Show 0 1 national topics interpreted in by william bruckart national press bunding Bun dint Washl nelon D C washington it was in tile the sultry days of the summer of 1914 it will lie fie remembered that va Archi ArOi liike dake ferdinand 1 er dinand for a spark was laid il low w ir by an ll 11 assassins bullet in it remote province of austria at tile the time tile the assassination its front page news for most of the newspapers but its real import was not generally recognized nevertheless beless from that incident sprang tin the greatest war the llie world lias has ever known within a few months of 22 yours years after the assassination at Saraj evo tile lie world sips sees si ps a situation lit in europe where another such Inci incident deni would have consequences just as il lo lent at the present time ammunition dumps dumm all over europe tire are walling waiting for a spark them off rt may tie be an accidental spark or it may he a spark deliberately oust cost into that powder keg heg I 1 do not mean to say that it will happen but I 1 do wish to emphasize eliat at no time since the tie archdukes Arch dukes ass assassination has there licen been a held field so fertile for the promotion of a gigantic war as tile present it may seem and it undoubtedly does seem to many that the dangers inherent in the european situation at present art are arar afar off lut lint it can ile be recalled that aliat liat there were were those in tills country who alio as late as lillo 1916 said tile the european war was allies away before it ended however american buys boys and young arn n had been drafted to toe be thrown into that flint cauldron cauldren caul dron it may happen again while there Is no immediate billay of the united states stales getting tangled up un in ili file european political problems which spring from hostilities between Ethl ethiopia opla and italy those who know history cannot rail fall to agree with the statement that it is never too par early to plan for preventing war for chrit reason then I 1 IQ belice lice almost aery family in the united states has a stale either directly or indirectly in one of if the lie problems with which congress must deal this legislation Is known by the short and rather incle 7 title of the neutrality policy it Is indeed just that but tile the point I 1 seek to make Is that the title does not coney by any manner or moans means its full importance or its full effect upon the lives of ench cadi or of us its if a policy c can a n lie lie worked out a polley policy that Is effective obviously our chances for remain ang lit out of tiny any hostilities in lii rope or in asia for that matter mailer are much better belter ido I do not know and I 1 do not dot believe anybody can say accurately that hat it Is possible to ide develop it a neutrality policy that will ile be fool foolproof proof or that will vill guarantee to us its the removal of po possible sible entangle ments or that will us its r from 11 stubbing our toes and falling into the midst of of the mess iness it seems to me bowe hulcer iier that hut we ought tu to try a 0 a A year ngo n 0 about tills this time congress enacted a bill which was designed to prevent the shipment keep Us of war materials to out of war fifty y belligerent nation or nations it was vas mandatory the president was as directed if by congress to lay an embargo against the shipment of arms ammu of war to any countries engil ged in hostilities regardless of whether their claims were right or wrong we have bave hall had some experience with the force of that ledal legislation aaion already and it lias has not fleet without I thou its embarrassing and difficult phases naw however it Is proposed to revamp that legislation which was admittedly of a temporary diameter and Is 18 due to expire by limit limitation atlon or of law on february 29 congress lias has been told rather definitely ini tely I 1 think that tills country wants to remain out of someone alses war the Prel president dent lias has the same sam eldea Idea so instead or of allowing allowan our citizens to run wild ship anything und find everything make contracts fill the countries now engaged in ar or those that may be engaged inter it fr it Is proposed that we kite ime a pernin permanent nent policy embodying whatever principles may be found vi wisest to prot ectus from ourselves and preterit present us from throwing ourselves again into such a iol cino of molten lava as uny any present day war would lit be F tile problem Is not as simple as it appears on tile lie stir surface race when congress enacted the file present temporary neutrality legislation it thit that the embargoes when find and if laid must apply to all it gave gae the president no discretionary pon power er to determine whether we wanted to use these eni em liter goes us as a weapon against one nation while mille alding aiding another mr rousevelt in accepting the lie original legislation sald publicly that hat he fie belleci belle belfe cd lie should liae base such discretionary power tills was in line with the conclusions clu of the department of state walh necessarily must be the alie presidents adviser on watters matters of tills this klud congress was criticized in many qu quarters arters ahen it made the em embargoes bargos appi leable to all belligerents now kow if lie e may judge from the word thiet hill comes collies io to washington sentiment seems to be singing tn in the other direction and there certainly Is ij a considerable it if not a majority sentiment for rise of the maud mandatory atory provi blon as distinguished front from tile the extension of discretionary authority to the president to say it another way ay the fruent appears to be la in favor of the embargoes applicable to oil all belligerent powers flowers and not just to one nation whose hose claims our government may believe to be unjust 0 0 it Is safe to say that before congress determines definitely what nhat tile lie perula nent policy shall be expect there will lie ile bitter biller hot debate debate in examining the problem it Is to be remembered that when the goern merit ment lays an embargo against till nil nn fin eions at war it takes away possibilities of tremendous profit tills profit accrues to those industries by which sustaining war ar materials are produced neutrality legislation therefore may prove costly not as ali costly us its war perhaps haps but nevertheless a costly action hence there Is no question that hint many lines of commerce and industry are going lo 10 to lie be drawl into the preliminaries of tills this decision to explain how flow disturbing to certain lines of industry tills this thing can he be it la Is anly necessary to recall events of life last month or so in connection with fill tile sanctions proposed by the league of nations the league has tried to force the dic dictator takor mussolini to withdraw from africa by the use of embargoes bar goes which Is 13 what sanctions are the league proceeded etli with considerable vl vigor or until it readied reached the question of oil immediately shoes began to pandi and the feet that wore pinched were ere in ever every country where oil Is found even een our own As it a result they have led the oil horse up to the watering itt ering trough from a ii half dozen different approaches but they have not yet been able to make him drink our own oil interests hae not been quiescent if the league bans bang oil nil shipments to italy the united states which Is not a member of the league obviously will do likewise profits of the oil companies and tile hundreds upon hundreds of thousands of shareholders would be cut further mussolini has announced publicly that imposition of tile the embargo upon oil would mean war lie he lid did not say with whom he would go to war hut but the british and the french know and they are getting ready the british lias has its entire home fleet in the mediterranean at this time and the mue blue jackets aboard the british men of war var have been drilled thoroughly anew in the science 1 of manning their big guns so it Is seen how bow delicate t this his whole circumstance Is it Is plain that when hen congress deals with fill the neutrality legislation it Is a pattern over which there will be undoubtedly an alignment among our citizens as sharply drin drawn as though it were a purely domestic question there will be those of course who favor a permanent polley policy which will make it mandatory upon the president to apply embargoes 8 against shipments of anything usable in war and treat a all nations engaged in war alike there will be set orr oft against this sentiment those alio iio think the chief executive should have diacre discretionary t fon power and that the government should not be placed in a strait jacket from which it cannot extricate itself without congressional action whatever the conclusions may be and whatever form the new dew legislation takes it remains as one of the most important policies to conic come before congress congreso con gresi in many moons whatever Is dune doue necessarily will be a precedent toward which future generations will ill look as time goes on whether civilization becomes more enlightened or not vie the treasury operating on n R fiscal year that runs front from july I 1 to june 30 lias has just passed the must cut halfway half hilf way wiy point in the outgo current 12 month period the figures show that its receipts are lagging far behind the expenditures and demonstrates the necessity for cutting cutten down the federal outgo unless the nation desires to see sec its public debt go co for far beyond any total hitherto conc conceived elied the official treasury statement as of december SO shows that tile the government lias has spent approximately 1 I more in the first six months of tills this fiscal ear car than it received in taxes and other revenue ree nue in consequence sequence cou of this deficit elt tile the public debt Is now approximately 30 the highest point it ever has readied reached and that total la Is roughly two billion dollars higher than the public lic debt as it stood last july I 1 when the present fiscal year begun began since the expenditures were so much larger than the receipts the treasury Irea sury has been operating on it a basis that reduced to the minimum shows an outgo of about for every collected lu in revenue during the first half of the current bear ear 0 western newspaper union |