Show ri washington I 1 doubt that there Is any phase or function of govern ment that is less our foreign understood by the policy people at large than questions or 01 actions relating to foreign policy it Is easy to understand why this is so american america n foreign policy like the foreign policy of every other nation is closely akin to patchwork it cannot be otherwise because of the very nature of the matters to be dealt with officially foreign policy indeed is one thing to which president Roosevel ts oft quoted statement about his decisions resembling those of a football quarterback can be most properly applied it is a day to day treatment with new decisions as changes come in the international ter play this brings us to the presidents chicago speech and the announcement by the state department of american conclusions that japan Is the aggressor in china of course all persons who have read anything about the sino japanese war knew long ago that the japs were conducting a raid on china officials of the government knew it also but there is a difference and must be a difference in the methods employed by individuals as distinct from those employed by a nation which represents all of its individual citizens time had to elapse therefore before our government or any other could say definitely and publicly that japan was seeking to acquire new territory by theft and seizure many observers and many individuals divi duals have indicated their surprise at the presidents speech which by the way was the most distinct pronouncement of any that he has ever made there was U ue ake e wise wie surprise when the secretary of state mr air hull gave the press his statement condemning japanese aggression gres sion even though the statement should have been anticipated after mr Roosevel ts Chica chicago igo speech and after word had come from geneva that the league of nations appeared unanimous in the same conclusion the reason that I 1 say there should have been no surprise concerning the final position which our government has taken traces back to the administration of president hoover and henry L stimson then secretary ol of state it was at that time that a fundamental change took place in our foreign policy but it was not a change that appeared to be sensational at the moment in other words the position which mr hoover and mr air stimson took at that time was overlooked because there was no real crisis to attract attention to american policy what that change in policy did is plain now it was the beginning of ue the end of the isolationist program which followed the bitter controversy over president wilsons Wil sons proposal that the united states affiliate with the league of nations and adhere to all phases of the program embodied in the league covenant the reaction against mr wilsons Wil sons plan was vas violent and carried us to the extreme so so for a number of 0 years we were a lone wolf among nations in fact as well as in name the one thing that really represents an important change of policy that mr roosevelt enunciated at chicago is his view of neutrality without making any particular reference to the neutrality statute enacted last winter under the sponsorship of senator pittman of 0 nevada mr roosevelt announced without equivocation that the united states will do everything it can short of military force to curb the japanese course in china that is to say and I 1 believe it is accurate we will not invoke the neutrality laws if such a course will do harm to the chinese rather the american policy tor for the time being at least involves working hand in hand with other nations that may be striving to maintain international order and morality in matters in which we are directly concerned I 1 have been asked several times recently concerning the possibility that the united keep out of states may en far east war gage in actual war in the far east I 1 think that eventuality is very tar far removed possibilities always exist tor for a nation to get tangled up internationally under linder conditions such as obtain I 1 throughout the world today yet I 1 do not believe that the united states ever will do more in the far east than exert moral pressure upon the japs it must not be overlooked however that the bulk of 0 american sympathy is with the chinese one cannot tell how tar far that may lead us as a nation nor is it possible to forecast the weight of this sympathy in an economic way I 1 mean by that no one can fore ore tell what such a thing as a boycott of 0 japanese goods may mean eventually from all 0 of this it must be plain that our national course in the next lew feW months will have to be deler cleter mined largely by the other tellow fellow or to state stale the proposition in another way the leng lengths llis to which the united states will go in punitive a action C against japan is likely to be determined first by the reaction ot of our own citizens to japanese barbarism and second the moves by other dominant nations ot of the world mr roosevelt was returning from an 8 mile trip when he delivered his chicago speech that trip was announced in advance as being tor for the purpose of an inspection to see how itle country was taking the new deal that however was not the whole truth mr roosevelt wanted to feel the public pulse politically on the supreme court packing proposition and its related questions he wanted to find out how the country felt concerning those democrats who had opposed the court packing g he needed information about the demand for an extra session of congress to enact crop control legislation and in addition he wanted to see what the general feeling was about the sino japanese war the trip was timed admirably it took mr air roosevelt away from washington and further away from the red hot cauldron cauldren caul dron resulting from the tact fact that associate justice hugo L black of alabama was a member of the ku klux klan the information that filters back from observers aboard the presidents train presents something of a paradox almost unanimously the observers found that mr roosevelt was still immensely popular personally concerning his various programs including crop control legislation the observers report that they found conditions ranging from violent opposition to plain apathy or complete lack of interest ll it is a most co musing situation from a political standpoint I 1 have found few individuals able or willin willing 9 to attempt an analysis of it generally speaking lack of enthusiasm for a program sooner or later will kill off politically the individual who sponsors the program yet no one will say at this time at least that such a result can be expected in mr Roosevel ts case but the political effect of his chicago speech must not be minimized whether mr roosevelt so intended or note not his speech demanding that japan respect treaties and observe the rights of other nations and his pointed criticism of policies such as those employed by mussolini hitler and stalin have the effect of rallying the people behind him 0 some persons who are opposed to the new deal have been mean enough to say that black blach mr roosevelt izo sevelt took klan affair his trip west in order to get away from washington until the incident involving associate justice black had blown over I 1 do not know whether the exposure that mr justice black had been a member of the ku klux klan alone prompted mr air roosevelt to leave I 1 repeat only what is being said mr air justice black has now taken his seat as a member of the court he hd told the country in a radio speech before assuming the robes of office that he had resigned from the klan and that as far as he was concerned the incident was closed he fie stooped somewhat I 1 think when he tried to dodge the issue by charging that those who had exposed his klan connections were trying to discredit mr roosevelt buts but mr black is now a member of the court ant and I 1 do not see what anybody can do in the way ot of un seating him the reason tor for adverting again to the black klan affair is to make a prediction that prediction is as long as mr air black sits as a member ot of the supreme court of the united states he will receive repercussions of the case I 1 will wager now that regardless of what position mr black takes in deciding any future litigation there will be those who will point to him and remark that he was once a member of the ku klux klan likewise regardless ot of the views or arguments he advances in any decisions rendered by the court mr black will be referred to continuously as the klan member or as the roosevelt liberal take it any way you like the appointment and the confirmation of hugo black as a member of the supreme court under the circumstances now known and affirmed by mr black himself constitutes one ot of the worst situations yet recorded on the appointive power ot of the president and the power ot of the senate to approve presidential nominations but laying aside all ot of these things there Is a real tragedy resulting from the circumstance II if there is one branch or agency of our government in which it is necessary tor for the people as a whole to have faith alth it is in the judiciary I 1 think I 1 can foresee that the black a appointment P and its attendant features will shake the faith ot of many individuals in courts it ought never to have happened Q western newspaper union |