AMERICAS AIMS

Waikato Times, Volume 127, Issue 21245, 16 October 1940, Page 8

AMERICAS AIMS

FREEDOM AND JUSTICE HELP FOR BRITAIN era* —sks: OPPOSITION TO AXIS (United Press Asn.—Eiec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON, Oct. 14 President Roosevelt’s broadcast on Saturday, following closely on the recent declarations of Mr Wendell Willkie. have given what the press in London feels is authentic notice in unmistakeable terms of where the United States stands, and where the American joeople will continue to stand until all danger to the ideals of freedom, justice and neighbourliness among nations is overthrown. The Daily Telegraph hails the speech as the most forthright answer yet given to the Axis-Japanese pact, it says: “The President has re-stated his country’s intentions with new emphasis. He placed the wildest possible interpretation upon, its policy of defending the Western Hemisphere against acts of aggres’sion, reminding all whom it may concern that not merely the territories of the American Continent and its adjacent islands are guaranteed by that policy, but also the ‘peaceful use of the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans’—a traditional principle of American diplomacy which has been ignored before with disastrous results to the challenger.

“With this Mr Roosevelt combines a perfectly clear assurance upon a matter which more nearly concerns Britain and those peoples who are in any way able to act with her as combatants: ‘No combination of dictator countries of Europe and Asia,’ said Mr Roosevelt, ‘will prevent the help we are giving to almost the last free people fighting to hold them at bay.’ That is as plain as words can make it.” Pledge to Britain Stands The Times says: “If the Axis pact with Japan was designed to intimidate America, its failure has been disastrous. Mr Roosevelt’s broadcast left no doubt where the United States stands, and how it regards the pact. On the eve of a bitterly-contested election the President could not have spoken as he did in this vfgorous and uncompromising pronouncement if he had not been speaking for the great majority of his countrymen.” The same point is made by the , Daily Herald, which writes: “Whoever wins, the pledge to help Britain stands. Mr Willkie sees his duty as clearly as does Mr Roosevelt.” The President’s answer to the Axis threats has evoked admiring comment 'in other parts of the Empire. The Melbourne Argus says: “The President's bluntness will be welcomed throughout the ‘Empire. He explicitly pledged the United States to give protection to the entire Western Hemisphere. The President's words mean that we will not be left solely to our own devices if we are menaced from the north. “The corollary to this is that our part in the Empire’s struggle can be a:, full and wholehearted as the people of Australia wish it to be. Australia's first line of defence is necessarily naval, and, with the assurance that the United States is vitally interested in the Pacific, we can deploy our full strength where it can be used to the greatest advant-

MILITARY AEROPLANES BRITISH AND AMERICAN STANDARDISATION OF DESIGN AGREEMENT WITH CANADA (United Pres* Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) WASHINGTON, Oct. 14 President Roosevelt has appointed the Secretary of the Treasury, Mr H. M. Morgenthau, the Secretary foi War, Mr H. L. Stimson, the Secretary of the Navy, Colonel >V* F. Knox, and the Co-ordinator of Defence Production, Mr W. S. Knudsen, to be an informal committee to standardise the design of British and American orders for military aeroplanes, thereby speeding up production. Mr Morgenthau stated that standardisation on these lines in the Curtiss-Wright factory had resulted in the production of 12 fighters daily. The State Department announced that the United States and Canada have taken preliminary steps toward the development of the hydroelectric project in the Great Lakes and the St. Lawrence Basin, agreeing to an immediate exchange ol waters to assist in providing an adequate supply of power to meet Canadian defence needs.

The exchange of waters will permit Canada to use additional water to generate power at Niagara. The Secretary of State, Mr Cordell Hull, said he was discussing naval and air base facilities with various South American countries, but there was no question of any change in sovereignty. He added that exchanges were occurring regarding all phases of hemisphere defence, all within the Havana Agreement. MORE FRICTION THAILAND AND FRANCE j AN ULTIMATUM URGED (Lulled Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) LONDON. Oct. 14 Anti-French demonstrations continue at Bangkok, capital of Thailand. Large crowd? in the street? urged the Government to issue an ultjt the Indo-Chinese frontier districts.