REPEAL OF AMERICAN ARMS BAN SOUGHT.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 165, 15 July 1939, Page 9

REPEAL OF AMERICAN ARMS BAN SOUGHT.

CONGRESS MESSAGE. New Act Plays Into Hands Of Aggressors. PEACE AND NEUTRALITY AIM. United Press Association.—Copyright. (Received 11.30 a.m.) WASHINGTON, July 14. President Roosevelt, in a terse 100 ■word message, forwarded a statement by Mr. Cordell Hull, entitled, ''Peace and Neutrality," to the Congress. The President declared that the statement has his full approval and trusted it would receive from Congress its earnest attention. The President added: "It has been abundantly clear to me for some time that for the cause of peace, and in the interest of American neutrality and security, it is highly advisable that Congress this session should take certain and much needed action in the light of the present world conditions. I see no reason to change that opinion." Mr. Hull's statement said: "In the present situation of danger to a peaceful nation like ours, we cannot complacently close our eyes and ears in formulating a peace and ~ neutrality policy as though abnormal and critical conditions did not exist. This question should, in my judgment, receive full and careful consideration and be acted upon by this Government without unnecessary or undue delay. "Those who urge retention of the present embargo, continue to advance the view that it will keep the United States out of war, thereby misleading the American people to rely upon a false and illogical delusion as a means of keeping out of war. Present Embargo Encourages War. "The present embargo encourages a general state of war, both in Europe and Asia. Its results are directly prejudicial to the highest interests and the peace and security of the United States. I must also refer to the impression, sedulously created, to the effect that the sale of arms and munitions and implements of war by the United States is immoral, and that on this ground it should be suppressed in time of war. "As a matter of fact, almost all the sales of arms and ammunitions made in recent years by our nationals have been made to Governments whose policies have been dedicated to the maintenance of peace, but who have felt the necessity of creating or augmenting their means of national self-defence, thereby protecting otherwise helpless men, women and children in the event that other Powers should resort to war." Mr. Hull insisted that it was illogical that while the trade in arms and ammunition and implements, of war is banned at present with belligerents, trade in equally essential war materials can continue.'" • Six-Point Programme. The Secretary of State then repeated the six-point neutrality programme which the Government recommended as follows: — (1) Prohibition of American ships from entering combat areas. (2) Restriction of travel by Americans , in combat zones. (3) Transfer of the title to foreign purchasers for goods exported from the United States to belligerents. (4) Continuation of the fofbiddance of loans and credits to warring nations. (•)) Regulation of solicitation of funds for belligerents in the United States. (6) Continuation of the Munitions Control Board and the system of licensing • trade in arms and munitions. "There has thus been offered as a substitute for the present Act, a far broader and more effective set of provisions, which in no conceivable sense could breed trouble, but which, to a i far greater extent than the present Act, would both aid in making less likely a general war, and while keeping strictly within the limits of neutrality, would reduce as far as possible the risk of this nation being drawn into war if war comes." Appeal for Co-operation. Mr. Hull then appealed for co-opera-tion and collaboration between the executive and legislative branches of the Government on matters of foreign policy, and stressed that the only way in which the United States could prevent involvinent in war is by preventing the outbreak of war. ' Mr. Hull then denied that the Administration's programme aims at aiding or injuring particular foreign countries, and asked for repeal of the arms embargo because it "plays into the hands of those nations which have taken the lead in building up their fighting power." The Secretary of State concluded: "Small countries are particularly dependent upon nations like the United States, which can produce armaments. Our refusal to make it possible for them to obtain such means of necessary self-defence in time of grave emergency would contribute solely towards making more helpless the law abiding and peace devoted peoples of the world."