The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1936. A “LONE WOLF” SPEAKS.

Evening Star, Issue 22271, 24 February 1936, Page 8

The Evening Star MONDAY, FEBRUARY 24, 1936. A “LONE WOLF” SPEAKS.

The strong plea ■which Senator Borah has made for American neutrality in the Italo-Ethiopian war, and all other foreign controversies in which America is not directly concerned, was to be expected from him. “No foreign entanglements,” a motto that would be accepted by almost all Americans it they knew how to keep clear of them, has been pre-eminently his motto throughout his long career. Though of Irish descent, it is doubtful if he would see anything humorous in the “ splurge ” of another American politician : “Others may think differently [about the United States and the League of Nations]. But as for me, I know and understand why God in His, infinite mercy laid down 3,000 miles of purifying waters between the eflete nations of the Old World and this great and glorious land.” The author of that priceless gem of complacency was a Westerner like Senator Borah (who comes from Idaho), and the sentiment has been specially strong in the West and the Middle West.

Senator Borah has combined it with a deep suspicion of British policies, natural to many Americans who have tended to regard discussions between their own and Old World statesmen as contests between amateurs and professionals, and assisted probably by his racial memories. Though he is not a party leader, nor even in any regular sense a minority leader, respect felt for his character and his downrightness has caused him to exercise no small influence in American polities. He has been a Senator for almost thirty years, and chairman of the Senate’s Foreign Relations Committee for a great part of that time- On national and international questions it has been his part to say what many millions of American citizens in the interior and the Far West think and feel. He has been one of the strongest opponents of America s inclusion in the League of Nations and the World Court. He believes passionately in the “ outlawry of war,” but very little in the international agreements by which alone that can be effected. His record reminds one of the saying “ Deliver me, 0 Lord, from the errors of wise men, yea, and of good men.” His latest speech included a broadside attack on the policy Britain is now following in regard to Abyssinia. Britain’s actions he imputes to the most selfish interests, and he compares the League’s action in this latest trouble, in which sanctions give good promise of being effective, with the Far Eastern act of lawlessness of a few years ago, in which sanctions almost certainly would have been impracticable.

It is a pity that Senator Borah had not more time, before making his speech, to reflect upon the Italian paper’s presentation of British views on the Abyssinian question, before it became an issue for the world. All his opinions might have been altered if, like Lord Reading, he could have travelled in his youth. Senator Borah has been almost as much opposed to most American Administrations as he is to European entanglements. He has announced that, at the age of 71, ,he will be a candidate for nomination for the Presidency, but it has been said of this “ lone wolf ” : “ The future holds no position of leadership for him. No party could nominate him. He has no gift for organisation, and knows it. lie is singularly without the power, or the wish, to co-operate.” As to American neutrality on the League issue, no neutrality is possible which will not, in its actual effect, favour this side or the other. President Roosevelt’s Administration seeks, almost beyond doubt, to provide.the utmost measure of passive co-operation with League Powers. But passivity is not sufficient to prevent wars. The way to avoid American involvement in war, it has been pointed out, is to co-operate in preventing wmr. “It is easier to prevent than to insulate.”