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Show GENERAL ' HUGH S. JOHNSON Jour: Unit Fauna WNUfcn Washington, D. C. PRESIDENT'S POWER When the blank check, lease-lend bill has been bums-rushed through congress, the United States may not be at war but the President will be. He has announced his peace terms freedom of speech and of worship, sociai security and the end of wars through disarmament not merely in Europe but "everywhere In the world" including, of course, Russia. Rus-sia. This is the new world-wide New Deal with our taxpayers and workers, work-ers, as they did for the American New Deal, paying as much of the whole bill as the President shall determine. de-termine. Mr. Roosevelt has also announced an-nounced the kind of peace In which i he will not "acquiesce." People who are not at war don't prescribe either the kind of peace that will be accepted accept-ed or the kind that won't. The President also asks for ultimate ulti-mate power to dispose all the war strength in America, except manpower man-power (maybe?) to fight for whom and at any place he decides all our guns, ships, planes, shells, rifles, all our materials and facilities for production and, by the same token, if not all our wealth, then at least billions of it. He can send as much or as little into the battle lines as he decides, and that is nothing less than the position of international commander-in-chief. What is requested is the complete strength of the nation in economic war and in these modern days that is 90 per cent of military war with a margin over as deadly as military war, if not more so. This astonishing bill was prepared under the direction of Mr. Morgen-thau Morgen-thau In the treasury and there is good reason to believe that neither Secretary Stimson of war, Secretary Knox of navy and Secretary Hull of state was consulted on its terms before it was published. Somebody beside Henry the Morgue ought to be consulted before we buy a ticket to perdition. We have no effective naval vessels ves-sels to send without hurting our navy. We can send no modern tanks, planes or guns that wouldn't delay the training of our army. Aid to Britain, yes, but in this momen-tive momen-tive hysterical 6pasm, can't seme-body seme-body be thinking one little thought about the interest and security of the United States. LEASE-LEND BILL What would have happened if two months ago anybody had proposed the lease-lend bill giving the Presi-. Presi-. dent unlimited authority to engage in economic and possibly military war "everywhere in the world," to provide pro-vide a world-wide bill of rights for people "anywhere in the world," and '. whether they want it or not? Nobody can say precisely what would have happened, but the chances certainly are strong that it would even have had a hearing. Certainly, earlier, nobody could have campaigned for office and such a bill. What has happened in the meantime mean-time to incite public sentiment to entertain en-tertain such a perilous course, such a revolution In our system of government, gov-ernment, such an all-out totalitarianism totalitarian-ism in the United States? Certainly not any greater danger to the belligerent bel-ligerent nations that have our sympathy. sym-pathy. There have been some terrible ter-rible bombings of cities, but, if anything, any-thing, their actual military position has been much improved.' What has happened is the most effective war-ballyhoo and propaganda propa-ganda headed by a few sincere and masterful but certainly very rash men. Over the air, in the mail, in the press, their voices for war have been continuous and many times the volume of any voice for caution. Popular polls have asked hypothetical hypothet-ical military questions on which no mere layman would be likely to have the facts and professional . knowledge knowl-edge to express any valuable opinionsuch opin-ionsuch as, "Do you think Britain will lose the war, if we do not give her all aid?" Lacking access to any guiding facts, except the incessant haranguing of the war-criers, who themselves are not much more competent com-petent to give an opinion, these "sample" voters say "yes" in substantial sub-stantial majorities to the question: "Shall we go to war?" It is mostly fantastical nonsense, this government by harangue and unofficial plebiscite, but the result is not nonsense. It is the stark national nation-al tragedy of the lease-lend bill; subjecting sub-jecting the wealth, the peace and the welfare of our country In war to the discretion of a single man, who, with almost unlimited war powers pow-ers in the past for preparation and defense, has not used them wisely or well. If he had. we should be in no such panic as we are today. Just as the public has been war-danced war-danced and tom-tomed by equivocal propaganda into even considering such a bill, so that bill itself is not candid. It would be far better and more honest to appropriate $3,000,-000,000 $3,000,-000,000 to lend or give Britain, Greece or China to be spent here for munitions, than to authorize the President to engage our entire strength in arms and resources in economic war "everywhere in the world" and to guarantee freedom of speech and worship and from want and war "anywhere in the world." |
