Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1941. ISOLATIONISTS ROUTED.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 13 November 1941, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age THURSDAY, NOVEMBER 13, 1941. ISOLATIONISTS ROUTED.

WHATEVER may be thought of the rate at which the United States is approaching full participation in a war in which the fate of American democracy is quite as definitely at stake as that of any other nation, it. is clear that so far as current American policy is concerned, there is an end of isolation. I bis is demonstrated conclusively in the passage by the Senate, by 50 votes to 37, of the Neutrality Law Revision Bill, authorising the arming of merchant vessels and permitting them to enter combat zones and in the assurance that the vital action thus taken wil< be approved by the House of Representatives.

The House previously had approved only the arming of merchant ships. It has remained for the Senate, in spite of the opposition of its isolationist minority, to decide that American ships shall ply in waters in which they will be exposed to attack. This is a deliberate abandonment and reversal of all that is material in the Neutrality Act. The essential aim of that measure was to keep American ships and American nationals out of harm’s way, by prohibiting their entry into combat zones ,and so io avoid “incidents” likely to draw the United States into Avar.

The action now taken by the Senate and certain to be approved by the other branch of the Legislature means that all. the risks of movement through the Avar zones are now to be taken by American ships and their crews. It is unthinkable that the United States will not do everything in its power to protect its ships and nationals thus exposed to attack. At a minimum this must mean an extension of the American part in the shooting war at sea. It may mean that the United States will become formally a belligerent in the comparatively near future.

Some reasons appear, however, for believing that the United States may still delay as long as possible taking that final step. A great many American citizens, as well as people of Other countries, are now of opinion that the United States should take its stand unreservedly with the Allies, since only their victory can save the American democracy from having later to fight for its life, unaided, against the totalitarian hordes. On the other hand, account has to be taken of the extent to which the flow of American material to the Allies on their fighting fronts would be reduced if the United States itself became a combatant. It has to be considered also that a formal American entry into the Avar might play into the hands of those Japanese militarists who are prepared to co-operate with the Nazis by precipitating general Avar in the Pacific.

The conclusion seems to be warranted- in any event that the Senate«vote on the Neutrality Law Revision Bill reflects accurately the decisively ruling trend of American public opinion and policy. Congress includes a fairly considerable minority of isolationists, but their organised opposition to President Roosevelt’s war measures has largely collapsed. A few, at least, of the former isolationists have swung over to support of these measures. Others are stated to have had a somewhat disconcerting experience in their home districts and to have returned to Washington “with a considerably altered view of what they believe the majority of the nation wants.”