AMERICAN CONGRESS DECLARES WAR

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 291, 9 December 1941, Page 7

AMERICAN CONGRESS DECLARES WAR

ONE DISSENTIENT Swift Actions With People's United Support United Press Association Copyrlgtot. Rec. noon. WASHINGTON, Dec. 8. \ The United States Senate unanimously voted a declaration of war against Japan. The House of Representatives voted the declaration by 388 votes to one. . The single dissentient was Miss Jeannette Rankin. President Roosevelt has signed the declaration of war against Japan. The House and Senate, meeting together, had tumultuously cheered Mr. Roosevelt's declaration (reported on page six), and 'when he had finished there were immediate cries of "Vote, vote!" The Senate then acted with unprecedented swiftness, and the House quickly followed suit. Japan's sudden attack has virtually wiped out the lines between the supy porters and opponents of the Roosevelt Administration. Message after message reached the White House from persons high and low offering to do what they could. Mr. William Green, president of the American Federation of Labour, to-day appealed for the ending ofstrikes in the defence industries, and called on workers to produce as the workers of no other country ever produced, and to keep steadfastly on the Job until victory and final peace were won. Some Japanese Arrested Mr. Roosevelt has authorised the arrest of Japanese nationals in the United States who are regarded as being dangerous to the security of the nation. About 1000 Japanese aliens will be affected. At Norfolk, Virginia, the site of one of the largest naval bases on the Atlantic coast, all Japanese residents have been arrested. About 93,000 Japanese registered under the alien registration law last year, of whom 41,000 are in Hawaii. The Mayor of New York, Mr. La Guardia, announced that he had ordered an Japanese nationals throughout the city to remain in their nomes until their status had been established by the Federal Government. -r The police at Panama are round-' W ln ß up all Japanese, holding them under heavy guard. A crowd in Washington watched <;r the Japanese Embassy staff burn p official papers in the Embassy yard, and then scuttle into the building v; as spectators shouted "Come on out.' The documents were destroyed within an hour of the war starting, ine police arrived as the crowd became restless and dispersed them. The State Department announced it had taken all necessary steps to protect official Japanese establishments and officials in the United B: States. "Attack Directed From Berlin" The director of the Office of Proauction Management Priorities, Mr. *?. N. Nelson, in a radio broadcast \ Wld: All important elements of the :Axis are now in action—direct mlliaction—against the United States.' Mr. Nelson, speaking with the approval of White Hpuse, added: >We are facing an attack directed Primarily from Berlin. Beginning jg;, from to-night, the United States i roust have only one goal, military |; victory." / * The Under-Secretary for War, Mr, !r / • .Patterson, has called on the : - United States to put munitions proInduction on a 24-hour basis.

„J he Secretary of the Treasury, Mr vitai r^™° l r?entha } 1 ' has invoked the X? L,P 1 °visi°ns of the Trading with the Enemy Act. 1917, to prevent anv I commerce or communication wit£ Japan or her allies of^the^?init^ a nd vast expansion n a *?**Morces is tain ii K n ?- llta !i y circles as certain. it is believed one o£ thp first steps will be. tor call all enlisted rl* return to a th£ V !l duty ' involving the return to the army of trainees rp. ove?Ve IS 2fKg fiC A)r 8e they were g/ofS Mlbeliabl"to Mill aFWffT&JSMrt&i a; planes are patrolling over the istharM h n [ ght ' while a blackout of the area has been ordered. Fe £eral Communications Commission has placed special restric- »," pon al i inter national commurtf o o pending the establishment of a Government censorship It has closed down amateur radio stations. ceSrshfn announced that eoin£ n&£ as Piaced on all outgoing cables and radio mMURPs from the United States and^utlyfnl e plLced on n c ? ns . orsh «> had then Placed on outgoing mail. Isolationist Views Changed vTrf h i 0r J he swi ftesf and most in* vincible answer. The unprovoked Japanese attack is a brutal (disclosure of a purpose which violates everv element of civilised society." aJJ? 6 chairman of the Foreign ' r s Committee of the Senate, Mr attack PresMfmt **°° ver > the former president, has made the following 6nt: " Americ an soil has been treacherously attacked by JaDan Our decision is clear. It is forced "Ponus. We must fight with Ive^ thing we possess. P S §vp k Sf/t^ it T Sburgh ' Senator G. Pearf Ja P anes ,f. atta ck on *®fri naroour was iust what Britain had planned for us. Britain 1938 Setting this ready since nf S »ho to Mir; R " Reynolds, chairman ~ J E? Committee of the Senate; said; "I am 100 per cent against war. I want to know all about what has happened before I anything about declaring war " Senator Elbert Thomas said! m is the act of desperate men and will result in their destruction. The Japanese Government has plainly gone mad." The Chicago Tribune, long the bitterest isolationist newspaper in United States, to-night returned to the masthead the famous slogan "Our country right or wrong." which it abandoned after breaking with Mr. Roosevelt. In its editorial the paper asserted: "War has been forced upon America by 'an insane clique of Japanese militarists.'. . . All of us from this day. have but one task— to strike with all our might to protect and preserve American freedom." The chairman, Mr. Robert Wood, has announced that the isolationist "America First" committee supports war against Japan.