Evening star., 1941-03-10
A New Role

The signing by the President Of
the lease-lend bill, probably within
the next few days, will mark the
formal assumption by the United
States of new and fateful role in
the direction Of world affairs.
This is responsibility which most
Americans would have preferred not
to assume. In a well ll-intentioned
effort to insulate this Nation from
external stresses the Neutrality Act,
under which we voluntarily aban-
doned our traditional adherence to
the doctrine of freedom of the seas,
was adopted when Europe'S war
clouds began to gather, and it is still
on the statute books. But the con-
cept which 1t Symbolized of Americas
position in a world at war has
changed. First came the repeal Of
the arms embargo-a repeal dictated
by the slowly crystallizing realization
that we could not remain Indifferent
to the consequences of a frontal
assault on the whole structure of
democracy. And now, with Senate
passage of the lease-lend bill, we
go a significant step farther. For
all practical purposes, the effort to
set up a legislated isolationism-an
effort which failed because it was not
founded on reality-is abandoned
altogether, and the United States,
in all but a combatant sense, be-
comes the active rather than the
passive ally of Great Britain and
those fighting with her.
This gradual change from a neutral
to what might be called a non
belligerent status has resulted from
a better understanding of the true
character of this war, from belated
recognition of the fact that 1t is not
just another European squabble, but
a determined bid by the totalitarian
powers for control of the sea lanes,
vital sources of raw materials and
the principal markets of the world.
In such a struggle, aside from It's
purely political aspects, we could not
remain an Indifferent onlooker, for
it soon became clear that, at the
least, our own economic future was
at stake.
Congress has passed the lease-lend
bill-eXcept for final agreement on
amendments-in the hope that the
United States, by becoming what the
President has called the great
arsenal" of the democracies, can pre-
vent a totalitarian victory without
actually becoming involved in the
war. This, admittedly, is gamble,
but it Is being taken in the earnest
belief that, while there is risk of
war in any course we might follow
as well as in policy of inaction, our
prospects of remaining at peace
would be more remote if the British
and their allies should be over
whelmed by the forces arrayed
against them.
Having committed ourselves to this
course of action, however, and having
assumed a responsibility for bolster
ing the democratic cause, 1t would
be difficult to exaggerate the i'm
portance of bending every energy
toward fulfilling our obligations. In
the future there can be no room for
pickering and indecision which serve
to minimize our contribution to those
fighting in the front lines. Definitely
and formally, we have aligned our
selves against the aggressor states,
and we would be inviting disaster of
the first magnitude If the President,
having been given unprecedented
powers for the purpose of making
our effort effective, should be pre-
vented from using them to the full
by a failure of the American people
to dedicate themselves unreservedly
to the implementation of this new
policy which will have been finally
adopted when Mr.. Roosevelt signs
the bill.