Evening star., 1941-02-18
Minority Report on British Aid Bill
Senate Group Says Legislation Contemplated
Has No justification in Law or Fact

tional law, coupled with these posi-
tive safeguards, is better calculated
than any other means to keep us out
of this war"
Now, we are asked to abandon the
very safeguards which the Presi-
dent himself insisted upon as the
road to peace. We are asked to
turn our backs upon international
law which, coupled with these safe
guards, was to keep us out of war.
Says Russia Fixes
Our Standards Today.
Now the criterion is established
"It is not more unneutral for us TO
do that''-which this bill would au-
thorize-"than 1t Is for Sweden,
Russia and other nations near Ger
many to send steel, ore, oil and
other war materials into Germany
every day"
Think of the irony of this. Rus
sia fixes our standards today.
Under this bill we not only lay
our ports open for the repair Of
belligerent warships, but we'll i'm
plement them, arm them, not pri-
vately, but through the resources
and man power Of our Nation. This
is plain violation of the law in
voked by the President. and no sub
terfuge, no pretext can justify this
course.
The Secretary of State presented
an arraignment of aggressor nations
in his testimony. He said: In the
conduct of our foreign relations this
Government has directed its efforts
to the following detectives: %
Peace and security for the United
States with advocacy of peace and
limitation and reduction of arma-
ment as universal international OBJ
jectives; 90 Support of law. order,
justice and morality and the princi-
pie of nonintervention."
And so forth.
Paints Terrible Picture
OF Aggressor Nations.
Then he paints us the terrible
picture of aggressor nations, terrible,
because true; but, in this picture
he carefully refrains from mention
ing Russia, and the ink was scarcely
dry upon his written paper sub
mitted to the committee. when he
withdrew the moral embargo" that
had rested upon Russia. and ap-
parently Russia was white as snow
and her sins we're forgotten and for
given-RuSSia, whose attack upon
little Finland shocked the world,
and whose rape of half of Poland
plainly demonstrated that she was
one of the axis powers; and her
more recent appropriation of the
little nations on her borders has
aroused the indignation of all right
thinking people. But now, Russia
is no longer in the category of ag-
gressor nations, no longer within
the category Of predatory nations,
ready and willing unjustly to pounce
upon smaller and weaker countries.
If anything were wanting to show
the hollowness and the pretext of
this bill it is found in the recent
Russian incident, where the United
States condoned every Russian
crime, and forgave her every un-
righteous grab of weaker neighbors.
Different Rules Seen
For Conduct of U. S.
What becomes of the grandilo-
quent words of the Secretary of
State for the support of law, order,
justice and morality and the prin-
ciple of nonintervention? How hol-
low these words sound.
Not only this, but, apparently,
We. have different rules in other
directions for our own conduct.
October, 1899. we called a meeting
of the Foreign Ministers of the
American republics and in the Pana-
ma convention We agreed with them
that we should define our positions
as neutrals; each should prevent
"on their respective territories en-
listment of persons to serve in the
military, naval or air forces of the
belligerents: the retaining or in
ducing of persons to 60 beyond their
respective shores for the purpose of
taking part in belligerent operations;
the setting on foot of any military,
naval or aerial expedition in the
interests of the belligerents; the
fitting out, arming or augmenting of
the forces or armament of any ship
or vessel to be employed in the
service of one of the belligerents, to
cruise or commit hostilities against
another belligerent or its national
or property"
The signatories SO agreed, and
said they agreed in order-'to main
tain their status as neutral states
and fulfill their neutral duties as
well as require the recognition of
the rights inherent in such a
status"
Was this also a hollow promise
by us under the good-neighbor pol
icy?
Cites British Agreement
After Civil War.
After the Civil War. in the treaty
of Washington. Great Britain and
the United States agreed specifically
that-"a neutral government is
bound first to use due diligence to
prevent the fitting out, arming, or
equipping within its jurisdiction, of
any vessel which. it has reasonable
HAAs 49, ksk aS