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Show ff" GENERAL i. JOHNSON I W Jour: Washington, I). C. ROOSEVELT THE LEADER No matter how much you may disagree dis-agree with him, or how sincerely you feel that the course he has followed fol-lowed and Is following Is dangerous danger-ous to the very principles he is trying try-ing to uphold, you have to concede, con-cede, that our third-term President Is a great credit to our country in a troubled world. Nobody could help being proud of General Pershing among the Allied commanders of the World war. No foreign general approached him in soldierly appearance and bearing. None was his superior in determination determi-nation or professional attainment. None contributed more to Allied victory. vic-tory. It made you glad that you too were an American to see him in any contrast with soldiers of other oth-er nations. For every good quality of his Is a characteristically American Ameri-can quality refined and brought to a peak of excellence. He looked American, talked American and acted American. All this was especially apparent and must have been emphasized to the whole world throughout the day of his third inauguration. This column col-umn isn't going to go softy in its debate of what it thinks are Mr. Roosevelt's dangerous errors in these critical times, but there is surely no aspect of that In acknowledging acknowl-edging a thrill of pride in the thought that I am a citizen of the same country of which he is President and that. In the face of a world so dangerous, this country has a leader of such commendable stature. No matter what fate may have in store for Mr. Roosevelt and for us I think that for good or ill, he will also take his place in that company. com-pany. As President of the United States I don't agree with him, but as a citizen of the United States I am proud of him just the same. YOUR OWN GALLUP POLL The lowering level of British dollar dol-lar credits may be a reason for hastening some kind of provisions for granting credits or even gifts to England, so that her placing of orders here may not be delayed, thus delaying deliveries a year from now. But that is no reason for bum's-rushing the "lease-lend" monstrosity through congress without with-out ample debate. That bill Is very much more than an aid-to-Britain bill. It is an abdication ab-dication of congressional war powers pow-ers to the President and authorizes in him to engage in economic and partial military and naval war, for or in behalf of any nation anywhere any-where in the world. That is not at all necessary for aid-to-Britain, which could be given to the full of whatever has been asked by her in a much simpler bill and without surrendering sur-rendering our constitutional form of government in favor of a one-man commander-in-chief of all our destinies. desti-nies. There is no popular demand for any such revolutionary action. There is popular demand for aid-to-Britain. Advantage has been taken tak-en of this to write a bill for a military mili-tary dictatorship and then say: "This is aid-to-Britain in the only way." That simply is not true. It is a cruel misleading of the public and a misuse of public opinion, as are many other aspects of this bill. In this remark, our tendency to government by Gallup polls is somewhat some-what responsible. During a recent five days in bed with flu, I had a chance to check up on my fan mail. It is full of sentiment for aid-to-Britain. It is overwhelmingly against our rushing into this war. As the points made in this column are beginning to be understood, it is increasingly against the bilL I believe if the bill is debated long enough to make clear what is going on here, it can never pass without amendments restricting it to the real popular purpose aid-to-Britain. No Gallup polls have brought out these distinctions. The questions, especially recently, have been increasingly in-creasingly phrased in such a way as to lead to answers looking to our greater and greater unnecessary involvement in-volvement in war. Yet every poll posing the stark question of involvement involve-ment results in resounding "no's," in overwhelming majority. Here is an experiment that every American bewildered by these sinister sin-ister developments can make for himself. Conduct your own Gallup Poll. When you hear from Washington Wash-ington (as you will because that is part of the pro-war propaganda) that the people overwhelmingly want this bill or something vastly more than aid-to-Britain, set aside a part of every day, to ask not only friends, but strangers, whether they want to go further than aid-to-Britain? I can't guarantee the result, but from my mail most of our people don't want to go a step further than the preparation of an impregnable American defense and such help to beleaguered Britain as can be given giv-en without getting us into bloody war. Try it yourself. If you find the facts as my mail indicates, make yourself heard in Washington Washing-ton by exercising your constitutional right of informing your representatives representa-tives in congress what their constituents constit-uents think. These are critical days in the Battle of America. It is your battle for the future. |