Evening star., 1941-01-19
Lease>Lend Victory or Defeat,
Not Compromise, Held Need
Measure Declared to Effect an Alliance With
Britain Which, If Decided On, Should
Be Made Permanent
By Felix NJ orley

was we'll summarized by Wendell Willkie
at the beginning of his statement giving
qualified Endorsement to the lend-lease
bill
This measure, he said, "asks for an
enormous grant Of executive power.
Under democratic system every
such grant of power should be jealousy
scrutinized. That is a general rule for
democracy, and that rule should be ap.
piled doubly to this bill"
The specific recommendation Of the
latest Republican presidential nominee
was that the increased executive power
asked by the bill should be granted for
a fixed term, not too far in the future
and that the legislation should spe-
cifically provide that the powers granted
are of temporary and not permanent
nature"
There is, however, an underlying in
consistency in Mr. Wilkes position. On
the whole, he supports the Presidents
contention that the future and the
safety of our country and of our democ-
racy are Overwhelmingly involved in
events far beyond our borders" But at
the same time this Republican leader
says fatty that Congress must not be
harried into passage of this bill.''
No Compromise Possible.
The two viewpoints are so distinct that
Mr.. WILKES endeavor to bridge them is
unsatisfactory. If the emergency is as
overwhelming for this country as the
President maintains, then there is grave
risk of losing the substance of democracy
while debating amendments which would
at best preserve its shadow. If the emer-
gency for this country is largely fanciful,
on the other hand. then the whole bill,
which is based on the assumption of that
emergency, is unnecessary and indeed
highly dangerous.
There are some legislative measures
which, like the problems they seek to
solve. cannot be compromised. They
should be adopted without significant
change or they should be defeated in
toto. That was clearly the case in the
court-packing bill and that is very likely
the case in the more important measure
before Congress today The advocates
of passing the lend-lease bill as is, and
the advocates of its total defeat, both
seem on frner logical ground than are
the compromisers.
Obviously the alignment Of forces pro
and con the lend-lease bill should not be
made on any short-range viewpoint. The
variance between our present Neutrality
Act and our official policy should of itself
be sufficient to illustrate the dangerous
absurdity of legislating without a clear
cut purpose and without any intellige.-.
Installation of the trend of events.
An Alliance With Britain
Fortunately it Is not difficult to e
the direction in which the lend--
bill points. Five months ago. at
time of the destroyer and naval base G
with Great Britain, Winston Churc'
said to the House OF Commons: IT
process means that the Brit.
Empire and the United States will hG,n
to be somewhat mixed up together il
some of their affairs" The legislation
pending in Congress confirms and en-
phasizes that prediction.
The current bill would in effect I'M
tiate an alliance between Great Britain
and the United States. Senator Wheeler
and Mr.. Landon, as typical of the oppo-
sition, say in effect that no such alli-
ance is wanted. Mr.. Willkie favors such
an alliance as a wartime measure only.
The President, particularly in the light
of past policy, seems strongly to intimate
that such an alliance should be perma-
nent.
If the alliance is desirable at all, it
should be permanent. 1t should be per-
manent because nothing could be more
fatal than helping England to win the
war and then refusing assistance to con-
solidate and maintain the subsequent
peace. That was our course from 1917
to 1919. The state of the world TODAY
attests the magnitude of the blunder.
And if permanent alliance with
Great Britain is sought, the powers which
the President asks are not excessive He
will need all of them, and more, in order
to develop workable political union of
the United States and the British EN-
pire.