Show Bruc karta washington digest public sentiment grows insistent to keep out of european muddle unmistakable change Is going on throughout alic country people make known feelings and Is reflected in congress by WILLIAM BRUCKART service national press bid washington D 0 washington while the roose valt continues to subordinate everything to the general subject of the european war there has been an unmistakable change in sentiment going on throughout the country and in the capital city it is inescapable to the merest tyro of an observer it represents a crystallization liza tion of that foggy thing called public sentiment tho senate has debated the issue ot repeal of the arms embargo to the fullest but the debate has fallen short of telling the whole truth there was an entire lack of any truly great speeches much additional light has been on the whole question of a neutrality policy yes but I 1 believe the senate failed to do the job in a way that history will measure as statesmanlike the amazing fact Is therefore that public sentiment should have solidified so definitely in such a short time with a verdict that says we will stay out of that eu mess it is not ours and we will not play their game it is always difficult to describe what takes place in the matter of public sentiment powerful as it is in the united states but it Is easy to describe the condition the status of national thought as represented by an overwhelming majority of the citizens in the current case it can be told in two sentences A ew weeks ago the big shots of government were sayings possibly we can keep out of war the present statement is that probably we can keep out of the war it Is a vital difference the reason for this Is obvious people have made known their feelings they have mode clear that whatever else they may differ about they are determined and united on the one proposition namely that we must not get tangled up with eu ropes power politics further existence of this sentiment has been thoroughly reflected in congress and those who would willingly toss our armies into the flame have begun to get scared about their own hides dark takes wallop at assistant secretary of war I 1 must quality that statement that nil of the big shots have toned down their remarks several continue to elout in an inflammatory way the best known of these Is louis johnson assistant secretary of war it Is unnecessary for me to discuss johnsons unwise statements I 1 can quote a real authority or senator bendett dark the missouri democrat dealt quite fully with the assistant secre utterances especially that in which mr johnson said that if the united states were not fully prepared tor war it would be overrun like poland 0 that remark senator dark had this to say during the arms embargo debate in the senate in my judgment no more idiotic moronic or unpatriotic remark ever has been made by a man in high public domce this is the same louis johnson who has been flying around the country in an army airplane for the last several years preaching the of war and the certainty 0 our being drawn in and drawing hor rifle pictures with grisly prophecies of our shores being invaded and our own land being laid waste but niter senator dark had streamlined the assistant secretary of war he proceeded to tall bocc into the deepest water of demagoguery by attacking president Roosevel ts selection of of the war resources board to make that eagle scream in its shrillest shrill est notes senator clark described it as a morgan dupont board which to anyone who knows the facts is a rather silly statement with respect to the attack on mr johnson I 1 only wish that senator clark had gone ahead with disclosures so the long continued row in the war department could have had an airing johnson reported seeking job of secretary of war it is ni longer a secret in wash ington that mr johnson has been trying for months to get the job of secretary of war he and mr woodring do not get along and have not tor much of the time the assistant secretary has been on the job the result has been continual friction a handicapping of department policies and a general fear among army officers they are afraid they will H tangled up in departmental politics and every officer knows if he guesses wrong the chances of getting top flight assignments are nil As can readily be seen such a situation in a policymaking policy making agency of government certainly does the nation no good it Is said that president roosevelt sees assistant secretary johnson more frequently than he confers with mr woodring t i tho head of the department flieth cr mat Is true or not ll 11 is a iaci that tho president has done nothing at nil to settle tho longstanding long standing row getting back to the senate debate attention ought to bo turned mo to the defeat of tho ino alon to separate tho arms embargo question from that involved in tho cash and carry sections of the bill senator tobay new hampshire republican proposed that tho bill bo split up because there was virtually an unanimous vote in prospect for a law that would let american business sell ordinary supplies to both sides of the european struggle provided tho buyers camo here in their own chips paid cash for their purchases ond hauled them away in their own vessels short shrift was made of that mo alon it was licked by more than two to one the reason if tho cash and carry section were disposed of tharo would be so much less inter est in tho arms embargo repeal that Its eventual defeat would be entirely possible old party whip Is used to keep followers in line which brings Us back to the sub eject of politics it will be remembered that president roosevelt called tor an adjournment of politics during tho dangerous period no one mado the open charge in debate but there were plenty of senators who felt that the president exerted pressure to keep his own followers in line the administrations leaders were quite well aware that a titanic struggle confronted them to obtain repeal of the arms embargo it it were cut loose from the cash and carry section so the old party whip was brought into play out all of the changes that have taken place in the count rys thought have had one reaction in washington that Is not obvious to those living outside of the capital city I 1 have reported to you before how the little clique that surrounds the president extreme radicals and men with dreams who know how they will disappear it democrats instead of new dealers are in control saw in the possibility of war an assurance of president Roosevel ts election to a third term they were rubbing their hands and licking their chops because they saw themselves certain to continue in their jobs exercising great power the lack of enthusiasm tor their plans has left them with nothing to do but mope and sulk their strategy has been blown up under their own noses they do not know what to do about it the question that now confronts the country from a political standpoint is whether the european war will run six months or a year or six years the answer to the question Is vital to the politicians it Is especially important to those who would draft mr roosevelt to run for a third term and I 1 think it is being studied with great care by such men as postmaster general earlcy and vice president garner it is being studied with equal care by senators taft of ohio and van of michigan each of whom has a whole flock of presidential beas swarming inside of his republican bonnet parley has party control locked up in his own safe it haa been noted repeatedly how the arms embargo debate has found many of the administration anti democrats aligned with the president favoring repeal most of the senators whom president roosevelt sought to purge from the democratic party believe with the calt executive that the embargo ought to be repealed some few of the ardent roosevelt supporters are standing against repeal the interesting tact Is that the intra party row among the democrats has had no effect upon the stand taken by the party members in the embargo con and thus there has been considerable speculation whether there Is to bo a healing of the wounds I 1 think there will not be the differences seem too deeply seated however that may be it can be said now that big jim parley who is chairman of the new york state democratic committee in addition to being chairman of the national democratic committee has control of the party locked up in his own safe if he chooses to align himself with the garnar harrlson group mr roosevelt and his followers are through washed up it he decides to support mr roosevelt again the antl roosevelt democrats will be tossed about like straw in a whirlwind it appears to this observer as of tills time that the swing of public sentiment definitely against anything in the nature of american participation in the european war probably will mean a earlcy swing to tho garner harrl son sido of the line |