SHIPS FOR BRITAIN

Evening Post, Volume CXXXI, Issue 102, 2 May 1941, Page 7

SHIPS FOR BRITAIN

AMERICAN POOL

SAVING OF DEMOCRACY

ALL-OUT EFFORT

WASHINGTON, April 30,

President Roosevelt has ordered the immediate pooling of 2,000,000 tons of merchant shipping1 to accomplish the objective of all-out aid to the democracies. From this pool Britain will be able to draw to replace tonnage sunk. President Roosevelt, in a speech at the opening in New York of a defence bonds and savings stamps campaign, declared: "We are engaged in an allout effort to perpetuate American democracy by aiding the embattled democracy of the Oia WorM." He emphasised the need of new and stronger defences as the result of revolutionary changes in military science and said: "Lands safe in 1931 by virtue of mere distance from possible aggressors are now overrun by mechanical conquerors—distance no longer guarantees safety. We are, therefore, multiplying production, for which I frankly appeal for the financial support af | the people. It is a privilege to share the cost of defence. We must fight the threat wherever it appears—it can now be found at the threshold of every American home."

The Mayor of New York, Mr. La Guardia, urging the training of city home guards similar to Britain's A.R.P. organisation, declared: "I do not say that we will get repeated and sustained air attacks like London, but it is our duty to be prepared for the worst."—U.P.A.