| Show Bruc karts washington Washing fon digest war really between two groups with utterly selfish motives time lias has conic come when citizens of united states must I 1 examine facts of international situation debates 8 in congress should be enlightening by WILLIAM BRUCKART Ser service vici national press washington D 0 washington with congress reassembled in special session for discussion of and action on ident dent Roosevel ts request tor for modification fi of pur our so called neutrality policy the tha time appears to have come when citizens of the united states must examine the facts of the international situation whether we like it or not we can hardly ignore those facts any longer it Is eu ropes mess but that mess Is having an influence here and will have more influence on our national viewpoint A decision must be taken soon irmay it may thus be that the present extraordinary session of con agress will turn out to be an historic meeting mr poosevelt Hoo Roos sevelt ovelt has requested repeal ot of the section of tho the present law that prohibits export of arms airplanes and some other implements of war to all nations engaged in declared hostilities it will be remembered that he made mada the he same request in the last session but the senate committee on foreign relations acla said by its action a few days before buforo adjournment that it would have none of the plan conditions havo have changed since that time however and the president Is now insisting upon repeal of the controversial vercial section and the substitution in its place he Is asking for legi legislation S that will permit any andall and all foreigners to come hero here and buy the embargoed war munitions s if they pay cash for them and take them away in their own ships that succinctly Is the crux of the modification which chic h mr roosevelt seeks he has plenty of support tor for his theory and there is plenty plent y of 0 opposition too some of the iso who fought woodrow wilson and his league tot of nations plan men like senator borah of idaho and senator johnson of california are still in the senate their numbers havo have been augmented by fighters of the type of senator bennett dark clark of missouri and senator nye of north dakota and senator of michigan I 1 think the vote will not be taken at once in view of the promised discussion and it probably la Is well that there thera will be much debate for or the tho country will learn more about the two sides to the question unseen factors involved Is is our present concern but while the discussion on the so called neutrality question Is important por tant although the question in my opinion Is simply whether we will open tho the gates for the export of anything thing we con can sell I 1 am quite convinced our concern should be about tho the underlying and at present unseen factors now involved it ja is said that we are extending passive aid to hitler by refusing to allow the british baltish and the french to como come here for thousands of planes and millions of odds and ends usable in war it is said too that unless we extend help to the british and the tha french our nation e eventually must face the onrushing tide of to and dictatorship it can be and Is being said that unless the arms embargo Is lifted wo we will faveto have to go in ourselves sooner then than otherwise would happen all of these things can bo be said and are being said with reference to both sides of the line of fire in europe but none of the tha argument has bag changed my conclusion which has been reached after talking with scores of people who aarein are in a position to know the facts abroad my conclusion remains and is going to continue to be that it is Eu ropes war I 1 add to that the further thought that our energies should be directed to maintaining peace in north and south america south of the canadian boundary now there are those who say and they are numerous that repeal of 0 the arms embargo will result in revival of business in the united states as indeed it already has started A business revival would bo ba swell nobody doubts that but the things like planes and powder that go abroad have to leave our shores it strikes me that sale of anything whether planes or powder or wheat or cotton and corn is likely to bring the war much closer 1 ta c our shores T if makes me believe belleve that we would be better off if we sold nothing at nil alt that is modify the policy by placing an embargo on everything that goes to the warring nations and lot let them fight it out utterly selfish motives behind the war in europe to begin with there is no moral issue in this war no one ought to let themselves be kidded about that the war in europe right now is a battle between two groups of people with utterly selfish motives hitler and his gang have determined to regain that which the british took away from the german people in the world war of 1914 1014 1918 1018 and the british and the french asre are del deter er mined riot not to let him accomplish it it hitler calls it justice chamberlain and Da ladler call it brigandage back in 1919 when the treaty of versailles was written the germans shouted brigands brigande bri gands and other epithets as the french and the british over ruled woodrow wilson and took what they wanted not only did th the winners in that war excepting the united states take what they wanted but they parceled out other parts of the german empire where did the united states finish in that war it helped win a war to make the world safe for democracy which turned out to be a shad sham and it was left holding the bag it still Is holding the bag because little of the eleven billion dollars loaned to the allied powers ever has been repaid only little fin land has kept her promise to pay back the loans of all of its of words therefore the question thus seems to shape itself we have nothing to gain so why not make over our neutrality into the policy of an isolationist why not stay out by keeping our stuff here at home I 1 know I 1 will be rebuked by those who say we cannot afford to close down factories and let cotton and wheat and corn remain unsold notwithstanding all of this there surely is ground for belief that it would be cheaper in the end cheaper in money if 1 you want to deal only in the materialistic side and cheaper in blood because it may come to that ocean patrol called by sonic some a dangerous step there are a good many people who believe that the president has taken a potentially dangerous step in ordering what is called an ocean patrol while hostilities are on he has placed ships of the american navy as tar far as miles at sea as lie he explained that they may obtain information as to what is gling on out there the patrol looks loois like an invitation to some german U boat to take a shot at one of our ships of course they would not do so deliberately they would mistake a united states ship tor for one of the eneany or that wot would ild be their excuse and would we bei be in a dither 1 there would be cries for a declaration of war that would rock the dome of the capitol mr roosevelt said that the patrol program amounted to a steel warning to tho the belligerents to stay on their side of the railroad tracks or words to that effect those who dislike the plan say hn however wever that we as a nation cannot lay claim to the tha sea as our very own beyond a minimum distance from we tlde fill fall to get back to the neutrality polley policy as it is called I 1 have found many persons who have difficulty in recon reconciling clUng mr Roosevel ts present request of congress with his action respecting enforcement of the provisions in the three year old war of the japanese in china the law gives the tha president discretionary power in proclaiming its operation except that it becomes effective almost automatically where there has been a declaration of war by a foreign eign power 11 boldest oldest propaganda now Is flooding the country in the meantime and as the fighting progresses in europe we in america are being flooded with the boldest and the baldest baldesi propaganda that can be conceived from berlin and other points under littler hitler domination ws we are being fed so called news that is as putrid as politics used to be under pe fender ader gast in kansas city or penro penrose se in pennsylvania it is arna amazing zing that any one abne believes it from british and french sources and from their sympathizers in this country comes news that is censored and controlled and inspired it tells only the things that the french and the british would have us believe we know just as little about the real underlying facts of the controversy from them as we do from the germans it Is well to remember that we never have known what kind of an agreement was reached at them the munich conference in september of last year we nye have absolutely no knowledge of what kind ot of a sellout was arranged between hitler and stalin nordo nor do we know what has happened insofar as mussolini is concerned conceited conce ined more important than any of these things however are conditions within tha ehg united states I 1 would like to see our congress use some brains and take action that will get us out of the depths of a nine year depression it is quite evident that all of the theories that have been tried still remain theories I 1 am among those who fear ear that entry into another world war wap will mark the end of our form of govern ment here unless our home condl felons are far better than at ai present it t s seems ans to me to be more important lan li to 0 solve our troubles rather than those of europe |
