AID TO BRITAIN

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20488, 24 February 1941, Page 5

AID TO BRITAIN

SENATE STRAW VOTE MAJORITY IN FAVOUR MR. WALLACE’S WARNING MENACE OF NAZISM (Reed. Feb. 24, 11 a.m.) WASHINGTON, Feb. 23. The Associated Press of America says that in a poll conducted in Washington 52 Senators declared that they favoured the lease-or-lend bill, 20 were against it and 21 declined to express an opinion. The majority is divided as follows: For the bill: 46 Democrats, 5 Republicans and one Independent. Not committed: 11 Democrats, 10 Republicans. Against the bill: Eight Democrats, 11 Republicans and one Independent. Senator Taft said that under the terms of the bill the President could give away every battleship and cruiser in the American Navy. He did not believe that the British financial position was desperate. “If the great British Empire cannot stand without our aid, then we will be forever bolstering that empire,” he declared. The Vice-President, Mr. H. A. Wallace, in a speech, said: “Those who believe the United States can live peacefully and well in a world of triumphant Nazism, simply do not know what they are talking about. In such a world we would have the choice 'of being slaves, fighting or going despotic ourselves.” A report from Hyde Park says that President Roosevelt has arrived, accompanied by Mr. Harry Hopkins, a member of the Production-Manage-ment Planning Board, for week-end consultations.