Evening star., 1944-11-19

SURVIVORS OF THE ST. LO-
battle of the Philippines on o.
victory sign on the deck of tn
agencies have been exhausted and
there still remains the threat OF
an aggressive war, 1t would not take
Congress minutes to act.
For $50 years the President of
the United States has been per-
mitted to use armed forces when
necessary to protect American in
terests. For $50 years the Congress
has been the sole body to declare
war. The President will continue
in the future to do what he is en-
titled to do, and Congress will con-
tinue to be the war making body.
The twilight zone which has existed
between this power of the President
to use armed forces and the right
Of Congress to declare war must
be cleared up.
II have said that I am willing to
permit the President to have free
hand In minor policing jobs and to
operate on an even large scale In
the two Americas, which is merely
q reafnrmation OF the Monroe Doc
trine. I am willing, too, that he
shall have q free hand in demil-
itarizing the Axis powers and the
use Of force for this purpose.
regard this as essential. It Is the
ball we fumbled after the First
World War.
Congress Must Sanction War.
when 1t comes to a major war,
the Congress, under the Constitu-
ton, and the American people must
sanction It,"
Senator Austin, Republican, of
Vermont, also member of the COM
nittee, said:
The question OF the latitude OF
our representative in the new inter-
national organization in directing
the use Of force need not be de-
cided, as see 1t, until after the
basic treaty has been ratified. Each
country, including ours, will deter
mine the authority of its repre-
sentative In the proposed Interna-
tional Council. The delegate of each
country will keep in touch with his
government, as will ours. The
method of protection lof peace) Is
something for US to work out. 1t
Is separate from the establishment
of.the Security Council.
Hair splitting will vanish once
the basic treaty has been agreed to.
We have q long history of the use
of executive authority, and armed
forces, to protect our interests with
out . declaration of war. United
States marines have been landed on
foreign soil to protect these in
terests without q declaration of war.
1t Is the constitutional duty of the
President to see that our interests
and nationals are protected
Follows Constitution.
'It will not tranSgreSs our Con-
stitution to give our representative
authority to agree to the use Of
armed forces for the protection Of
peace, in accordance with 4 treaty
we shall have ratified, including
fundamental rules regarding the
use of force. The implementing of
a treaty is good law. not = violation
Of the Constitution. It Is the exer-
else of external sovereignty. What is
contemplated Is an act of defense,
not an act Of war. Republican
government would be futile II this
authority could not be exercised.
Personally, I shall stand for as
complete authority as 1t Is possible
to give our representative. This
would not include, of course, author
ity for him to declare war. We viii
take risk-but 1t Is not new risk.
We have taken it in the past when
armed forces were used by the execu-
tive. The alternative Is recurrence
Of world war with no effort to pre-
vent It..
Senator Taft. Republican, Of Ohio
said:
Il see no real significance In this
so-called issue. The question Of the
degree OF authority given our dele
gate in the proposed international
council can be worked out. II we
make treaty and bind ourselves
to the use of force, am willing to
go ahead and give our delegate power
to act within the limits specified.
This does not mean declaration.
The use Of force does not necessarily
lead to declaration Of war. We
should have q basic law. Under the
Constitution, We can carry out the
terms of treaty.
II am exercised over the proposed
veto power given individual nations
In the Dumbarton Oaks agreement,
Such = veto power means that the
new organization could not act
against the only nations which would
be in position to start an aggressive
war