Evening star., 1943-08-22

severe CTlIlClSm mas frequently been
heaped on the administration because
no one has been able to discover what
comprises our foreign policy.
Questions put to those responsible for
guiding the American ship of state
through the turbulent international wa
ters receive evasive answers or none at
all
A few months ago the Senate For
eign Relations Committee wanted to
pass legislation to give the President
and the State Department something
tangible for their negotiations with for
eign powers.
Some Senators wanted to take the
Atlantic Charter as basis for the leg
islation. They found themselves stymied
by the fact that none of the members
of the Senate knew actually what our
policy was. The highest experts were
called in to testify in executive sessions.
After hours of discussions and question:
ing, in which men of no lesser impor-
tance than Secretary of State Hull were
asked to testify the Senators came to
the conclusion that no one knew enough
about our foreign policy to enable the
committee to present to the Senate plans
for constructive legislation. The truth
is that we have no foreign policy in the
British, Russian, German or Japanese
sense.
We are improvising policies to suit out
side circumstances. But the doctrine of
mo foreign entanglements" set down by
George Washington has remained the
foundation on which those elected to
conduct the affairs of the United States
must be guided, because this doctrine
still has the approval of the overwhelm-
ing majority of the American people.
Russian Policy Set.
Outside circumstances and upheavals
compel our Government to depart from
what Is supposed to be hard-and-fast
rule. The people of this country indorse
those occasional changes. But soon after
the emergency is over they want to
revert to what numerous persons here
and abroad call American isolationism :"
Our foreign policy can be compared
with the wardrobe Of well-to-do man
who feels that he must have in his closet
silk hat and frock coat with striped
trousers because once or twice in his
life he must use them on specific occa-
sions.
A foreign policy, however, cannot be
created in government Offices or by de-
bate societies and magazine and news,
paper articles written by intellectuals.
1t is the outgrowth of centuries-old vital
national needs.
Russia has determined foreign policy
and is willing to make any sacrifices for
1t. 1t is an essential part of her national
life. 1t Is not Stain who has estab-
lished 1t. 1T dates back to the days of
Ivan the Terrible, Peter the Great and
Catherine the Great. 1t is policy of
expansion until that land-locked empire
can reach the warm seas and thus fully
develop the enormous natural resources
of one of the greatest empires in the
world.
Stain is just following the pattern of
Peter and Catherine. No ideologies, ex-
cept that Russia must be what she is
destined to bean justified empire
are involved. The same applies to Britain.
Her foreign policies have been definitely
established by Queen Elizabeth, who
after breaking the stranglehold of Spain
on the high seas by defeating the Span
ish armada, began to expand over the
Seven Seas.
Queen Elizabeth realized three CEN
turies ago that small nation like
Britain could never hope to become a
first-class power unless it spread to the
four corners of the world and harnessed
the wealth and manpower of heather"
places for her own benefit.
Follow Elizabeth's Idea.
The policies established by Queen
Elizabeth have been followed as we'll
as circumstances permitted from her
days to the date when Prime Minister
Churchill stated that he was not at the
head of his Majesty's government to
preside over the dismemberment of the
British Empire. The imperial foreign
policy of Britain, like Russia's, Is
national policy and no ideologies have
much room in it.
Ideologles have to be used occasionally
to give 1t certain glamour and polish.
But fundamentally they play best in the
role of bait. Whatever theology or senti-
mentalism might be involved In the
actions of any of his Majesty,s govern