Show washington digest britain likely to get destroyers both parties disown isolationists roosevelt willkie debate on any issue improbable ickes speech ignores conditions at time of munich conference washington best opinion in washington now is that britain will get those 50 old world war destroyers tor for which gen john J pershing made a radio appeal recently the big question is whether britain will get them in time to do any good the point is that the battle of britain may be decided before delivery wendell willkie properly ignored the destroyer episode in his acceptance speech but while he did not mention them he left no doubt in any administration quarter that there would be no attack by him if the government decided to give this sorely needed aid to britain there would have been no point in his mentioning the destroyers because there is nothing willkie can do about them even if he be is elected the battle of britain will have been won or lost before he assumes office As a matter of fact it will probably have been won or lost six weeks before election day september 15 for some reason has been the german deadline ii it will be recalled that german representatives senta tives negotiating with U S business men proposed deliveries after that date though they were unwilling to discuss why this date was picked they merely said that the military establishment in berlin informed them that the war would be over by september 15 with britain conquered by the time this magical date arrives rives fall weather will have set in on the english channel with fogs and storms which might result in dame nature saving england again as she did at the time of the spanish armada of course no one knows what the new surprise weapon is that the nazis have been talking so much about and about which correspondents with the german army on the belgian and french coasts have been hinting it is possible of course that the germans have figured out a way to land an army in britain after pulverizing ver izing by bombing attacks the country right behind the coast on which they propose to land which would make it possible regardless of weather conditions this seems highly unlikely but it is unwise to dismiss any possibility the general picture remains that at the moment the odds are slightly against britain the picture remains however that IF she is able to hold out until the fogs and storms come those 50 old destroyers would be a tremendous help it also appears to be a fact if the recent published polls are correct that a large majority of the american people are in favor of letting the british have them on the theory that the longer britain is able to fight the longer america has to get ready the isolationists headed by sen burton K wheeler of montana are fighting this screaming at william C bullitt for hi his speech urging more aid to britain promptly and doing everything they dare to prevent further aid but politically they have no place io to go neither roosevelt nor willkie gives them any chance since the willkie acceptance speech to play the one against the other every indication is that even the middle western states are gradually moving though slowly toward the position taken by both major candidates so it seems more of a certainty that britain will get the destroyers its just a question of whether it will be soon enough 0 0 0 it is rather strange 0 that none of the comments on the recent speech of harold ickes supposedly replying to wendell willkie for president roosevelt have taken issue with ickes criticisms of former prime minister neville chamberlain apparently patently ly it is not fashionable to d defend e chamberlain for anything he did though there was plenty of approval at the time mr ickes said mr willkie criticizes the blum government in france and holds it responsible for the defeat of france has he no criticism of En glands pro munich government ern ment with its policy of appeasement lets take a quick look back at the munich conference what the situation was then and what mr ickes chief president roosevelt tor for whom he was answering willkie Will kle had to do with it the facts are that up to munich and for a short period thereafter no charge could be made that adoll adolf hitler had ever broken a treaty he had said he was going to do things and he had done them so far as the rhineland is concerned or so far as austria is concerned he had made no pretense that he had any intention of paying heed to the terms of the versailles treaty so when chamberlain went to munich there was no reason to doubt that whatever terms to preserve peace might be obtained would be lived up to far more important britain was in no position to fight at the moment britain was woefully unprepared this might have been partly the responsibility of chamberlain but obviously it was much more the fault of the preceding administrations headed among others by stanley baldwin and ramsay mcdonald so chamberlain knew he HAD to appease but more important from the standpoint of mr ickes slurring at the former premier is the fact that president roosevelt appealed to both hitler and chamberlain urging that the differences be adjusted without war he also appealed to mussolini to use his good offices to bring about the same result franklin roosevelt and wendell willkie on the same platform at the same time answering each oth erl er can you imagine it yes but you dont expect it and neither does anyone else but it was a good idea and would be even better if there were any chance of taking willkie up on his challenge but the facts are that president roosevelt does not want any part of a debate with willkie on ANY issue least of all curiously enough on the electric power issue which roosevelt has made so important and which he hopes will prove a great handicap to willkie the truth is that the new dealers are just a little bit shell shocked whenever they think of ANY debate with willkie since that time the then commonwealth southern president polished off robert H jackson in a debate on the new deal before the town hall in new york city to appreciate this one must know what the new dealers in general and roosevelt in particular think of jackson even thinks jackson is the second best statesman in the world today and there are a good many new dealers treasonable enough to think that jackson is really no 1 so when willkie virtually knocked the no I 1 champion certainly after himself of the new dealers into a cocked hat in a public debate and on issues not so dissimilar from those to be argued in this campaign the impression was pretty nearly indelible certainly it is still clearly legible and it says dont let willkie get you into a debate even if you name the judges hell steal ern em from you remember how timid dave lilienthal was when willkie offered to let the SEC itself referee his companas comp anys dispute with TVA and there are new dealers who think dave was gypped when willkie virtually let lilienthal himself referee the negotiations tiati ons but even if were willing to debate with willkie on other subjects he would not debate with him on the public ownership thesis not this tall fall there are several signs that the new dealers do not want any more referenda on that subject particularly in politically strategic locations for instance there is san francisco the city has given a good many indications of getting fed up on the new deals public power ideas back in 1913 congress approved the hetch hetchy betchy project with a proviso that never should this power be distributed by privately owned agencies san francisco paid no attention to this it sold the power to the old private company took a nice profit on the sale and let the company sell to its citizens |