Evening star., 1943-12-27

Nowhere in the Presidents speech,
for instance, is there single ac-
acknowledgement of the error of
America, under both Republican
and Democratic Presidents, in fail
ing to build armament for war or
to join our might with that of other
nations early enough to prevent
war. Nowhere is there a notice
taken of the economic and social
conditions which make millions of
frustrated persons in a defeated
country follow any Hitler or Musso-
lini out of anarchy and chaos. No.
where is there a confession that the
billions spent on "pump-priming"
between 1888 and 1899 might better
have been spent in needing the mes
sages of our diplomatic representa-
tives abroad who warned us cate
gorically of what was coming, but
whose documents our Government
carefully kept secret from the Amer
lean people.
Mr. Roosevelt said that, after the
1918 armiStice, the Allies being full
of the milk of human kindness,
spent the next IS years disarming
while the Germans whined so pa
thetically that the other nations
permitted them-even helped them
to rearm."
One would get from this the i'm
preston that the United States was
blameless and only the other ma
tions" permitted German rearma-
ment which, of course, is not the
fact. as the records will show. The
President added:
For too many years we lived in |
pious hopes that aggressor and war
like nations would learn and under
stand and carry out the doctrine of
purely voluntary peace. The we'll
intentioned but Inflated expert
ments of former years did not work.
1t is my hope that We will not try
them again. No-that is too weak
it is my intention to do all that l
humanity can as President and Com
mander In Chief to see to it that
those tragic mistakes shall not be
made again"
But how? Mr.. Roosevelt cannot
be President or Commander in Chief
for Is years after the coming armi-
stice. Why does he refer to a 15-
year period after the last armistice-|
from 1918 to 1933-and forget that
the record between 1888 and 1889
Of his own administration on the
subject of rearming will not stand
public scrutiny. Most of us would
lot Lr,r "a huoNrnc ht1t the |
attempt to eliminate all blame for
the period between 1888 and 1889 is
too palpable to overlook.
The documents recently released
by the Department of State show
that President Roosevelt was willing
and did, in fact, propose in 1885
reduction in naval armament below
the 1921 level and even when the
japanese in 1884 renounced the
naval limitation treaty of 1921 Mr..
Roosevelt did not start big naval
building program. Nor did the
President seem to heed the warnings
of his own diplomatic representa-
tives abroad concerning Hitler's
aggressive designs. George Messer-
SInlCIl, AIIleTlCdll MllllSUei W AuSGi Id,
and Douglas Miller, Commercial
Attache in Vienna and later Berlin,
telegraphed in April 81, 1884, and
again in February, 1895, about the
Nazi plans for aggression and their
rearmament.
What was happening in America
between 1888 and 1899? Did Mr..
Roosevelt, with unprecedented ma
jorities in both houses Of Congress,
carry the case to the people? Did
he risk his political life on the
issue of preparation for war or did
he follow the line Of least resistance,
blowing hot and cold, and finally
succumbing to the isolationist oppo-
sition in international affairs?
What did Mr.. Roosevelt do when
Hitler marched into the Rhineland
in November, 1886? He knew what
this meant, but he did not appeal
to public opinion. That was when
Russia and France protested bit
terly, but the cabinet in Great Brit
ain equivocated and temporized and
refused to take action. And about
the same month Mr.. Roosevelt, who
had just been reelected by an over
Uhelminp ma ioritV for second