Outlaw Chemical Warfare

Manawatu Times, Volume 62, Issue 236, 5 October 1937, Page 3

Outlaw Chemical Warfare

PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT’S AMBITION > WASHINGTON, Aug. 30. President Roosevelt, expressed his ; determination to press forward in an 5 attempt to outlaw the use of chemicals in warfare. Sending a veto message to Congress, he quashed a Bill changing the , name of the Chemical Warfare Service to the Chemical Corps, expressing op--1 position to any move which would “aggrandise” the chemical warfare i work of the American services. , “I hope the time will come,” he wrote, “when the Chemical Warfare ! Service can be entirely abolished. To dignify this service by calling it the Chemical Corps is, in my judgment, contrary to a sound public policy.” The President’s unexpected veto messagje is in line with his previous . efforts to limit extreme modern wea- I pons of aggression. He has privately ! | expressed the view that such weapons j might be cut down very drastically, 1 and in 1933 proposed to the heads of I all nations an agreement against send- , 1 tog troops beyond national boundary "i lines. | “It has been and is the policy of the ' Government,” wrote President Roosei ve l.t, “to do everything in its power ; t . to outlaw* use of chemicals in warfare. >! Such use is inhuman and contrary t! to what modern civilisation should I ~ etand for. “I am doing everything in my | power to discourage the use of gase3 I aQ d other chemicals in any war be- . tween nations. While, unfortunately, 1 the defensive necessities of the United States call for study of the use of chemicals in warfare, I do not want I the Government of the United States i to do anything to aggrandise or make ' permanent any special bureau of the 1 Army or Navy engaged in these stud- i les.” 11 I The President concluded his mes- ; sage with the sentences quoted previ- ' * ously. i, There was no indication that Mr : Roosevelt contemplates any special international action against chemical warfare at the present time, but sim- t ply that every opportunity in discussions of the armament problem with other nations he indicates that the United States favours complete aboli- i lion of the weapon. (