Evening star., 1941-09-12
Tert OF President ROoSeDeltS
speech last night tollotUS:

Ny fellow Americans:
The Navy Department OF the
United States has reported to me
that on the morning of Septem-
Der 4 the United States destroyer
Greer, proceeding In full daylight
towards Iceland, had reached
point southeast of Greenland.
She was carrying American mail
to Iceland. She was flying the
American flag. Her identity as
an American ship was unmistak-
able.
She was then and there at
tackled by a submarine. Germany
admits that it was German
submarine. The submarine de-
liberateiy fired a torpedo at the
Greer, followed later by another
torpedo attack. In spite of what
Hitler's propaganda bureau has
invented, and in spite OF what
any American obstructionist Or
eanization may prefer to believe,
tell you the blunt fact that the
Germany submarine fired first
upon this American destroyer
without warning, and with de-
hberate design to sink her.
Our destroyer. at the time, was
IN waters which the Government
of the United States had declared
to be waters of Self-defense-sur-
rounding outposts of American
protection in the Atlantic.
In the North, outpoSts have
been established by us i'll Ice
land, Greenland, Labrador and
Newfoundland. Through these
waters there pass many ships OF
many flags. They bear food and
other supplies to civilians, and
they bear material of war, for
which the people Of the United
States are spending billions OF
dollars. and which, by congress
sional action, they have declared
to be essential for the defense OF
their own land.
The United States destroyer,
when attacked, was proceeding
on a legitimate mission.
Attack Is Called
Legal and Moral Piracy.
If the destroyer was visible to
the submarine when the torpedo
was fired, then the attack was a
deliberate attempt by Che Nazis
TO sink a clearly identified
American warship. On the other
hand, if the submarine was
beneath the surface and, with the
aid of its listening devices, fired
in the direction of the sound of
the American destroyer without
even taking trouble to learn its
identity-aS the official German
communique would indicate
then the attack was even more
outrageous. For it indicates a
policy of indiscriminate violence
against any vessel sailing the
acknowledgement or non-belliger-
ent.
This was piracy-legally and
morally. 1t was not the first
nor the last act of piracy which
the Nazi government has COM
mitted against the American flag
in this war. Attack has fol-
lowed attack.
A few months ago an Ameri-
can flag merchant ship, the
Robin Moor, was sunk by a Nazl
submarine in the middle of the
South Atlantic, under circum-
stances violating long-established
international law and every prin-
ciple of humanity. The pas
sengers and the crew were forced
into open boats hundreds of miles
from land, in direct violation of
international agreements signed
by the government Of Germany.
No apology, no allegation of mis-
take, no offer of reparations has
come from the Nazi government.
Battleship Was Followed
BY Submarine.
In July, 1941, an American bat
tleship in North American waters
was followed by a submarine
which for a long time sought to
maneuver itself into a position
of attack. The periscope of the
submarine was clearly seen. No
British or American submarines
were within hundreds of miles
OF this spot at the time. so the
nationality of the submarine is
clear.
Five days ago a United States
Navy ship on patrol picked up
three survivors of an American
owned ship operating under the
flag of our sister Republic of
Panama-the S. S. Sessa. On
August II, she had been first
torpedoed without warning, and
then shelled, near Greenland,
while carrying civilian supplies
10 Iceland. 1t is feared that the
other members of her crew have
been drowned. In view of the
established presence of German
submarines in this vicinity, there
can be no reasonable doubt as
to the identity of the attacker.
Five days ago, another United
States merchant ship, the Steel
Seafarer was sunk by a German
aircraft in the Red Sea 220 miles
south of Suez. She was bound
for an Egyptian port.
-Four of the vessels sunk or at
tackled flew the American flag
and were clearly identifiable. Two
of these ships were warships of
the American Navy. In the fifth
case, the vessel sunk clearly car
ried the flag of Panama.
Americans Keeping
Their Feet on the Ground.
In the face of all this, we
Americans are keeping our feet
on the ground. Our type of dem
ocratic civilization has outgrown
the thought Of feeling compelled
to fight some other nation by rea-
son of any single piratical attack
on one of our ships. We are not
becoming hysterical or losing our
sense of proportion. Therefore,
what I am thinking and saying
does not relate to any isolated ep-
isode.
Instead. we Americans are TAX
ing a long-range point of view in
regard TO certain fundamentals