
New York Harbor was jammec
with shipping, 1O4 vessels, including
So British. Dutch and Norwegian
vessels having arrived within 81
hours. This led reporters to ash
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