Show 0 NATIONAL TOPICS interpreted 3 if NATIONAL PRESS washington DC wash washington I 1 n ton congress again has oven a fine Wil illustration of how a horse goes up to the jump neutrality tile then falls to take it a shell it faltered on the neutrality question true congress has re enacted for another year tile the neutrality law w was is put through under pressure a year ago but it did not have the necessary courage to go into that question and work out anything of a permanent character the result I 1 am convinced Is that as soon as there Is any excuse whatsoever neutrality for the united states will be nothing but a shell baell I 1 do not know nor do I 1 believe anybody can tell at this juncture whether the united states ought to embark on a rigid policy of isolation from affairs of the world but that Is a question that Is subordinate at this moment the I 1 point Is that congress a year ago 1190 made a great show of neutrality and put on a second stage singe performance only lately with the some same theme son song since it has backed away from if the ae real issue it begins to appear that the original action was but hollow mockery that the politicians moel a y year ear ago with the thought in mind that they would not have to go on record so sn soon and that they could make the country reel feel it had elected statesmen hut but in stead dead their course has led thern them to the point where a decision slop had to be made and they have dodged it it one of the reasons why this neutrality question has become so important Is the combination of circumstances that has developed in europe those maneuvers have put our congress on the spot und and it like so many previous times again lias has wavered ered it Is difficult to forecast what Is going to happen in europe but there are ar certain signs and portents that mily may not be ignored history as we all know has a habit of repeating itself and it promises to repeat itself in a hurry burry tills this time let us look at the european picture on the one hand we have an alignment of france and benj england and and ami probably russia on the other we see germany austria and italy there has been nothing more tan tangible gible thus far thin than a baring of fangs that Is no do overt acts have been committed but it always has been the case that the snarling and showing of teeth has provided the setting the atmos atmosphere for more serious accusations it may never happen that germany or austria or italy will take steps which france or russia could regard as an invasion of national rights and then again any one of them at any time may accidentally or deliberately do some minor thin tiling that would provoke hostilities the chief significance of the reported all alignment ament of italy with germany and austria la Is new that the central alignment powers as they stood in 1914 have been augmented by the strength of fascist italy it means that eliat the lie germany of 1914 lias has access to the north sea and the mediterranean ned I 1 terra nean instead of just the north sea as occurred 20 years ago coupled with that fact Is the con of a better defense for the central powers if the agreement between germany and italy sticks germany has only the western and itus fronts to maintain it allows for 2 more compact military program because instead of guarding against italy on the south germany has an illy in that direction from which sources of supply can be established the fresh understandings worked out be between teen france and england really ire are nothing more than a restoration f the arrangement that existed in tlc alp world war the on the surface at least have bae no compact with russia but bill the alie french lime a very Je definite finite agreement with the sa soviet met it t seems likely therefore that if hoi should break out again the british and the soviet will have no do difficulty in establishing a pact of mutual help As a sidelight it kems K ems to me that the new developments rathe til 2 spotlight lit on the policies of pierre laval former french foreign minis ter bl laval it will be remen I 1 bared was ousted because of rill alleged eged pro italian policies ile he sought for months to maintain friendship between france and italy because lie he feared to do otherwise would result in alignment or of mussolini with littler hitler the bulk of the french parliament disagreed with him however and bl laval was as replaced by foreign Alint minister ster Fl anlin now europe lias has seen the prompt desertion of mussolini from tile lie french side and his all alignment ament with ustler so the old picture has been put together again in europe elili hit the hie only mily change being the nt of itala on the opposite side of the fence fanco from where that nation gutlon strind in 1914 I 1 IH but let not the fact that the hie alignment differs only because of italis position be minimized it Is the must most important of the combination that has baa developed in europe the new situation insofar as great britain Is concerned means that in case of a clash in france backs t the h e mediterranean britain between the forces of mussolini find and the british there will he french support it means therefore afore that allis bolint hardly dare disturb the concentration of british warships around the suez to do so would call down upon his head bead not only the shells ot of the british fleet but those of th french as is well for the french the revived understanding with great britain gives support against the tbt slow low flow of hitler lava into the Wil neland which was demilitarized by the treaty of versailles at the end of the world war tile french are very touchy about the and any attempt by germany to fortify that territory makes french nerves very jittery it Is only natural then that the french look upon the agreement with london as an assurance of security in event hitler sim should aid S strike tr ik e in the rh I 1 ne I 1 and through it nil all foreign advises advices indicate alint british fists are gradually being doubled up against hitler this Is true notwithstanding the fact act that the new mug king edward vill VIII Is trying to be friendly with germany foreign eign dispatches and private advises advices explain that there is a notable recurrence among the british of discussion recalling Ger germany mally atrocities in the world war slowly but surely abr throughout england the old hatred Is arising on the northern frontlet frontier of germany there Is a new line of steel the communistic muni state of russia looks with disfavor upon the nazi ny my information Is 19 that it would take very ery little to provoke trouble there altogether the situation la Is one where if astone a stone rolls down a mountain side it could very easily become the detonation cap that would explode an ammunition dump with these facts in mind one oie can understand readily the gravity of the relations between the united states and the rest of the world one can understand as well why congress was rather anxious to avoid legislation of a broader broa der scope in ift international affairs than already was operative yet this does not alter tr fact that flint it if congress hid had no intention of establishing a real neutrality policy it should not have embarked on a course designed to that end it was either engaging in a game ot of fooling the public a year ago or it has just now demonstrated it a most cowardly attitude now to get back home we observe a maneuver by president roosevelt to link north and Roosevel ts south american na da maneuver cons into a new agreement while none of 0 our officials will say that this move has any connection with european development I 1 believe that observers generally are of tile the opinion that it has an important bearing on the situation beyond the atlantic it ought to be helpful in keeping the united states out of that mess or it if the future forces us into it and in the meantime there Is a sound arrangement ran gement worked out between nations of the western hemisphere their combined strength ou ought ait to put an end to european strife more quickly than if those european nations were wera left to fight it out alone la in other words if mr ir roosevelt can work out a bin binding ding agreement between all the nations of the western hemisphere they can exert a tremendous influence this influence will carry further than on the homeland of any of the countries narles nt rles now involved in the european case of jitters it possibly may extend to the point of becoming the alie balance of power in the settlement of colonial disputes between the central powers and the be newly reestablished established re allies european interests in south routh america are important and if our south american neighbors have the important weight of the united states on their side they will be in a insl lion hon for the first time to force proper adjustment of colon colonial lill rights in the western hemisphere insofar as those colonial rights are concerned in settlement of european 0 western newspaper union |