U.S. ARMS EMBARGO

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXIII, 5 July 1939, Page 7

U.S. ARMS EMBARGO

! ! EFFECT ON DANZIG CRISIS j PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT GRAVELY CONCERNED LONG VIEW URGED BV PRESS OVA-Hj Electric Telegraph— Copyrightt (Received sth July. 9 a.m). NEW YORK. 4th July. President Roosevelt is gravely concerned over the possibilities of a war in Europe and spent the day at Hyde Park studying the diplomatic dispatches. He fears that the refusal by the House of Representatives to repeal the arms embargo will encourage Herr Hitler to resort to force in pressing his demands. Mr Roosevelt may make a nationwide broadcast to gain support for the unamended Bloom Bill. Sitting on the lawn in his shirt sleeves in Hyde Park, where a Fourth of July picnic had been given to 80 guests, President Roosevelt at a Press conference indicated further his position regarding the neutrality question just before interrupting his holiday and departing in a special train for Washington in an effort to secure the elimination of the embargo provision j from the Bloom Neutrality Bill. The President asserted that Press dispatches from the four major capitals stating that the action of the House in adopting a modified embargo had been welcomed in Fascist and Nazi nations were substantiated by reports received by the State Department He expressed the belief that the action had an unfavourable effect upon the current. European crisis and might bring war closer and would make it more difficult for the United States to remain unembroiled. President Roosevelt added that he wanted a measure more likely to have a restraining effect upon nations considering war, since the first policy of his Administration is to prevent any war in any part of the world. The “New York Times” says: “Because the House is traditionally more responsive to popular will than is the Senate, Mr Roosevelt is concerned lest the dictators receive an impression that the general public here is opposed to his foreign policy. The President is convinced that the country is over-: whelmingly behind his efforts to strengthen the hands of England and France, and that it favours exporting arms and munitions to them in the event of unprovoked aggression.” The New York “Herald-Tribune,” in an editiorial, says: “It is to be hoped that the Senate, when it reconsiders the Neutrality Bill, will take a long view, and not merely a political view. As a Republican newspaper, we regret that in the House so many Republicans seemed to vote primarily with a view to embarrassing the President. The crisis is far too serious for such petty spitefulness.” EFFECT OF DANZIG CRISIS

The Washington correspondent of the New York “Post” says: “The Danzig crisis has provided the Administration with such a strong argument that there is a growing hope that the Senate will agree to lift the embargo. The argument is taking hold that the United States will be serving notice on Hitler that this country will become a supply base for England and France and may preserve the peace of Europe.” The Senate Foreign Relations Committee will consider the Neutrality Bill on Wednesday and probably will take a week to draft a report. If the Senate knocks out the embargo there is little doubt that the House will accept the change.