Evening star., 1941-01-11

" n n, QeSplte
an explicit pro- David Lawrence.
vision of law, he ordered so over
age warships to be sent to bel
ligerent government-and Congress
never so much as adopted reso-
luton of approval or disapproval,
or otherwise expressed itself.
The United States Government
under the Presidents aggressive
leadership has committed many
acts of war against the axis powers
which they, on the other hand, have
for the moment declined to rec
ognize as such. Believing that they
may some day perhaps take the
initiative against us or that Amer
lea must prevent them at all costs
from getting the upper hand in the
sweeping powers. He thinks he has
an overwhelming body of opinion
back of him
Many members Of Congress, how
ever, are becoming vocal in dissent
They are saying that Congress is
abdicating its functions, that the
President Is getting dictatorial pow
ers and that even in war time here
or in Britain no such far-reaching
delegation of power has been made
to one man.
Erred on the Minority.
Unquestionably there will be de-
bate and efforts to limit the powers
of the President Unquestionably,
too, Mr.. Roosevelt made a grave
mistake when he failed to consult
the leaders of the minority party
in Congress about the draft of the
measure. President Wilson made
similar error in choosing delegates
to the Paris peace conference and it
helped to defeat ratification of the
treaty.
Inasmuch as national unity is
supposed to prevail, it is a matter
Of general surprise that Mr.. Roose-
velt ignored the Republicans. Now
many Of them have announced
openly their intention of fighting
the bill or at least to restrict its
scope. The measure In amended
form doubtless will be passed by
a preponderant majority.
The fact that majority exists for
observation-disclosures" is not
questioned hereabouts. Time is of
the essence, however, and serious
consequences could ensue if fill
clustering tactics or dilatory proceed
ure were interjected by the minority
The critics of the bill may be chal-
lenged to write a better one which
furnishes all aid to the democracies
and at the same time meets all
the criticisms which have been
leveled at the proposal.
Wanted Within Week.
Any delays or restrictive amend
ments will doubtless be subject to
careful scrutiny by the critics. The
President feels it is essential to pass
the measure within a week. In this
connection, it is significant that an
Associated Press correspondent tele-
graphed from Berlin the other day
this comment on American policy:
Neutral observers are interested
as to whether Congress will move
fast enough to throw the real weight
of American help behind England
before the arrival of what might
conceivably be the best time for the
German attack. The extent of Ger
man interest can only be inferred
by the fact that much attention is
paid to the speeches of those men,
bers of Congress who are demand
ing that the United States move
slowly"
Republican leaders are in an en-
barassing position. Most of them
say privately that they want Britain
to win the war and want aid ex-
tended even if it involves certain
risks. But they are suspicious about
the vast powers delegated to the
President, and the truth is that all
the mutual distrust and bitterness
of the last seven years are using
up now to plague America. Had
the President since the November
election spent little time studying
the causes of disunity and had he
taken some of the leaders into his
confidence on the whole situation,
he might today have had the draft
of a bill that would have gone
through Congress in So hours. AS
1t is, the Republican leadership says
frankly it wants to examine the
bill and hear from the country. 1t
will doubtless offer certain amend
mentS.
Presidents Hold Is Firm.
It is not a rash assumption to
make that if the various executive
agencies and the President himself
had not hitherto in domestic policies
shown disposition to ignore eX-
plicit statutes or to stretch am
biguously worded laws to the full
limit so as to apply radical and eX-
treme regulatory action to business
and industry, there would be less
concern today among the opponents
of the administration. The lend
and lease" bill could be used to take
over and operate any defense prof.
ect. Still this, in a sense, is what
the last Congress agreed to last
summer in its modification OF the
so-called Overton amendment
whereby industrial plants were to
be confscated in the event OF dis
agreements on contracts.
The truth is the President, by
his control of a substantial majority
in both houses and with sympa-
thetic Supreme Court composed Of
five of his appointees out of the
nine justices, has about as complete
hold on all branches of the Govern
ment as any man could have short
of a suspension of civil guarantees.
But the President will get the legis-
jation he asks for because a ma
jority of the American people in the
last election sanctioned the idea of
giving Mr.. Roosevelt virtually
blank check to conduct foreign pol
icy for them. Opposition will be
vociferous but it will not prevail on