STAND ALOOF.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 182, 4 August 1939, Page 9

STAND ALOOF.

IN EVENT OF WAR.

ATTITUDE OF AMERICA. NOTED JURIST'S VIEW. Firm belief that in the event of war America would not be drawn into the conflict was expressed' on board the Monterey this morning by Dr. Roscoe Pound, the world-famous jurist, who was a passenger to Auckland in the vessel.

Despite the sympathy of the United States with the democracies, the country would remain aloof, he added. It remembered the last war and its consequences. It was going to be more careful this time.

Asked if that was the opinion of the country generally, he replied that it was exceedingly hard to speak of a general public opinion in America. It was really like trying to gauge European public opinion. There were so many shades of thought on polities, and many other matters that the difference almost amounted to the views of different raws.

The people living on the coast nearest Europe, he said, might be willing to enter a war; but the people in the centre and on the other coast were indifferent. They had their own affairs to think about, their own problems to solve. He did not think that people generally realised how big the country was.

What President Had Said. When it was pointed out to him that recent cables, reporting utterances by the President, Mr. Roosevelt, had seemed to convey a different, view, Dr. Pound said that'the President had misinterpreted opinion in the United States on that matter. He thought; too, that the President was now realising his mistake, and his political views were not expressed so strongly.

People were talking too glibly about the effect on American thought of the recent visit of tlie King and Queen. "They were immensely popular," Dr. Pound said, "and very well received, as indeed two charming people deserved to be; but the}' visited only a small corner of a vast country. Washington and New York are not the United States. Too many people think they are. Their Majesties' visit was of great and lasting importance; but I doubt whether tlie thought of the mass of the people was at all affected."

Dr. Pound does not believe that war is inevitable. "In fact," he said, "'I have a feeling that it will not happen at all." He was influenced in his view by the vast and mounting cost of armaments. Xo country could foot the bill for ever. He thought a halt would come. "Moreover," he added, "even the most dictatorial of dictators must to some extent consider the feelings of their people, and their people do not want war."

Move Towards Saner Thought. He thought, too, that he could detect the beginnings of a change towards a saner thought. It was especially noticeable in the youth. He could see it in his own students. Last year he had lectured at Oxford and Cambridge Universities, and the year before that in South America. In England and in South America he had seen evidence of the same thought-swing. "They want more stability," he emphasised.

He expressed some doubts about the future of President Roosevelt. It was against American tradition for a man to seek election as President for a third term, he explained. The bulk of professional and business men were against a third term, while the southern States held the same view. The southern States, he added, exercised a powerful influence.

Until 1936, Dr. Pound was Dean of the Law School of Harvard University. He is now what he himself describes as a "university professor," which means that he has a roving commission and can lecture when and on, what subject he likes. He has written many works on different aspects of law which command world-wide attention.

After spending a short time in the Dominion Dr. Pound, who was accompanied by Mrs. Pound, is going to Australia. They will fly from the Commonwealth to England* because Dr. Pound wants to be back at Harvard in Septein- j ber. He was met at the wharf this morning by Professor Julius Stone. professor of law at the Auckland University College.