The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1941. THE ATLANTIC LIFELINE

Dominion, Volume 34, Issue 260, 30 July 1941, Page 6

The Dominion WEDNESDAY, JULY 30, 1941. THE ATLANTIC LIFELINE

In a general way the public has had a very clear understanding of the points made by Mr. Harry Hopkins, President Roosevelt’s personal envoy in the United Kingdom, in his admirable broadcast address published yesterday. The development of American sentiment and policy since the outbreak of the war has been followed with the closest interest by the British peoples throughout the Empire. With each successive step toward the present state of intimate cooperation between the two Governments their hopes have been strengthened, their courage and determination fortified, and their feelings of gratitude deepened. They' know that Mr. Hopkins s ringing nfessage delivered in the name of his President:

People of England, people of Britain, people of the British Commonwealth of Nations, you are not fighting alone, is no empty sentiment.. It is an assurance charged with action, with deeds, and with splendid achievements. Yet, knowing all this, it may be that many of us have failed to grasp the implications of the immense effort that has been involved in swinging the American nation as a whole into the state of mind that has enabled it to, visualize not only the danger of its own situation inherent in the menace to Britain and the democracies, but also to realize the grim necessity of gearing its industrial energies to the tempo of emergency conditions in order that the enemy could be effectively countered and destroyed. Mr. .Hopkins has shown u» what this has meant to the domestic routine of American people, and. especially of their industrial life. For example and this is •something for the New Zealand people to ponder upon —he tells us: Today American industry joins bands with the men who work for Lord Beaverbrook and Mr. Bevin in forgetting factional trade disputes, in limiting holidays, and in sacrificing for common victory. To get to this point has not been easy.- It has called for consummate statesmanship, patience, and much discussion, for this immense transition from a peace to a war economy had to be carried out in a country not at war, under no immediate threat of war, and for an objective which to a large part of the natioir must at first sight have seemed purely academic, and, on the face of it, unnecessary. But as the hard facts of the situation, as interpreted by their leaders, have sunk into the consciousness of the American people, they have come to realize what actually is meant by the threat to the common heritage of freedom of thought' and action shared by Britons and Americans alike, and in Mr. Hopkins’s fine phrase, made "a bridge” of the Atlantic, “a bridge so strong,” he declares, “that all the. power of darkness and Nazi terrorism cannot destroy it.” That bridge', is the lifeline of the democratic peoples throughout the civilized world. Across it in a swelling volume that, as he assures, us, "no enemy can stop,” are flowing the war materials and necessities for the destruction of the common menace. The whole-heartedness and thoroughness with which the American people have taken up this task is not only an encouragement; it is an example, and should be, a kindling incentive.