HOOVER WITH ROOSEVELT

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 83, Issue 27, 3 February 1939, Page 7

HOOVER WITH ROOSEVELT

AMERICA AND THE DEMOCRACIES

ISOLATIONIST POLICY GONE

OVERSTRAINING HUMANITY BY BRUTALITY

t By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright] Received Feb. 2. 9.50 p.m. NEW YORK, Feb. 1. The former President, Mr. Herbert Hoover, to-day warned the dictators that the bombing of British and French cities would probably result in the United States entering a war against them. Significance is given to the statement because the former President is still a prominent leader of the conservative Republican Party, the sentiments of which hitherto have been strongly isolationist. It is further evidence of the extent to which feeling agianst the dictators has been stirred up in the United States since Munich. Hr. Hoover expresseel the opinion that the western European democracies can amply defend themselves against military attack. Their land and sea defences are probably impregnable. He added: “We must not close our eyes to the one condition under which the American people, disregarding all other questions, might join in a European war. We are a humane people and our humanity can be overstrained by brutality. That was one of the causes of our entry into the last war. If wholesale attacks are made upon women and children by the deliberate destruction of cities from the air, then the indignation of the American people could not be restrained from action. Commenting on President Roosevelt’s assurance to the democracies. Senator Clark (Democrat, Missouri) macle the charge that United States fighting-plane- requirements were being put aside in order to facilitate the arming of France. Senator Walsh (Democrat, Massachusetts) said: “Under downright neutrality we should mind our own business. What assurance has any American that Britain or France will remain democracies, or Germany may not become a democracy - In God s name, who are we to determine where truth and justice exists’ When we attempt it we find ourselves in trouble.” The Assistant-Secretary for War, Mr. Johnson, made a significant address over the radio, declaring that the United States was forced to arm “against those who were determined to dominate world affairs by means of military power, with one nation after another going down before the deadly onslaught of arms or submitting in the face of a threat of force. Those who would survive have no choice other than to prepare to protect themselves. To postpone the needed increases in our army, especially the air corps, until those bent on aggression perfect their long-range engines of battle to assail our shores, is to invite disaster. To some people an invasion of America may appear a mad dream, but even they will have to admit that the wild fantasies of yesterday have become the realities of to-day.” Sensation Caused in Europe. President Roosevelt’s reported assurances to the democracies have caused a sensation in Europe. The German Press is most indignant and the French Press is delighted. The French papers declare that Washington is now the official headquarters of an anti-totalitarian war agitation. German official circles do not comment. Political circles say that apparently President Roosevelt intends to sabotage Herr Hitler’s peace policy and prevent European peace. The Press assails President Roosevelt’s abandonment of the policy of neutrality and describes him as another President Wilson and a war-monger. Stocks rose strongly on the French Bourse. The general view is that the statement equals a promise of an alliance in the event of war. The London Daily Telegraph, in a leader, says: “Mr. Roosevelt s words emphasise and make more precise his message to Congress last month. They indicate that he intends to fight for a policy of refusing moral and material aid to aggressors. It must be concluded that recent events in South America, Europe and the Far East have profoundly affected the trend of public and Presidential opinion in the United States.” The News-Chronicle says: “Mr. Roosevelt stated picturesquely what is no more than a fact —that if the Americans wish the survival of liberty, tolerance and democracy they must make their influence felt.” The Daily Herald says: “Because of the Presidential attitude war becomes more unlikely. It is in preventing rather than winning war that world hope lies.”