A JOINT U.S.-CANADA DEFENSE BOARD. An informal visit between President Roosevelt and Canadian Prime Minister Mackenzie King has led to something with "potentially far more importance than many formal treaties," says Monday's New York Times. It’s called a "Joint Board on Defense," to be composed of four or five members from each of the two countries. Times reporter Charles Hurd notes that it’s "not only the first mutual defense agreement made between the United States and Canada, [it] is also extraordinary in view of the fact that that this country, while at peace, seeks to cement an effective union with a country actively at war."
It’s a good common-sense idea, so much so that the Chicago Tribune reports on it without their usual inflammatory rhetoric about Rooseveltian plots to embroil us in war. The Tribune’s story, by Walter Trohan, does note that one of the first subjects to be tackled by the board will be U.S. acquisitions of air and naval bases inside Canada, in order to prevent the Axis powers from invading America through Canada. The isolationist crowd has previously called for U.S. bases to be set up on various foreign colonies in the Americas, though the method preferred by the Tribune’s editorial writers is for the U.S. to seize these colonies militarily, in Hitler-like fashion.
MORE EVERY-OTHER-DAY AIR RAIDS. The Germans have apparently settled into a queer pattern of hitting Britain with enormous air raids one day, then skipping the next. Another 600-plane raid took place Sunday, according to Frank R. Kelley in the New York Herald Tribune. Mr. Kelley writes that the object of the raids was London, but that they "fizzled out in the suburbs." Still, the Germans left Croydon Airport in flames and, says the Associated Press, struck a "mighty blow" at R.A.F. bases in the London area and along the southeast coast. Britain is claiming a big number of Nazi losses -- 140 to be exact. The Germans only admit to thirty-four planes downed. If the British number is closer to the truth, then it doesn't seem like Hitler can afford to launch this type of large-scale raid too much longer.
COMMENTS ON THE WILLKIE SPEECH. Praise for Wendell Willkie’s Saturday speech accepting the G.O.P. nomination, from the editorial columns of three major newspapers --
New York Times -- "Mr. Willkie is not afraid to say we must face the threat of Hitler. He is not afraid to tell us that we must do a great deal more than we are doing now if we wish to keep Hitler and his ideas on his own side of the Atlantic. He is not afraid to tell us, despite the timid advice of politicians, that he favors selective service as ‘the only democratic way’ of obtaining the trained men we need in adequate numbers for our national defense. He is not afraid to tell us the unpleasant fact, which the Roosevelt Administration either glosses over or does not really understand – with possibly tragic consequences for all of us – that we can become a stronger nation only if we all work harder....Mr. Willkie deserves the gratitude of all Americans for the tone that he has set in this first speech of the campaign....He has met the test of a great occasion with courage and candor and foresight that do him honor."
Washington Post -- "Mr. Willkie did not follow the lead of lesser politicians by making President Roosevelt’s bid for a third term the major issue of the campaign. Nor did he indulge in any loose talk of New Deal attempts to set up a dictatorship in Washington. His fears for the future of liberal government in this country are based on much more solid ground....The Republican candidate takes vigorous exception to the way in which Franklin Roosevelt has reversed Theodore Roosevelt’s policy of walking softly and carrying a big stick. Since the President has not recently indulged in useless ‘inflammatory statements,’ it may be that he has already taken to heart previous criticism of that practice."
Chicago Tribune -- "Mr. Willkie’s acceptance speech helped the American people to an understanding of the political change which is complete all except in party names. The Democratic party retains its name but nothing else recognizable except the elements represented by the metropolitan Democratic machines....Otherwise the Democratic party gets its ideas from persons who are not seeking action within the frame of the American political system but against it.....Probably it was inevitable that when the third term was sought it would be by a man whose work and words would prove the value of the unwritten limitation of tenure. That limitation would never seem more important then when that man tried to break thru it....Mr. Willkie will prove to be an able champion of the form of government that the people have known and have defended."
THE U.S. NEEDS WARPLANES – AND SOON. In Sunday’s New York Times, Edwin L. Jones blames Congress for the frustrating delay in building an American air force worthy of the name --
"Three months ago, President Roosevelt called for an air force of 50,000 planes for this country....What has happened since then? Secretary Stimson, and he ought to know, says thirty-three of the 50,000 planes have been ordered. What is the matter? For weeks Congress has been debating as to how many years shall be allowed for depreciation of new plants to be built, whether the planes shall be built on a a cost plus basis or whether the airplane manufacturers shall be limited to a profit of 8 per cent before taxes or after taxes. Millions in contracts have been signed by the manufacturers but not executed by the government because of uncertainty regarding terms, which hang on action by Congress. Hitler didn’t have to bother with such delay. No attempt is being made here to say airplane makers should be assured of making this or that profit, nor is there intended any inference that in insisting on this or that specific provision they are putting the profit incentive ahead of patriotism. The point is that regardless of what provisions may be found to be just, those provisions ought to be fixed quickly."
Mr. Jones says that if Britain loses the war -- "and there are people in Washington who keep on saying she hasn’t got a chance to win" -- then the U.S. might quickly by faced with a Nazi danger due to our lack of air power -- "If Hitler has a free hand in the Atlantic, what will prevent him from establishing air bases in Greenland? We have said that we will not allow that, but what will we use to prevent it? Suppose he establishes air bases in Greenland from which to carry his air warfare to Canada and suppose he gains control of the air over Canada, would he not be in a position to talk business with the United States? If not, why not?"
VOTERS NOT HAPPY WITH PACE OF BUILDUP. The slowness of our military preparedness program could be a winning issue for the Republicans this fall, if the numbers in Dr. Gallup’s latest survey are any indication. The newest Gallup survey, in Sunday’s Washington Post, says that only 32% of voters are "satisfied" with the progress of U.S. rearmament measures, and 40% are not satisfied. Significantly, 28% say they are "without sufficient information" to make a judgement -- meaning that if there are more shocking disclosures of defense delays while the presidential campaign is on, there could be a significant popular outcry against the Administration.
No comments:
Post a Comment