Browning chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1941-1953, 1941-02-21
WILL THE u. S.
ENTER THE WAR?


American citizen turks this grim and
disquieting question: will the Uni
ted States enter the WARP"
About every writer and speaker in
the country has been attempting to
satisfactorily answer that question for
some time. You can find irresistibly
logical arguments which make our en-
try into conflict seem inevitable as
death and taXes-and you can find
equally logical arguments which at
tempt to prove We are in small danger
of being drawn in. And as the debate
RACES on. good many Americans who
make no pretense to being experts find
themselves sinking deeper into con-
fusion.
The standard polls still indicate that
the American people are opposed to
war. even as they favor aid to Eng
land with all steps short of war At
the same time, the American people.
going by the same polls, are convinced
that if England falls We may be next
on Hitler's list OF victims.
The arguments that support the
theory that We cannot long keep out
of war are obvious enough We have
dropped all pretense of neutrality-we
are simply non-belligerents, committed
to the hilt on hgland's side. We have
damned the dictators in unequivocal
terms. The leaders of both the political
parties. the president and Mr.. Willkie.
are aggressively pro-British and anti
Nazi. And We are about to embark
on new policy which will give Eng
land and her allies our utmost moral
and material support-a policy which
Hitler, if ne is seeking a fight with
this country. could logically construe
as a declaration of war in effect.
On the other side of the fence. the
arguments have not been so we'll puo-
licized. In a recent issue. the United
States News summed up five princi-
pal reasons for believing that this
country is not going to war.
First, says the News, the United
States can aid Britain more by not
fighting than by fighting. Britain. in
other words, needs supplies, not men.
If we entered the war it would be i'm
possible to send much ABROAD. as our
own under-supplied military estab-
lishments would need all our factories
could produce.
Second, the y. s. can help her own
The arms We send England may be
lost. but We won't lose men so long as
we remain a acknowledgement. And We
will find out If our arms and planes
are adequate for modern war. England.
in other words. will be the proving
ground for the products of our fac
tories.
the U. S. can exert its major effort
in the war Actually taking up arms
against the axis would not permit MS
to do more.
Fourth, the fact that all-aid-for-
England policy apparently has the sup
port of a nation which is also commit
ted to maintaining peace, is construed
in administration circles as proof of
the fact that its plans and actions are
sound.
Fifth. according to his intimates, the
president really hates war, meant what
he said during the campaign, and will
do everything possible to prevent war.
He believes that his policy offers he
sMest road to peace. and in that he
is backed By large numbers Of his po-
Ideal opponents.
All Of this does not take into consid-
Grafton the fact that the axis might
make war On u, thus plunging Us In
to the conflict whether We want to
fight q not Military Ind political ex-
psrtA for the most part, don't think
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