Evening star., 1941-01-13
BY the Associated Press.

IeTL o. WeHueH l.. WuLhle Stute-
nlent on the administrations
"ledSe-lend" bill tollo1Us::
The so-called "lend-lease" bill
now before Congress asks for an
enormous grant of executive
power. Under democratic sys-
tenn, in which the peoples power
is preserved by limiting the pow
ers of government. every such
grant of power should be jeal-
ously scrutinized. That is gen.
eral rule for democracy, and that
rule should be applied doubly to
this bill. We must not lose our
democracy at home while seeking
to preserve democracy abroad. 1t
is therefore the duty of the OPP
position to examine every pro-
vision of the bill thoroughly.
I have examined this bill in
the light of the current emer-
gency and personally have come
to the conclusion that with modi-
fication it should be adopted.
This is a critical moment in
history. The United States is
not a belligerent and We hope
we shall not be. Our problem,
however, is not alone to keep
America out of war, but to keep
war out of America. Democracy
is endangered. And the Ameri-
can people are so aware of the
danger that they have indorsed
the policy of giving full and
active aid to those democracies
which are resisting aggression.
At the same time the people are
virtually unanimous in their de-
sire to build for the United States
the strongest defensive system in
the world.
1t is the history of democracy
that, under such dire circum-
stances, extraordinary powers
must be granted to the elected
Executive. Democracy cannot
hope to defend itself from ag-
gression in any other way. 1t is
for this reason only that l favor
grant of power at this time TO
the present administration.
Declares Congress Must
Not Be Harried Into Passage.
However, there are certain con-
sideration that ought to be taken
into account:
l. Congress must not be har-
ried into passage of this bill.
Some of these days by that proc
ess we will be rushed right out
of our democracy. The bill should
be subjected to thorough debate,
and such amendments should be
made as Congress, representing
the people, may deem necessary
to retain in its own hands the
fundamental power to declare
war.
2. In democracy every grant
of extraordinary power should
contain a clause automatically
giving that power back to the
people. In the case of this bill
the powers should be granted
for a fixed term. not too far in
the future, at which time Con-
gress will automatically have a
chance to review the bill and
either continue the powers or re-
woke them. Likewise the bill
should specifically provide that
the powers granted are OF a
temporary and not permanent
nature.
3. It is hoped the discussion OF
this bill does not take the form
of opposition to granting power
to this administration just be-
cause it is this administration.
We could all wish that this ad-
ministration loved power less and
that it more readily relinquished
it when the purpose for which it
was granted had ceased to exist.
I think I can say without boast
that no man in this country has
done more to stress the record OF
this administration in this re-
gard or to paint the dangers OF it.
I was, moreover, perfectly serious
in my charge that the reelection
of this administration would
ieopardize the continuation OF
the Democratic process in She
United States. And I believe
many of its acts since reelection
sustain my position.
Defense Rated Ahead
OF Democratic Procedure.
Yet the people chose this ad-
ministration, and we must abide
by that choice. We must not fall
into the fallacy of depriving 1t
of powers necessary to defend
us in order to preserve the mere
forms of democratic procedure.
We must give it the power to
act in this emergency, while at
the same time assuring ourselves,
by competent amendments, OF a
reversion of that power to us
after the emergency is over.
4. 1t is to be hoped that the
national debate concerning the
bill will not assume a partisan
aspect. This should be true even
though the administration point
edly excluded Republicans from