Evening star., 1941-11-14
Member Of the Associated Press.
Neutrality Repeal


With the House vote for repeal of
the basic provisions of the Neutrality
Act, this Nation writes off as failure
Its strange excursion into the shadow
land of isolation.
The Neutrality Act, from the day
OF its enactment, was doomed be-
cause it undertook to deny the reali-
ties OF the world in which we had to
live. BY its passage we said, in effect,
that the United States, desiring
peace, would remain aloof from any
war which did not project itself
across our physical frontiers. But
We failed to take into account the
fact that the consequences of major
war respect neither national from
peace, and thus, when the conquerors
first began to march, 1t quickly be-
came evident that there was no real
security for US in neutrality based
on legal fiction.
The actual return to a realistic
outlook has been a slow process. 1t
began with the repeal of the arms
embargo more than two years ago,
when we first began to realize that
the consequences of totalitarian
victory would be unfavorable to us.
Then, following the fall of France,
this picture became clearer, and we
moved more rapidly through the
destroyer trade, the Lease-Lend Acts
and the joint occupation with the
British of Iceland. Now, with final
repeal of the restrictive provisions of
the Neutrality Act, the wheel has
turned full circle.
Henceforth, our foreign policy will
be tied to the doctrine of the freedom
OF the seas, but even that ancient
cornerstone of American policy has
taken on new aspect. Because we
have no alternative if democracy is
to survive, freedom of the seas as we
employ the term today means the
right to send our ships into the ports
OF one set of belligerents. This is the
case because we hold their success in
the war to be essential to our Sc
curity, and we have determined to
give them the full measures of our
material assistance, come what may.
There is not the slightest doubt
that this will spur the other set of
belligerents-Germany and her allies
to greater efforts against U.s.
Wherever possible, they will sink our
ships, and we must expect greater
losses in the future than in the past,
for our vessels, both merchant and
naval, will be venturing into danger
Gus zones which heretofore have
been closed to them. We will be
taking greater risks, and there is no
use in blinking that fact. But We
are taking them because we know
that in the long run the greatest risk
OF all would be to let the aggressors
come into control of three quarters
OF the world before turning their
undivided energies in our direction.
AS we move into this new stage
OF danger. however, it is absolutely
essential that there be no internal
impairment of our strength. The
incessant wave of strikes and other
factors which are weakening our
military effort must come to a halt.
Beyond any doubt, the relatively
close vote in the House on neutrality
repeal reflected deep and growing
resentment throughout the country
at the weakness of the administra-
tions attitude on these issues. The
President, having taken a strong lead
in projecting the United States back
into the realm of international
affairs, has a solemn responsibility
to be no less firm in his domestic
leadership, beginning with his White
House conference today with a group
OF labor leaders who are threatening
for purely selfish reasons to wreck
our defense program on the home
front.