THE OIL EMBARGO

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 56, Issue 72, 7 January 1936, Page 5

THE OIL EMBARGO

ACTION BY AMERICA EXPECTED.

LEAGUE SUPPORTERS HOPEFUL.

DISAPPOINTMENT IN ITALY

(United Press Association—Copyright.)

LONDON, January 6. The newspapers are still, discussing the possibilities arising from the speech made by Mr Roosevelt, for the most part interpreting it according to their own politics. The "News-Chronicle" believes the League will probably take definite steps toward an oil embargo on January 20, as if the United States Congress puts an embargo on oil above Italy's peacetime supplies, League members who have condemned the aggressor cannot do less.

The Paris correspondent of the newspaper says that the French Foreign Office has good reason to believe that Mr Boosevelt, after the passage of the Neutrality Bill, intends to apply oil restrictions before the League meets on January 20, as he wishes to avoid the suggestion that he is following the League's lead, because of the intense irritation caused in Washington by the League's failure to apply an embargo in December after Mr Corded Hull (Secretary of State) had repeatedly intimated that the American Government would do nothing to hinder it.

French radical newspapers regard the speech as an indication of AngloAmerican solidarity, which is thus a new factor in world politics. Accordingly, Britain's friendship is regarded as even more important to France, while America's renunciation of the traditional doctrine of the freedom of the seas increases the prestige and power of Britain, giving her even greater importance as the League's leading mandatory in a dispute involving a sea blockade. Tho "Daily Telegraph," in a leading article recalling that Mr Baldwin once declared that he would not commit himself to extreme sanctions till he knew what the United States would do, says that if the Press endorses Mr Boosevelt's policy Britain will then know. It adds that the League may be gratified at Mr Boosevelt's viewpoint on oil, yet the speech proves America's complete withdrawal from association and co-operation with the League. Mr Boosevelt did not even hint at readiness to join in the consultation provided by the Kellogg Pact. The Borne correspondent of the "Daily Telegraph" says Italy anticipated a more sympathetic view of her colonial aspirations. It is reported that a mission will go to America topresent Italy's case "in a true light.