Evening star., 1941-01-25

CdDllleL dS AIll-
bassador to the David Lawrence.
United States would not of itself
warrant such extraordinary atten-
ton, but Mr.. Roosevelt is anxious
to show the world how closely knit
are the ties between Britain and
America today. There are very few
opportunities in wartime to mani
fest such friendliness especially be-
cause of the legal requirements of
neutrality and the obligations i'm
posed on a neutral government. But
the President presumably felt that
In going to meet Lord Halifax, the
gesture would not be lost on the
peoples of Europe who are scru-
tiniZing every act and word of the
American Government to determine
how strongly is the sympathy of the
United States for the cause of
Britain.
Just as the British people are i'm
pressed by such incidents, the Ger
man press is impressed by things
that happen in the United States
which seem to be to their advan-
tage. The Associated Press reports
from Berlin, for instance. that "au-
thorized German sources" said Hats
of to Charles Lindbergh for the
courage shown" in his testimony
before the House Foreign Affairs
Committee.
Satisfaction for NaZis.
The complete coincidence of the
Iindbergh viewpoint with that of
Berlin is naturally gratifying to the
Nazi authorities, who do not even
care If the world knows it. Certain
ly Col. Lindbergh is hardly testify
ing for the benefit of Berlin, but be-
cause of his own strong convictions
on the subject. Yet what he is say
ing and what others are doing to
block the "leaSe-lend" bill is of i'm
mense satisfaction to the Nazi gov
ernment.
1t is a matter of the greatest i'm
portance to the Nazis that the lease
lend bill should be defeated and.
If that is not possible, then that its
passage shall be delayed and its
terms weakened so as to render little
aid to Britain. The NaZis are just
as interested in preventing passage
of the bill as they are in slow
ing up American defense produc-
ton. AGENTS of the Nazi government
DO not have to be told by their Ber-
lin bosses what to do. They know
as we'll as does Berlin that the lease
lend bill is a blow in favor of the
British and a measure calculated to
assist in bringing about a Nazi de-
feat.
There is no way of telling how
much pressure that comes to Wash
ington to delay or defeat the lease
lend bill is of Nazi origin, how much
arises out of the natural convictions
of the isolationistS and how much
comes from purely partisan oppo-
sition. The Republican party, for
instance, has in the last two years
placed itself on record more often
against than in favor of measures
that would help Britain. Thus an
almost solid Republican vote was
cast in the House of Representative
against the repeal of the embargo
in October, 1885, Likewise the iso-
lationist group succeeded by threats
of a filibuster in the summer OF
1899 in preventing action on the
repeal of the embargo.
The Embargo Argument.
Col. Lindbergh testified that the
repeal was motivating factor in
provoking the present war. When
reminded that the repeal didn't oc-
cur until more than month after
war broke out in Europe, he said
that it amounted to the same thing
because Britain expected repeal
The converse of this argument
could also be recalled. There are
many here who feel that if the
embargo had been repealed in the
summer of 1889 when the late Sem
ator Borah was so confident there
wouldn't be any war, the course OF
events in Europe might have
changed. Since Herr Hitler saw the
American Congress adjourning in
the summer of 1889 without modi-
flying the embargo on arms, he felt
JuSIlllCu III dGloShillS OAoiiu' Nv
lieving that American aid could not
possibly come in time to save Eng
land.
America itself felt the impact of
Nazi intrigue when it listened for
several years to the propaganda
that only munitions makers make
wars. AS a consequence, the arms
embargo was adopted, American
powder-making factories went out
of business and the efforts of the
Army and Navy to build up their
weapons of war met with cool
reception.
Today the Nazi strategy is still
to retard if not weaken America S
program of becoming the arsenal
of democracy" AS long as power
full United States refrains from fur
nishing weapons of war to the
weaker countries Of the world, the
Nazi government can rejoice. And
the efforts of the Nazis to keep
America from helping weak coun-
tries while Herr Hitler reigns su-
preme are by no means being
abated.
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