No Convoys Yet, Says Roosevelt

Manawatu Times, Volume 66, Issue 99, 28 April 1941, Page 6

No Convoys Yet, Says Roosevelt

SURPRISE ANNOUNCEMENT AT WASHINGTON PATROLS INSTEAD WASHINGTON, April 25. After Colonel Knox’s and Mr. Cordell Hull’s forthright pronouncements on the need for American convoys yesterday, President Roosevelt, at to-day’s Press conference, rather surprisingly placed the emphasis on the extended use of patrol vessels rather than on convoys. Mr. Roosevelt declared that American neutrality patrol vessels would operate as far into the waters of the seven seas as might be necessary for the defence of the American Hemisphere, but said that the Administration was not yet thinking of escorting convoys. Mr. Roosevelt declined to amplify his views on the convoy situation, but said that for a year end a-half vessels of the neutrality patrol had been operating 1,000 miles into the Atlantic from the eastern shore of Maryland. The President said that the patrol would not necessarily be confined to the Atlantic. When asked exactly what was the difference between a convoy and a patrol, Mr. Roosevelt replied that, in the first instance, convoying was the escorting of merchant ships in a group to prevent an act of aggression against them. Patrol, he explained, was a reconnaissance of certain areas of the ocean to find out whether there was any possible aggressor ship that might be coming into the Western Hemisphere. The President was reminded that three of his Cabinet officers yesterday publicly expressed concern over aid to Britain, and he was asked how this squared with his yemarks at the Press conference. Mr. Roosevelt he did not know. He dodged a question whether the country had anything better in mind than the convoy system to ensure the delivery of war supplies to Britain. Mr. Wendell L. Willkie, the President’s opponent nt the last Presidential election, said it was no use speeding up production in the United States if supplies went to the bottom of the ocean. It was time for the Administration to give a lead and not rely on public opinion. The Merchant Marine Committee of the House cf Representatives to-day approved Mr Roosevelt’s request to requisition for whatever use he elects foreign merchant vessels in American 'waters. The Canadian Government has ordered 96 cargo freighters of 10,000 tens each, at a cost cf 175-million dollars. Mr Howe. Minister of Munitions, announced this fact to-day.