STRONG REBUKE

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22098, 2 May 1935, Page 11

STRONG REBUKE

CONGRESS COMMITTEE MR. ROOSEVELT ANNOYED PUBLICATION OF EVIDENCE FRIENDSHIPS JEOPARDISED By Telegraph—Piess Association—Copyright (Received May 1, 15.25 p.m.) WASHINGTON, April HO President Roosevelt took what is believed to be unprecedented action to-day by invoking his power as Commander-in-Chief of the Army to rebuke the chairman of the Military Affairs Committee of the House of Representatives, Mr. J. J. McSvvain, for publishing the evidence of Brigadier-General Charles Kilbourne—until recently Assistant Chief of Staff—pertaining to the neutrality of a near by territory in the event of a war emergency. At a recent sitting of the committee General Kilbourne said it might be necessary to seize British and French islands in the Atlantic to prevent an enemy utilising them as air baser;. The President flatly repudiated any such intention, but apparently th,> part of General Kilbourne's evidence which he found most annoying was his reference to the " camouflaged " section of the Air Base Bill now under consideration providing for the building of a military aviation base near the Canadian border under the guise of an " intermediate station for transcontinental flights." Mr. Roosevelt's letter to Mr. M<s- - stated that hereafter such evidence must either be kept secret or presented to him for approval before it is published. " I desire to iuforrn the committee," said the President, " that certain portions of the evidence of General Kilbourne, especially those relating to the Canadian border, do not represent the policy of the Government or the Com-mander-in-Chief, nor do they reflect the views,- purposes or motives of the United States Government. "This Government does not envisage any possibility of a change in. the friendly relationship between the United States and any foreign country. It accepts as an accomplished fact the peace conditions cemented by many generations of friendship between the Canadian and American people, and it expects permanently to live up to, in letter as well as spirit, the treaties relating to permanent disarmament on the boundary." Mr. Roosevelt warned the committee that he would exercise his authority as Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy if necessary to stop the publication of anything he regarded as unfriendly to other nations. He called particular attention to the recent statements of General Andrews, which, he said, did not represent the policy of the Government or of the Commacder-in-Chief. A cablegram from Washington or April 27 stated: —It was revealed this evening that General F. M. Andrews Chief of the powerful new Generali Head quarters of the Air Force, told the Military Committee of the House of Repre sentatives that in an emergency th< United States must be prepared to seiz< British and French islands neai America. General Andrews appeared at n secrel session of the committee and supportei the Air Base Bill to authorise the establishment of six strategic Arrm aviation centres. He said that even witl Canada neutral an enemy would havt the following bases available: —Newfoundland, the Bahamas, Jamaica Trinidad, British Honduras and th< Lesser Antilles.' To insure against aii attacks being launched from, any ol these in a time of emergency they musl be kept under surveillance to discovei any evidence of the preparation of suel bases. "We must be ready to bomb any sucf installations as soon as they fere discovered," said General Andrews. "Ji the situation is sufficiently vita! to require it we must be prepared to seize these outlying bases." He did not ex plain what he considered an emergency