The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1939. America and the War

Press, Volume LXXV, Issue 22812, 11 September 1939, Page 8

The Press MONDAY, SEPTEMBER 11, 1939. America and the War

Within the last few days there have been important and on the whole encouraging developments in the United States. The Administration has declared a state of “ limited national “emergency”; army and navy personnel has been brought up to full strength; plans have been drawn up whereby an army of 1,000,000 can be drafted in 90 days; and Mr Roosevelt has announced that the special session of Congress wili be asked to repeal the mandatory embargo on the shipment of arms to belligerents. The military measures are a significant comment on the President’s assertion that he is determined to keep the United States out of a European war. He and his advisers appear to realise that, however much the United States may desire to avoid war, the possibility that war may, come to her cannot be ignored. That possibility is heightened by the fairly obvious intention of the President to obtain an amendment to the neutrality legislation which will enable him to place the vast resources of the United States armaments industries at the disposal of the British and French Governments. And so certain are these governments that he will succeed that they have issued instructions for existing contracts placed in the United States to be completed. Their confidence seems justified. The recent defeat of the Neutrality Bill sponsored by the Administration was due mainly to the complexity of the measure itself and to the recalcitrance of certain Democrats who were determined to inflict a defeat on the President and found in the neutrality proposals a convenient point of attack. Neither of these circumstances is likely to be repeated in the coming session. Mr Roosevelt will almost certainly ask Congress to abandon the idea of a neutrality policy minutely defined and regulated by legislation and to allow the Administration to return to a policy based on the traditional principles of international law. That is, he will seek to reassert the Administration’s right to control foreign relations. If Congress votes on the actual issue before it, and is not swayed by political feuds, it will not repeat the disastrous fiasco of last July, a fiasco partly responsible for the outbreak of war in Europe. And it is significant that thq President is already making an effort to secure a truce in party politics. His cancellation of an address to women Democrats on the ground that this is not a time for party speeches and that the nation should be united in the present crisis is important not only in relation to the neutrality issue. It may be the beginning of some sort of political consolidation comparable to that which has taken place in Great Britain. Needless to say, such a development would drastically .change the prospects for the coming Presidential election. Mr Roosevelt is the only national leader in sight; and his chances of a third term of office would be greatly enhanced if it could be assumed that the election would be fought on an appeal for national unity. Mr Roosevelt is at the moment the world’s most influential democratic statesman and it would be a disaster if a mere constitutional convention should bring t about his political eclipse just when his leadership is most necessary.