Congressmen Seethe With Indignation

Northern Advocate, 9 December 1941, Page 3

Congressmen Seethe With Indignation

WASHINGTON, Dec. 7,

Members of the United States Cabinet and Congressional leaders met in President Roosevelt’s study tonight for a momentous conference on America’s immediate steps following Japan’s war moves, amid predictions that Congress would formally declare war at once.

“Of course it’s war,” said Senator W. R. Austin, as he entered the room. The chairman of the Foreign Affairs Committee of the Senate (Mr. Tom Connally), said: “The Japanese attack may soon result in open warfare between the United States and Germany and Italy.” Following the conference Mr. Connally announced that Mr. Roosevelt would address a joint session of the Senate and the House of Representatives at 12.30 p.m. tomorrow. The correspondent of the United Press says Mr Roosevelt is expected to ask for a declaration of war against Japan. Legislative leaders said the request would be approved quickly by an overwhelming vote. Hcover Sees Light At Last

Mr. Herbert Hoover, the former President, has made the following statement: “American soil has been treacherously attacked by Japan. Our decision is clear. It is forced upon us. We must fight with everything we possess.” As news of the bombings spread in the early evening, crowds collected at the White House gates. The news scon spread through the streets.

New York received it with strange calmness. Typical was one man’s reaction: “Now we have got both feet in.” Mr. Wendell Willkie said: “I have not the slightest doubt as to what the United States should and will do.” Washington messages say members of Congress are seething with indignation and freely predicting that Congress will adopt a declaration of war without hesitation. Isolationist Recants Mr. Hamilton Fish, a prominent isolationist, said he would speak in Congress asking the American people to present a united front in support of the President. The Chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee (Mr. A. J. May) said he favoured an immediate declaration. He described the attack as treachery personified. The leader of the Democratic majority in the House (Mr. J. W. McCormack), said all Americans must unite against the attack, “remain calm but determined, and follow the leadership of Mr. Roosevelt.” The chairman of the Military Committee of the Senate (Senator R, R. Reynolds), said: “I am 100 per cent, against war. I want to know all about what has hapened before I say anything about declaring war.” Senator Elbert Thomas said: “It is the act of desperate men and will result in their destruction. The Japanese Government has plainly gone mad.” Bellicose Wheeler Senator B. K. Wheeler, formerly a leading isolationist, referring to the situation, said: “The only thing now is to do our best to lick hell out of them.” He advocated an immediate declaration of war, adding: “The Japanese have chosen war. We must exert every energy, not only to win, but to give the Japanese such a whipping that they will not want war again.” Speaking at Pittsburgh, Senator G. P. Nye said the Japanese attack on Fearl Harbour was “just what Britain had planned for us. Britain has been getting this ready since 1938.” The “New York Times,” in an editorial, says: “There is only one possible answer to Japan’s attack. That is an immediate declaration of war against Japan. This is so clear and inescapable that Congress can be relied upon to act with all possible speed, and to give its answer with all that unanimity which will speak for a united nation. Calls For Unity “The United States has been attacked. The United States is in danger. Let every patriot take his stand on the bastions of democracy. The time has ccme to forget pride of judgment, throv/ partisanship to the winds, and rally to the flag of the United States.” The “New York Daily News,” one of the country’s leading anti-war papers, publishes an editorial headed: “Well, we are in it.” The article proceeds: “The time has come for all of us to stand by the President.” Ranks Closed The “Chicago Tribune,” long the bitterest isolationist newspaper in the United States, returned to the masthead he famous slogan: “Our country right or wrong,” which it abandoned after breaking with Mr. Roosevelt. In its editorial the paper asserted: “War has been forced upon America by an insane clique of Japanese militarists. All of us from this day have but one task —to strike with all our might to protect and preserve American freedom.”

Mr. Connally. in a statement, said he expected a declaration of war from Germany. He added that the United States intended to wait for such declarations from the other Axis powers instead of taking the initiative. The chairman (Mr. Robert Wood), has announced that the isolationist “America First” Committee supports war against Japan.

Nctable Feat of Exploration.

To this day considered by surveyors and engineers as the most notable feat in the history of the exploration of New Zealand, the survey trip of the Buller River from its source at Lake Rotoiti to the coast at Westport, by Edward Brunner, was recalled when the Westport-Inangahua railway line was spiked recently Brunner made his survey in 1846. He set out from lake Rotoiti, the headwaters of the Buller, in company with two Maoris and their wives, and took six months to follow the river down to its outlet. The date of his arrival at the mouth of the river was July 6, 1846. For most of its length the river runs under precipitous rocky bluffs. At times Brunner and his party almost starved. Rain fell for most of the six months, and the river was flooded. Brunner and the Maoris carried guns, and they shot a few pigeons and wekas, and caught eels; but for a time they subsisted on fern roots.