CREDITS FOR ALLIES.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 142, 16 May 1940, Page 10

CREDITS FOR ALLIES.

DEFENCES EXPEDITED. WASHINGTON, May 14. President Roosevelt lias asked Con. <rress for an additional 809,800 dollars for the emergency conversion of coastguard vessels for naval use. ° Senators Thomas and Austin have urged the repeal or relaxation of the Jolinson Act barring American loans and credits to war debt defaulters ana warnin" that the United States must give the Allies every possible aid or face a clash with the totalitarian Powers later. . . Mr Roosevelt, asking Congress within 48 hours for a large sum to bolster national defence, issued a warning that the problem of raising money was a minor detail compared with the urgeucv of putting dollars to work. Ho said he would not hesitate to call legislators for a special session if necessary. ' i ,i General Pershing (who commanded the American troops in France in the Great War), in a formal statement, described the United States as "in practically the same condition of unpreparedness as it was in 191 f. He called for a prompt expansion of national defence. "None of us can tell when we maj be involved in the struggle now ragin" with such tremendous fury in Europe," he said. "In my opinion the very life of this Republic depends on the and determination with , which our "people undertake the placing ot the United States in a state of thorough preparation. Both men and equipment and the time factor should be the dominant considerations. I sailed for Europe in 1917 with nothing material available other than the will to do and a hastv plan as the basis for doing it. The Allies protected us during over a year of preparation. ' "To-day the situation is different. The country must within itself be prepared for whatever instant action is required for our security. We must not delay longer our preparations."