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Show MTION'SCHIEFJ TO VOICE PLEA Oil NEUTRALITY Roosevelt Will Request Congress to Lift Ban on Arms WASHINGTON, Sept. 19 (AP) President Roosevelt has made tentative arrangements to address a joint session of the senate and house on neutrality early Thursday afternoon, Stephen T. Early, a presidential secretary, said Mr. Roosevelt would begin drafting his message today. It Is expected to deal almost exclusively ex-clusively with revision of the neutrality neu-trality law. ' Early said the message would be very brief. Present plans call for Mr. Roosevelt to deliver it about 2 p. m. . s. t. (12 noon Salt Lake time) Thursday. Asked whether the brevity was due to the fact that the whole neutrality subject had been pretty well gone over heretofore, the secretary sec-retary asserted that congress already al-ready had considerable Information. Informa-tion. Before Joint Session Arrangements for the president to deliver the message in person on the opening day of the special session were completed after Early had been In communication with Vice President Garner, Speaker Bankhead and Senate Majority Leader Berkley. He was unable to reach House Majority Leader Rayburn, who was en route- to the capital. The hour for the delivery ot the message, two hours after the session ses-sion convenes, will allow time for the necessary organization for the new session and permit Introduction Introduc-tion and approval of a resolution providing for the senate and house to assemble In the house chamber to hear the presidential message. Early said that the hour for the speech was, of course, subject to change after legislative leaders reached Washington and surveyed the situation. In response to a Polish appeal, President Roosevelt has called on European belligerents to renew their pledge against the bombing of civilians from the air. New Plea for Civilians He expressed last night his "earnest hope" that warring nations na-tions "will take measures to assure as-sure themselves that their respective respec-tive air forces are showing that regard for the lives of noncombatants noncom-batants which their replies to my appeal of September 1 have led the world to expect." , Mr. Roosevelt's statement replied re-plied to a message from President Moscicki of Poland saying that "for some days past German aircraft air-craft have deliberately and methodically me-thodically been bombing Polish towns and villages which contain no conceivable military objectives." Mr. Roosevelt said he was "deeply "deep-ly shocked" by this statement as well as by other reports he had received, including some from American officials in Poland. "It had been my hope," he said, "following the receipt from the several belligerent powers of the replies to my appeal of September 1, in which they stated their intentions in-tentions to limit the operations of their air forces to military objectives, objec-tives, that the world would be spared the horror of witnessing during this war the bombing of open towns and villages and the slaughtering of thousands of iiroo- (Contlnuen' on Paca Twol I Column Oof I NATION'S CHIEF PENS MESSAGE YCoaUsuaa tnm rm On cent and defenseless men, women and children." Pound'! Fall Studied The presidential statement last night was only one of the repercussions repercus-sions of the European war sounded In capital astir with preparations for the special session of congress Thursday. Other developments: 1. Secretary Morgenthau said he was disturbed by the decline In the British pound and was seeking means of combating speculation In the currency. N 2. Secretary Wallace called his newly appointed agricultural advisory ad-visory council today to discuss farm and food supply situations. 3. Mr. Roosevelt Issued an executive execu-tive order providing for an Increase of 3000 men in the coast guard. It was understood the addition was necessitated by the extensive patrol pa-trol of the Atlantic coast by coast guard and naval vessels, designed to watch activities of belligerent wsr vessels In the approaches to mrTTnitca state ma rhmnuni canal. Borah Flghta Changes 4. Discussion of administration proposals to revise the neutrality law continued, with Senator Borah (R., Idaho), outspoken foe of the suggested changes, contending -that a rift had developed in the ranks of administration supporters as a result of the recent signs of friendliness friend-liness between Germany, Russia nd Japan. 5. The German embassy asserted assert-ed In a statement that retreating Polish troops left mustard gas mines on a bridge In violation of a treaty. Morgenthau told reporters that , some action might be necessary in coanectlon with the depreciation ,of the British pound because of Its unsettling effect on the American Importer and exporter. He said his first step was to demand more Information from the New York federal reserve bank bout sales of the British money on the New York market. Me added "he had a pretty good Idea" that some of the selling had been done by central banks of certain unnamed countries. |