TERMS OF APPEAL

Wairarapa Times-Age, 4 December 1939, Page 5

TERMS OF APPEAL

EXPECTED TO PREVENT PURCHASES SOVIET DIRECTLY CHARGED. UNPROVOKED BOMBING OF CIVILIANS. NEW YORK, December 2. Mr Roosevelt’s appeal is expected to prevent Russian purchase of aeroplanes and also armaments, says the “New York Times” Washington correspondent. Additional emphasis is given to President Roosevelt’s statement because it was not strictly necessary, inasmuch as that issued regarding Japan in 1938 covers Russia. The fact that it was issued means that Mr Roosevelt wished to charge the Soviet directly. White House did not await official transmission of M. Molotov’s reply to Mr Roosevelt’s message. The President’s secretary, Mr Stephen Early, said: "I do not see that it constitutes an answer. You might ask the dead civilians and the injured and the widows and orphans how pointless Mr Roosevelt’s statement is.” In this connection the United States Minister, Mr Schoenfeld, reports that he personally witnessed indiscriminate bombing of Helsinki. Mr Early added that the embargo is applicable to any country bombing civilians, but “there is some distinction about who is the aggressor, whether the aggressor bombed first, and whether the aeroplanes are usable for purposes of defence.”

This is an assurance that American planes may be sold to Finland. Without naming the countries, President Roosevelt, in his formal statement today, said the Government hopes that American manufacturers and exporters of aeroplanes and equipment will bear in mind the Government’s policy of condemning .unprovoked bombing of civilians. There is no doubt the President referred to the Russian-Finnish conflict. Mr Roosevelt said: “The American Government and people have been pursuing ?. policy of wholeheartedly condemning unprovoked bombing and

machine-gunning of civilian populations from the air. The Government hopes to end that. “Such unprovoked bombing shall not be given material encouragement, and, in the light of a recent recurrence of such acts, American manufacturers and exporters of aeroplanes and aeronautical equipment and materials essential to their manufacture should bear this fact in mind before negotiating contracts for the exportation of these articles to nations obviously guilty of such unprovoked bombing.