FOREIGN POLICY OF U.S.A.

Southland Times, Issue 23736, 7 February 1939, Page 7

FOREIGN POLICY OF U.S.A.

EUROPEAN BALANCE OF POWER UNCERTAINTY ABOUT AIMS , OF MR ROOSEVELT WASHINGTON, February 5. The debate on foreign policy this week will turn on the question whether the President (Mr Franklin D. Roosevelt) intends that the United States should back Britain and France, except with man-power, in the event of a European war. The senators regard this as more important than the controversy which raised the question—whether the President put the American defence frontier in France. Mr Roosevelt’s statement of policy on Friday is based on the principles of American tradition and is completely acceptable to the isolationists. The running attack must, therefore, be confined to its lack of detail.

It is expected that Senator Key Pittman, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, will be asked to amplify his statement that the only way to prevent a war in Europe “would be such an equal balancing of military power that neither side would be willing to undertake the chance of defeat.”

The object of the questioning will be to discover whether or not the Administration intends to throw the weight of the United States on the side of this “equal balancing of military power,” on the assumption that this could only mean facilitating the rearming of Britain and France, while withholding munitions from other nations which are highly armed. The bulk of the American Press charges Mr Roosevelt with muddling, but at least his practice of advancing and retreating has the advantage of preventing a. clear question rising between the isolationists and his own followers. He’ does not want a decision on a specific question to be forced while, as now, there is the risk of a setback. i

According to The New York HeraldTribune, the probability is that there will be no concrete question unless a major war breaks out. “The trouble for the isolationists is that the question in such an event may dome too late. Their position has weakened visibly since the Munich outbreak and thus—although he would like to see the Neutrality Act amended—Mr Roosevelt may continue to talk generalities. Any move to amend the Act will certainly precipitate a trial of strength.”