Evening star., 1941-03-01


tary Jones and others that we are
now ''in the war" This is a matter
of phrasing When a powerful Ma
ton like the United States throws
her weight into the scales, it can be
called taking sides in the war But
every so-called neutral nation in the
world has been accused of that in
every war in history. The law books
are full of protests and representa-
tionS from belligerentS to neutralS
arguing that favoritism was being
shown.
The United States has in this war
introduced new conception of neu-
trality. 1t is that the furnishing of
arms and ammunition and weapons
of war is duty of the neutral when
aggresSor nations are loose in the
world. This view arises out of the
implied obligations of the Kellogg
BRAND treaties which were ratified
by the principal nations of the
world. Those treaties made the pre-
viouS conceptions of neutrality OBJ
solete.
What the debate On the leaSe-lend
bill diScloses is that because of the
rather broad discretionary powers
vested in the President, the op-
ponentS of the measure insist that
Mr.. Roosevelt not only can take the
Nation into war, but will do so. 1t
is not explained just why the Presi-
dent would wish to drag America
into the world conflict. Certainly
every pledge he has given heretofore
and every desire that could possibly
motivate him from either political
or economic standpoint would ar
que for American non-participation.
Nature of War Changed.
The real difficulty is that many
Senators are failing to take into ac-
count the changed nature of war
1t is contest in mechanized pro-
duction. 1t does not require large
armies. There is no military reason
for the sending of an American ex-
peditionary force in this war even
if America did enter the conflict.
There is plenty of man power for
that purpose in Europe itself once
the British air force and British
Navy can get the upper hand over
the Nazl planes and submarines.
The United States, on the other
hand, has right to supply war ma
terials to the victims of aggression
and even to give them away if the
action will keep war from its shores.
The opponents of the lend-and- lease
bill deny Indignantly that they
favor Hitler or his cause, but they
cannot underwrite Hitler's inten-
tions if the NaZis become victorious.
This is the principal weakness in
their speeches. They are asking
America to forego taking proper de-
fense measures on the theory that
Hitler may not attack America,
though nobody in the present United
States Senate would be held respon-
Sible a few years hence if a victo-
rious NaZi government began to
thwart American economic and dip
lomatic interests in Latin America.
The favorite argument of some of
the opponents of the lend-and-lease
bill is that the international bankers
are trying to get America into the
war. This is the same sort of reck-
less statement that was made after
the last war when the accusation
was broadcast by Senators to the
effect that munition makers brought
these statements, however, was to
cause Americas munition industry
to disintegrate This was exactly
what Germany wanted. Today
there are no factories making ex-
plosives in sufficient quantities to
satisfy the defense needs of the
United States. This is because the
Senators now fighting the lend-and-
lease bill succeeded in killing the
private munitions industry by i'm
plying that the Government should
build its own factories. Then, when
the Government failed to get the
necessary appropriations for such an
enterprise, the United States lost
its plants capable of producing ex-
plosives.
Shortage of Bombs.
If the United States were attacked
tomorrow our airplanes would not
have sufficient bombs to carry on a
counterattaCk. This shortage of eX-
plosives is directly attributable to
the policies urged by some of the
Senators now fighting the lease-lend
bill, the same Senators who are i'm
pugning everybody else's motives
and repeating irresponsible gossip
about those who do not agree with
them on public policy.
President Roosevelt's domestic pol
icies have certainly not been free
from criticism by this correspondent,
but where foreign policy is con-
cerned Mr.. Roosevelt cannot now
be charged with trying to get him.
self reelected by bringing America
into the war, and he cannot be ac-
cused Of serving political purposes
of any kind by allegedly wishing
American participation in the world
conflict. The President has made
mistakes by Incorporate attacks on
his opponents and his charges
against Senator Wheeler were ILL
advised. Yet nobody who takes the
slightest trouble to canvass senti-
ment in the National Capital and
appraise the situation effectively
can deny that Mr.. Roosevelt is un-
dergoing lot of verbal punishment
on Capitol Hill when he is daily
being charged with a desire to drag
America into war. If he is able
to say some day that he steered the
United States through the most
critical period for democracy in all
history and that not single drop of
the blood of American youth was
spilled whilst America furnished bill
lions of dollars for war weapons to
assure a British victory, this would
probably be all that the writers of
Franklin Roosevelt's epitaph will
ever need to make him rank as one
of Americas greatest Presidents.
Certainly a war Presidents place in
modern history would not compare
with N rAarA President woodroxr