AMERICAN ARMS

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21418, 12 May 1941, Page 8

AMERICAN ARMS

AID FOR BRITAIN SHIPS TO USE SUEZ NAZIS THREATS IGNORED (United Press Assn.—Elec. Tel. Copyright) WASHINGTON, May 10 It is learned from an official source that 27 merchant ships, manned by Americans, in a few weeks will begin carrying war materials into the Red Sea for British use, in spite of Axis threats to sink such ships. The United States Maritime Commission has ordered the utmost speed in the repairing of the seized Italian and German freighters for American and British use to offset the losses m the Atlantic. Shipyards are working three shifts a day to repair the damage caused by sabotage. The chairman of the United States Maritime Commission, Rear-Admiral S Emory S. Land, states that foreign j ships seized by the United States j might be manned by marines or Coastguards and sent to a non-war zone. j Germany has protested to the ! United States against the pending Congressional legislation to give President Roosevelt power to requisi- ; tion foreign ships now immobilised in American ports. Move For Convoys The Committte to Defend America by Aiding the Allies has issued a new pronouncement calling upon the American people to urge President | Roosevelt and Congress to enact immediately the following measures:— Approval of convoys; declaration of a state of national emergency; freezing of Axis assets; control of subversive propaganda and sabotage emanating from Axis consulates, including the severance of diplomatic relations if necessary; effective aid to China and a rigid embargo against Japan, giving a clear indication of determination to prevent the conquest of Singapore and the East Indies. Asked by the Cairo correspondent of the Associated Press whether he thought the United States could best aid Britain by entering the war, Captain James Roosevelt, son of the ! President, replied: “Except for sendi ing troops, we are already in the war.”