The Wilmington morning star., 1941-01-10
ARMS LENDING BILL
READY FOR CONGRESS
Continued From Page One)

featured and assembled, and he
may sell them, lease them, or
transfer them on such terms as
he considers will best serve the
peace and defense of the United
He may lend to other nations
equipment specifically or previous
ly ordered for the United States
army and navy if the secretaries
of war or navy certify that the
equipment in question can safely
be dispensed with.
No mention of money or appro-
priations is included, it was said.
The measure is to be considered
an implied authorization for future
appropriations. The only rein upon
the Presidents freedom of action,
it was said, is that he must come
to congress for appropriations with
which to pay for the fighting equip
ment to be transferred abroad.
Comparatively Brief
OG1O1 WloC, L1C 111Cd0u1C ID GULF
paratively brief, running to aboui
1000 words. In holding only to
broad terms, the measure follows
the Presidents expressed desire of
a week ago that it not include
legal restrictions upon actions to
meet contingencies that can not
be foreseen now.
Present with the President were
Secretaries Hull (state), Morgen.
thau ~(treasury), Knox (navy)
Stimson (war) and Jones (com'
merceN Edward H. Foley, general
counsel to the treasury, and Will
liam S. Knudsen, chief of defense
production. They entered tn c
Presidents office at $3.50 p. m.
and were joined at 4:3O by Bark
e y, Mccormack, Chair m e I
George CD-Ga) of the Senate For
eign Relations committee and Har'
rison CD-Miss) of the Senate Fl
nance committee, Senator Connai
ly CD-Tex), Speaker Rayburn
Chairman Bloom (D-NY) of the
House Foreign Affairs committee
and Rep. Luther Johnson (D-Tex)
The meeting lasted until nearly
six o'clock, and the participants
besieged by reporters for a state
ment, referred all inquiries te
Barley. He said he and McCor'
mack would introduce the meas
ure and that it would be sent tt
the usual committees. In the
course of the White House confer
ence, he added in reply to a ques
ton, no definite revisions were
made, but the measure was being
worked upon tonight. He could not
he said, make public the meas
ure's text before tomorrow be
cause something might happen
Other Developments
Meanwhile, the day produced
two other striking developments
closely linked with the defense anc
arms-production drive.
The first was an announcement
by Secretary of War Stimson thai
the Panama canal and Caribbean
defense areas had been placed I'm
der the unified command Of Lieu
tenant General Daniel Van Voor
his. The step involved the con
solidation of the former Puerto
Rican and canal zone departments
Stimson declined to say how many
troops would be sent to the area
or reveal the strength of the garrl-
son to be assigned to the New
foundland base, observing that
there was no use telling Mr.. Hit
Ter" about it.
The second of t\e two develop
ments was a ~resurgence of con
gr%essional discussion of possible
bans of strikes in defene indus.
tries. The talks was aroused by
the threat of a walkout at the
Ranger Engineering Co., Farming
dale, L. I. Rear Admiral John H
Towers, chief of naval aviation, tolc
a congressional committee that the
plant had contracts for 1000 air
plane engines. He said such c
strike would seriously hamper
the defense program.