Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1941-05-08
More Frankness
Needed

A few months ago it may have
been a pleasant pastime to talk
about the war, because it seemed
remote to Americans. But with
passage by Congress of the
Iease-lend bill and its various in
terpretationS S since pass aAg e,
Americans are becoming more
and more concerned and alarmed
because of the lurking danger
that the national administration
may be sending American boys
to the battlefields of Europe.
With four out of five persons
against sending American boys
to European battlefields and with
more and more discussion on the
subject even the large daily news
papers have toned down their
inSiStence that it is also Ameri-
cas- war.
The st. Paul Pioneer Press of
May l stated editorially that it is
time to be candid. They call
on the president to take the
American people into his conf
dence and to tell them about
the situation. In other words,
give the American public frankly
the reasons for the administra-
TONS overtures toward war.
The Pioneer Press editorial fol-
lows:
Hitler has proclaimed an ocear
area extending westward in the At.
lantic ocean to within three miles o.
the coast of Greenland to be a danger
zone in which any and every shir
will be subject to torpedoing. Presi.
dent Roosevelt, blandly asserting tha
he knows nothing about the Nazi-pro.
claimed zone of submarine attack
declares that American warships il
the Western Hemisphere neutrality
patrol may go anywhere on the sever
seas, including to the very shores O.
Britain if that is necessary to West.
ern Hemisphere security.
What he means, of course, is that
Britain's continued existence being
deemed necessary to that security
warships on patrol, not convoy, may
not will, go anywhere in the service
of getting American war material.
safely to Britain. And Berlin retort.
that its rule is as stated-sink any
ship, whatever its flag, that ven.
lures within the prescribed waters
This appears to include warships a.
well as merchant vessels, which may
not by law and proclamation enter
the combat zone around the Brit.
iSh Isles.
1t is clear that the President ha.
the legal and legitimate power t.
send American warships anywhere
to protect national interests; that il
what the Navy exists for. 1t is alst
clear that to send them into the Ger.
nfan-designated submarine zone Of
into the combat zone proclaimed BY
himself under the neutrality resolu
ton risks shooting war" very near
ly as much as though they were en-
gagged in actual conveying instead O
patrolling to seek out and broad
cast the presence of German sub
marines or other vessels.
The President is justified in in
curing this grave risk only by rea
son of the solemn fact that there i
no policy which this country nov
can follow, consistent with it's owl
defense, which does not involve grav,
risk. If this particular risk seem
shockingly great to many Americans
it may only be because they do no
enjoy the Presidents advantage of
complete view of the risks of no
taking this course of action.
The dangers and hazards of al
these methods become hourly NOR,
apparent, and the fearful threats O
every alternative appear equal.
dark or even darker. This is an hou
in which the President might yer,
well take the whole country into hi
complete confidence that all the PEG
pie may fully understand that tn
hour is one in which there is onl,
one certainty, and that is the Ger
fainty that the nation is in grav,
danger from which it cannot be res
cued without running risks. Tn
American people, the President ma.
be sure, possess still that sort of cour
age which makes them prefer t,
know the worst whatever anguish
of spirit it may cost, and to prepar'
for it,.