U.S. Unlikely To Sell Arms To Finland

Northern Advocate, 12 February 1940, Page 5

U.S. Unlikely To Sell Arms To Finland

WASHINGTON, February 10. In an interview with journalists, President Roosevelt expressed doubt whether the United States would sell guns directly to Finland, because it was engaged in armed conflict. It is confirmed that a White House conference discussed sending surplus supplies to Finland. In the course of the debate in the Senate on the Bill to authorise a loan to Finland, Mr J. A. Danaher (Re-publican—-Connecticut) said: “The United States neutrality patrol is the eyes of Britain in American waters.” Columbus Delivered to British. Mr Danaher alleged that the German liner Columbus, subsequently scuttled, was passed aloifg from one group of United States destroyers to another until ft was virtually delivered into the hands of the British. The voting on the Bil] will take place on Tuesday. It is certain of passage. In an address to the American Youth Congress, President Roosevelt said that Russian dictatorship was as abso- j lute as any other in the world. United States sympathy was 98 per cent, with Finland, and the United States desired to aid Finland. His Hopes of Russia Shattered. • Mr Roosevelt ridiculed suggestions that Russia might declare war on the United States in consequence of its aid to the Finns. He described his own early interest in the Russian experiment and his hope that it would lead to the betterment of the nation, and added: “That hope today is -either shattered or put into storage against a better day. Russia has allied herself with another dictatorship and has invaded a neighbour so small that it could not injure the Soviet.” The President's remarks were particularly pointed, as the organisation he was addressing has been stirred by controversy concerning its refusal to denounce the Russian invasion of Finland, and allegations that its council is swayed by Communist influence.