Evening star., 1943-10-10
Bv BLAIR BOLLES.

The State Department, in making
public last night mass of docu-
ments on prewar foreign affairs,
disclosed that November 2, 1888,
Secretary Hull told Hans Luther,
then the German Ambassador here
that "a general war during the next
2 to 10 years seemed more probable
than peace"
The observation is in brief men,
orandum Of a conversation between
Mr. Hull and DR.. Luther, which was
publicized along with 273 other doc
uments on foreign affairs, compris-
ing part 2 of volume entitled
Peace and War" The first volume
was published in January.
The documents released last night
give chronological story of world
events between 1881 and l94l lead
ing up to the war. President Roose-
velt termed those 10 years "a decade
of international immortality"
Current Issue Stressed.
While the documents illuminate
history, the preface to the volume
deals inferentially with a contem-
porary issue by citing the American
Chief Executives inability to man.
age foreign affairs according to his
lights unless the way is pointed out
for him by the Congress.
The problem today concerns how
far the President can go in making
political arrangements with this
country's Allies as the time nears
for the American, British and Rus
sian foreign ministers conference.
The President and the Secretary
of State have by no means entire
freedom in matters of foreign
policy" the preface says. Their
powers may be defined or circum-
scribed by legislation-or by lack
thereof. They must closely approx
mate the prevailing views of the
country. In the conduct of foreign
relations they must interpret and
implement not particular point
OF view in the country but the point
OF view of the Nation as whole"
This is the most direct public
statement. which yet has come from
the executive branch of the Gov
ernment on the need for congress
sional action on a foreign policy
resolution. The House has passed
the Fulbright resolution. A Senate
Foreign Relations Committee has
drafted tentative substitute re-
solution.
AwareneSs Esta bliShed.
The total effect of the docu-
mented publication is to establish
Mr.. Roosevelt, Mr.. Hull and Ameri-
can diplomats like George Messer-
smith and Joseph c. Grew as we'll
aware for many years that a war
involving the United States was in
preparation. The devotion of the
country as a whole to the idea of
isolation expressed in the 'neu-
trality' legislation and "a COM
placency of view in other nations
were blamed for the Presidents in
ability to convince the voters that
he was right.
The 274 documents represent a
selection, the State Department
said, and were chosen from thou
sands to demonstrate that war was
inevitable and the President knew
it. A number of the documents
are speeches and press releases
already published. The hitherto un-
published documents number 1872.
What the remaining unpublished
documents will reveal proba bly, will
not be known for Is years or So
the usual elapsed time between the
birth of a diplomatic document and
its publication.
The volumes first part outlined
the events leading up to American
participation in the war. A spokes-
man for the department said l00.-
600 copies of part one had been
sold in the United States.
Issued in Britain.
The British Government also is
sued the volume-the first time in
history England had published an
American official document. Thirty
thousand copies of the British edi-
ton have been sold. The volume
has been translated privately into
German Gin SwitzerlandD, Spanish
and Swedish, and Chinese and Por-
tuguese versions are on the way.
The new paper opens with Secre-
tary of State Stimson's alarm in 1881
over the Japanese aggression in
Manchuria.
The first document signed by Mr..
Hull is a letter dated April S, 1888,