Show economic highlights the drive to amend change or totally repeal tle the neutrality act will in all probability proba bilty succeed though thero there will be plenty ol of debate in congress Con giess before the t he group of senators and representatives Is finished with its opposition and the tact fact that success Is likely la is a striking indication 0 of the tremendous change in american public opinion that has taken place in the last two years the neutrality act was pass passed at a time when the sentiment of this country was overwhelmingly opposed to direct or indirect intervention tion in the war the bulk of tile tho people felt that t the he war was waa purely Eu ropes business and none ot of ours for the most part they hoped that hitler would be defeated but they see a any ny reason tor for spending their money their resources and perhaps their I 1 lives to beat him they wanted to keep american ships and american citizens out of the war ar zones ones and they wanted their count rys foreign trade to be on a cash and carry basis with foreign buyers taking their buchas es home in their own ships the change that has taken place since those days la Is nothing short of revolutionary every ever poll shows that this country la is now violently partisan it wants to see hitler licked to a standstill and it Is willing to do everything ery thing except send another A E F abroad to achieve that end the lend lease bill went a long way toward malting making the neutrality act a dead letter in that it threw the cash and carry principle overboard with scant core cere mony in all sections of the coun try the polls indicate that thel the nation Is strongly innerve interventionist on even een the middle west where isolationist sentiment Is strongest those who believe that this coun rys destiny will be largely decided by what happens to hitler have haie a heay heavy majority in the east south and far west iso are outnumbered by interventionists in a ratio of about eight to one the I 1 he count rys political leadership has done much to bring this about when it come to foreign policy the views ot of mr roosevelt and mr willkie are practically identical both are tor for all out effort against the axis both are convinced that the defeat of 0 england would be ruinous to ils us in the long run on oll top of that the press of america big and little generally holds that it is no longer possible for us to disregard what goes on in europe that whether we like it or not our destiny Is tied in with the destiny of tho balance of the world and the influential press and radio commentators are likewise interventionist almost without except on so far as amending the neutrality act Is concerns con concerned cerne d the main effort will bo be given to eliminating the stipulation that american ships cannot be armed and cannot enter war zones whether merchant ships can be given sufficient armament to do any good is a moot point which is vigorously debated by both idea aides a irrespective of that it seems true that changing or amending the act la is primarily designed by the administration and the republican followers ot of I 1 mr willkie Will kle as a vital act 0 of policy in other words it would place our cards on the table and make our position absolutely clear to the whole world that position can be stated in a san te nence the U S Is IB going tr te do everything in its power to lick the axis and legal es ot of partisanship nonpartisanship non must by be abandoned the argument tor for re repeal peal ot of the neutrality act was wae well put recently by pundit walter lippman most scholarly of the major columnists by adopting it lit hu wrote we gave up our longes long es basic policy ot of freedom freedom of the seas in effect we sur rendered to germany germani la in conclusion he be said having been taught to believe by our neutrality law that what germany declares to be her purposes will in the end become accepted aa american law the nazis have been preying on ships well out elde our own self imposed combat zone it just happens that their combat zone Is bigger than ours and therefore according to berlin it la Is legal to sink ships there without warning the neutrality law has proved itself to be an act of self abasement a mortifying submission to force without logic without honor and without value even to achieve the purpose 0 tor for which it was originally igi nally intended strongest argument against changing the neutrality act is s based on the belief that the arm jing of merchant ships and the jentry of our vessels into combat waters would be the prelude to an all out shooting war which in time would make the sending of american troops trompa abroad inevitable many of the backers of the interventionist policy are frankly urging a decla declaration rafton of war by us against germany now mr willkie has called upon the members of his party in congress to take the lead la in amending or repealing the neutrality act that shows the way the wind blows the principal republican newspapers such as the now new york herald tribune are denouncing the members of that party who still hold to isolationist 4 principles the democrats with few exceptions are following the president |