| Show D i 9 est national topics interpreted by WILLIAM BRUCKART NATIONAL washington 0 C washington president roosevelt from the time he was assistant secretary of the navy building in m the wilson ad the navy ministration has always been regarded as a friend of the military forces of the united states he has never been a fanatic about his position but has held consistently to the view that the military services must be protected against continuing political attack which would destroy their usefulness likewise mr air roosevelt has ihas constantly argued for a policy of building up the army navy and marine corps since he has been in the white house mr roosevelt has taken care always to see that sound policies of development were invoked as regards the military services and his bis interest in the navy in this direction has been marked in consequence the president has brought about a program of building in the aaby that examined from any angle must be considered as having established a splendid first line of defense tor for our country whether one favors a big navy or a small navy I 1 think it must be admitted that the navy is the first line of defense and so the president being fully acquainted with developments throughout the world has seen to it that our navy shall be in a strong position as our first line of defense it may be as some critics of the president deat contend that the hundreds of millions expended under mr Roosevel ts policies constituted too much of a fund in this direction that we have no need for a navy as large as that now contemplated and that the creation of a large navy in indicated a policy of aggression by the united states own is that these objections are not well founded the turbulent situation in international relations both in europe and in asia seems to warrant a definite move on the part of the united states to be equipped in other words who is there that would wish our nation again to be caught without any worthwhile fighting units ready for action as we were in 1917 further although we are a peaceful nation we must avoid a repetition of the 1917 conditions because we can not afford the waste of money that characterized the building up of our armed forces at that time 0 0 e one reason for the comments that tha t I 1 have just made on the navy and president roose neutrality veils policies is law lauf the fact that we have a new neutrality law it was passed ju just st a day ahead of the expiration of the temporary neutrality law that was operative during the past year or GO 60 this new law probably is as good as any neutrality law that can be written it represents the work of men in in congress who are very serious in their desires to create machinery that will keep us out of war or at least will slow down our entry into international conflict it lays down prohibitions against the sale of hundreds of items by american citizens or american corporations po rations to any nation which the president may hold to be a belligerent li nation which is the way dl diplomats p komats describe a nation at war the law has a further important and interesting provision it requires that if any belligerent wants to buy products in this country commodities that are not prohibited by the neutrality law it must come to our shores and get them and must pay for them before the boat leaves thus it has come about that the new law is called the cash and carry neutrality act that title sounds very it sounds as though we will never make loans again as we did during the world war loans never to be repaid except in some minor instances and that rone none of our ships will become the targets of foreign gunboats gun boats because we are transporting munitions of war to any belligerent surely this phase of the law will in a measure retard our entrance into any war and it will at the same time reduce the excitement in this country incident to the manufacture and sale of munitions of war because of the profits accruing under such circumstances but it strikes me that after all this neutrality law is likely to be a rather futile gesture having observed governmental action over an extended period of years I 1 refuse to kid myself I 1 will not say that the new neutrality act will keep us out of war var because very definitely it will not let us see why there are a thousand and one acts that a foreign nation can do to insult our national honor or damage our citizens and their commerce these are called overt acts when an overt act is committed it is so easy to forget about the high principles stated in the present neutrality law it can be repealed and a declaration of war substituted for it almost within t twenty venty four hours there have been a good many millions of citizens of the united states come onto look at this earth since the facts the armistice of 1918 among these are undoubtedly many who will learn leam of the present neutrality law with a feeling of safety who will think that nothing now can happen and their mothers wives and swe sweethearts ct will feel they need not wo worry try about the time when these younger generations of men will have to march away with drums beating and flags flying never to return for their peace of mind the present neutrality law certainly i is helpful my suggestion is however that they look the facts in the face when one of these overt acts is committed in we will go regardless of the neutrality law I 1 might advert to some of the things that happened between 1914 and april 6 1917 president wilson a sincere advocate of peace did the best he could to prevent our participation in the world war it was a matter that actually brought about his reelection election re in 1916 because his campaign leaders used the slogan he kept us out of war events came through with such startling speed however that a month after he was inaugurated for his second term he was standing on the rostrum before a joint session of congress asking for immediate passage of a resolution placing our country in the war on the side of the allies and against germany and the central powers two days later we were formally in the fight and then once we were made a belligerent by the decision of our government it became a war to make the world safe for I 1 think I 1 need not review all of the various slogans that were employed in the national propaganda to solidify our nation behind its military forces there were many of them the nation was ninety five per cent behind the government in a war to end all wars hundreds upon hundreds of millions of dollars were borrowed from our citizens who bought first liberty bonds and later victory bonds for the first time in later history of our nation we had i a tremendous ous national debt more than ten billions of which were loaned to those nations with which we were associated in the war the remainder of these funds was spent like money in the hands of a drunken sailor ashore for the first time in the year nor is there criticism to be made of that spending because we were not prepared for war I 1 so while I 1 do not now foresee our participation in any conflict within the next few years I 1 am quite convinced that mr roosevelt has pursued an absolutely sound program in advocating a strong navy and a strong army it will serve us well and will cost us very much less than if this building up process had to be accomplished overnight as it was in in 1917 it may be surprising to a good many people to know that our army at present ranks as number 17 in the list of armies of nations even though our country is one of the largest and one of the richest in the family of nations my belief is that if our navy is made to rank with the greatest and plans are worked out as mr roosevelt is trying to work them out so that our army will be possible of expansion taxpayers money will be much better spent than through boondoggling or wasted through useless development of theoretical schemes As the battle over president Roosevel ts proposal to pack the supreme court of the supreme united states with court six new judges grows in heat it becomes increasingly evident that members of congress are looking to the political aspects of the situation to a greater extent than ob obtained bained in the early stages of the right fight this circumstance certainly is working to the advantage of those who oppose the presidents scheme and it is interesting to look at the picture from that angle my observation of congressional activities in the past leads me to believe that every president must expect in his second term a certain amount of defection a certain amount of running away among the supporters who stood by him unflinchingly during his first term of course most of his stalwarts stal warts will stick by him through thick and thin but it always has happened that a rather deep fringe of his party will begin to balk or duck when they reach the second lap and know that the head of their party will not seek election to a third term the reason must be ba quite obvious all members of the house and one third of the senate membership have to seek votes in their home districts every two years with a president in his second term the interest of these candidates for office must turn to what their voters think rather than what the president thinks 0 western newspaper union |
