Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1938. AMERICA AND ARMS.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 59, Issue 18, 1 November 1938, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit. TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 1, 1938. AMERICA AND ARMS.

In his broadcast address last week Mr Roosevelt expressed views which are interpreted as being a commentary on the attitude of Germany and Italy on the question of limitation of arms. The President, emphasising that for over twelve years the United States has been steadily seeking disarmament, said: “If there is no general disarmament we ourselves must continue to arm,” adding: “There can be no peace if the reign of law is to be replaced by the recurrent sanctification of sheer force. There can be no peace if national policy adopts as a deliberate instrument the threat of war. There can be no peace if national policy adopts as a deliberate instrument the dispersion over the world of millions of helpless and persecuted wanderers without a place to lay their heads.” It is generally considered that the President has been influenced by reports by Colonel Lindbergh on the European situation, particularly Germany s military capacity. The Nazi Government, while consistently reluctant to assist the cause of general disarmament by furnishing details of its own progress in re-arming, has made no secret of its militant purpose. An outstanding feature of the recent European crisis was the threat of belligerent action by Germany; and this threat was emphasised by Herr Hitler’s hectoring words, by the German army and air manoeuvres,* by announcement of the strength of the Siegfried Line, and by the organised display of German force when the surrendered areas in Czechoslovakia were occupied. Herr Hitler has only himself to blame, therefore, if his proposal of an all-round reduction in armaments is looked at askance, and regarded as a means of eliciting from others promises that he has no sincere intention of matching with German undertakings to do likewise. These considerations give force to Mr Roosevelt’s words: We are entitled, I think, to greater reassurances than can be given by words. We are entitled to the kind of proof which can be given by actual discussions leading to actual disarmament. Not otherwise can we be relieved from the necessity of increasing our own military and naval establishments, for while we refuse to accept as a permanent the idea of force, and reject it as an ideal of life, we must be prepared to meet with success any application of force against us.”