Evening star., 1941-02-12

souri, Ou ndo already LdkeIl your
position on this bill before you went
abroad, had you not?
Willkie-Yes, subject to modifi-
cation, and I suggested. as l recall,
two or three amendments.
Clark-The point I am getting
at is that you did not need to go
on tour of England and Ireland to
make up your mind TO favor the
bill?
Willkie-I had made up my mind
on the question Of lease lend
Clark-That is how you got the
letter from the President to Mr..
Churchill, which was referred to in
the press the other day?
Willkie-As matter of fact, Sem
ator Clark, so you may have all the
factS-I was writing an article and
was working on a sentence about
making some statements about Brit
ain, and there was a fact in it that
/ was not sure about. and'I got to
thinking, Where will I find out
about that?" And ! said to myself,
why don't I go to England?' So I
called up Mr.. Hull. Secretary of
State, and said. Il would like to go
to England" He said TO me, II will
call you back this afternoon and let
you know the pros and the cons
about it."
Willkie Continuing II knew what
he CHulD meant He was going to
ask the President whether the Pres
ident would let me 60 Haughter)
So he called me back in the after
noon and said. 1T is o. X" and ]
proceeded to arrange for my pass
age
Clark-You made it perfectly clear
to the public officials that you
talked to that under our form of
government previous candidates for
President occupy no position
Willkie-I made it very clear TO
them
Brings Up Convoy Question.
Clark-On your tour of Great
Britain, did you learn anything as
to the British desires on the ques-
ton of naval conveys. let us say?
l mean from responsible sources.
Willkie-I said in my Judgement
and that is all had-the American
people would not support the send
ing of convoys. I do not recall par
ticularly anybody expressing de-
sire.
Clark-Suppose tine British count
er-blockade on the part of the axis
powers through submarines and
aerial bombardment should become
effective, would you be in favor of
conveying ships?
Willkie-Senator. you would have
to present to me the situation at this
time. MY judgement is. if it is worth
anything to you, that If we begin to
furnish Britain plenty of bottoms,
the situation that YOU asked me to
make a hypothetical answer on will
never exist
This One Premature.
Clark-Suppose that the blockade
should become effective and that We
should not be able to furnish them
sufficient merchant vessels without
sending our Navy. would you be in
favor OF doing that?
Willkie-Senator YOU will have
to ask me that question at that time.
Clark-You said you were in favor
of turning destroyers over to Britain
at the rate of or 10 a month.
Secretary Knox said we did not have
any destroyers to spare
Clark am asking you the ques-
ton whether. if the naval authori-
ties say we cannot spare them, you
would still be in favor of turning
them over.
Willkie-No. I say absolutely that
II. without great hazard TO the
United States. they cannot be fur
nished. then I would not. have
great hope that that won't be the
answer
Would Consult Naval Experts.
Clark-Do you have any informa-
ton as to whether we can spare 5 or
10 destroyers a month?
Willkie-I do not pretend to be a
naval expert, and il were the one
that was passing upon the question.
would get the advice of all the
best naval experts on the question
and then act accordingly
Clark-You are in favor of turn
ing over long-range bombers. If
your other statement is correct that
if Great Britain failed in this war
we would be at war with Germany
within 80 to so days-if that situa-
ton developed and we had turned
over such long-range bombers as we
have, which are vital for our own
defense, we would be in an unfor-
tunste situation?
Willkie-Yes: and we would be in
an extremely unfortunate situation
if we should let Britain fail.
II Britain Fails.
Clark-If. in spite of our aid to
Great Britain, Britain were to fail,
we would certainly be in very much
worse position not to have any long
ished our Navy than we would be
otherwise, would we not?
Willkie-Yes but if We failed to
send bombers to England, and as a
result England should collapse, we
would be in much worse position.
Clark-It was testified the other
day by apparently competent wit
nesses that Great Britain has some
10 per cent more shipping now than
she had at the beginning of the
war. Did you learn anything about
that9
Winkie-I do not believe that Is
correct.
Clark-What are the facts?
Willkie-I would not pretend to
give you exact facts, but you must
that it does not state
the situation. Britain has about
IS 900 900 tons of shipping facilities,
but that was about what she needs
in normal times. A great deal of
that has been diverted to'bringing in
war material, and so forth. So that
the requirements for ordinary ship
ping have to be met with much
reduced shipping by reason of the
amount diverted for other purposes.
Shipping of Foodstuffs.
Clark-Did you obtain any infor-
nation as to how much foodStuffs
opI otbor m foriolc oro hojpO trans