The McDowell times. [volume] (Keystone, W. Va.) 1904-1941, 1941-01-03

NewAAA' Alabama Plan
Promotes Soil Betterment
Crop Payments Based on Land Improve.
ment; Roosevelt Suggests U. S. Loan
War Material to England.

Hour commentatoT.
maintain heavy equipment required
In terracing. However. groups Of
farmers can form an association
to buy this equipment, and can pay
their share on the basis of the
amount Of time they use it.
That is the story-told from the
standpoint Of the Triple A. You ara
better able to judge it's merits than
l am. OF course, II you have any
views you would like to express, I
would be only too glad to hear them.
President Announces
Loaned Aid to Britain
1t was late as I hurried across
the paved space In front of the ex-
ecutive offices. The waiting room
was damned. Overcoats were piled
high on the huge mahogany table
presented to the President by the
Philippine General Aguinaldo.
We we're soon crowding through
the inner waiting room and across
the hall and into the Presidents oval
office. The moment ! had wormed
my way forward and looked at the
President, was sure he had some
thing important to say. He wasn't
laughing and chatting with the men
pushed close around his desk. He
looked very serious.
Finally the last reporter had come
IN. The President began to speak.
He spoke slowly, deliberately; in
formally but seriously, announcing
his long-awaited plan for lending or
leasing implements Of war to Great
Britain.
Because had to broadcast almost
Immediately afterward was kept
busy taking notes, but as wrote
down the words that would be his
7 tory some day. Ysuddeuly feN tAat
nothing was real around No.
| Roosevelt Tells story.
1t couldn't be that the other side
OF the world was burning up-that
| q proud nation which claimed to
rule the Seven Seas was begging
for he'p-that / was actually writing
down on q piece Of copy paper
| gigantic plan to bring that help. It
was simply too big to grasp. How
could any one human being hope
to sit down and draw up a scheme
that involved these millions Of peo-
pie, that must answer the crisis
cross, conflicting hopes, beliefs, de-
mands and desires Of half the globe?
my pencil kept on forming
words and suddenly saw they were
writing down q simple little anec-
| dote about q lot of men in q smoking
car making bets.
This seemed still more unreal but
1t is the Presidents way Of trying
to illustrate frightfully complicated
things with very simple, everyday
experiences. He told how, when he
was the young assistant secretary of
the navy back In 1914, war in Europe
was suddenly declared and he was
hurrying back to Washington.
In the smoking car with him were
| q number Of brokers and bankers
! "the best economic brains of the
country" the President called them.
They were saying that no war could
last long. The bankers could stop
Ii In two and q half months for no
nation could fight long without
money in the bank.
Money Not Essential.
This, the President said, showed
how wrong the accepted beliefs
were. History shows, he said, that
no country ever lost war because
OF lack of money.
And then he went on describing
his plan for lending or leasing i'm
plemehts Of war to Great Britain
instead OF lending money. He had
no notes before him but II was plain
he had spent plenty Of thought on
his plan, that 1t was the result of
study and thought.
Whatever the merits of the plan
may be, its one merit seemed TO be
this: 1t stilled for q while at least,
something that came very near hys-
terra In Washington and what might
have been hysteria in England, too.
For while II did not increase by one
machine gun bullet, immediate aid to
Britain, 1t promised them "econom-
&c cooperation" and restored their
morale.
And 1t stilled, too, the angry de-
mands OF the pressure groups in this
country which would push US right up
to the very verge Of war. They
could hardly complain il London
was satisfied. And yet, on the other
side Of the picture, 1t did not even
imply a single immediate act which
would bring us any nearer the war
then we we're at the moment for
the President made it clear that con-
gress would have to pass upon IL.