Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY. MARCH 19, 1940. NEUTRAL SYMPATHY.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1940, Page 4

Wairarapa Times-Age TUESDAY. MARCH 19, 1940. NEUTRAL SYMPATHY.

TN Britain and elsewhere, President Roosevelt s broadens. 1 the essential basis of the real peace the world so badlj needs ’ ’ has been applauded warmly. A British O ft ieial Yne_ - - message from Rugby yesterday, for instance, s a ec ■ The President’s insistence that no peace couldl be lasting.if its fruits were oppression, starvation and cruelty, and if the m of nahons continued to be dominated by armed camps so hat small nations went in fear of powerful neighbouis is paiticu, larly noted as showing Mr Roosevelts Ihm giasp of the European situation. That President Roosevelt should show, as no doubt he does, a firm grasp of the realities of the European situation, is, <. far as it goes, very gratifying. As a statement ol the mo principles on which peace ought to be based his broadeas could hardly be improved upon, and it gives s rong mo al support to the Allies in coinciding almost identical!} with he war aims to which they are pledged. It- detracts consideral y from the practical, value of the broadcast, however, 1 hatPresident Roosevelt and his nation—the greatest, wealthiest and most powerful nation in the world—are alike committed to a policy of non-intervention in the present world conflict. Tn a statement of peace principles which shows him, so far as words can do that, to be in full sympathy with the Allies, the President probablv has the support of the great majority of his nation. Much as the American people approve their President’s words of sympathy, however, they appear to be firinlv united in a determination to take no risks whatever m attempting to establish and carry into effect the principles their President has on this occasion, as on others, expressed so eloquently.

While the Allied nations have staked their national existence on an effort to establish a reign of law and justice in international affairs, the United States, though declaring almost with one voice that a reign of law and justice ough to be established, is taking every care to avoid being involved in any avoidable danger, cost, or trouble io that end. 1 hough it is giving a certain amount of humanitarian aid to stricken nations and to refugee groups, the United States is assisting the Allies in their fight for justice only by selling them arms, for cash down on the American counter.

This, of course, is not of necessity the end ol the story. It Jias been said often and in, many places that it will be impossible to ignore the United States when peace terms are drafted at the end of the present world conflict. With the American people supporting the principles of international justice enunciated by their President, in his broadcast, it is no doubt wholly desirable that they should exercise the strongest possible influence over the drafting of peaee terms. Il they mean to do that, however, they must, be prepared to do something more positive than launch academic assertions of principle over the ether.

The world would have been assisted enormously in that search for a moral basis for peace of which Mr Roosevelt spoke if he had been able to declare, in his broadcast, that the United States would take action against aggressors in company with all other nations prepared Io unite to that good end. Until the United States is prepared to take that stand, even the most eloquent statements by its leaders of the principles that ought to ride in idorld affairs will continue io fall a little flat.

While, the practical importance of the President’s utterance, like that of other indications of American opinion, is thus limited, it would be going much too far to regard the utterance as entirely devoid of value or significance. If, for instance, it is true, as some of yesterday’s reports suggested, thal Hitler is endeavouring to launch another peace offensive, the President’s utterance could hardly have been timed more aptly for the purpose of helping to defeat that, offensive. The aim of the Nazis is to secure what has been called the validation of their pre-September gains—the loot secured in their acts of international brigandage against Austria, Czechoslovakia and Poland. The at titude of the Allies towards I hat aim is sufficiently defined. In the latest utterance of President Roosevelt, if i! otherwise lacks positive quality, there is at least an assurance that proposals by the Nazis that, they should be allowed to retire with the “swag” will be condemned as firmly in the United States as in the Allied countries. This may have further value in influencing the attitude and policy of some of the smaller neutral nations, in Europe and elsewhere.

All this being said, however, it is plain thal if the United States intends to play more than a minor part in helping Io establish and maintain liberty and justice in the world, it must, be prepared to bring to bear upon the process of international settlement something more than words.