U.S. STANDS BY POLICY

Evening Post, Volume CXXX, Issue 2, 2 July 1940, Page 8

U.S. STANDS BY POLICY

FLEET'S RETURN TO HAWAII

STATUS QUO IN EAST

(By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright.) (Received July 2, 2.20 p.m.) WASHINGTON, July 1. The return of the American fleet to Hawaii supports the belief held in informed circles that the Administration is standing by its announced policy of opposing a change in the status quo in the Far East. The Secretary of State, Mr. Cordell Hull, told a Press conference that he had frequently outlined the principles on which the United States believed international relations should be based. He had nothing to add to it as comment on the statement by the Japanese Foreign Minister, Mr. H. Arita. It is reported from Honolulu that the fleet has left Lahaina Roads, apparently to continue its training. HUGE NAVAL CONTRACT. The navy has ordered the construction of 45 additional warships at a cost of 500,000,000 dollars. This is the largest single contract ever let. Also, President Roosevelt, Mr. W. S. Knudsen, president of General Motors, Mr. L. A. Johnson, Assistant Secretary of War, General Marshall, the Army Chief of Staff, and Mr. Smith, the Budget director, have drafted a supplementary programme for the mechanisation of the army and re-armament which will possibly involve ultimate expenditures of 5,000.000,000 dollars. President Roosevelt has asked Congress to impose a steeply graduated tax on excess profits by all individuals or corporations to prevent the creation of millionaires from the defence programme. The chairman of the Reconstruction Finance Corporation, Mr. Jesse Jones, has created two new corporations, partly financed by the Government, to purchase reserve supplies of rubber, tin, and manganese for national defence purposes.