BOB, WILEY OPPOSE U. S. ARMS 'RESALE' TO ALLIES
Bob, Wiley Oppose U. S. Arms 'Resale' to Allies Senate Approves FDR's Policy bx Topheavy 67-18 Vote WASHINGTON, D. C—Wisconsin's two United States senators, Robert M. La Follette Jr. and Alexander...
...at Buffalo, N. Y. and it is reported that up to 1,000 old planes may be released in this manner...
...The senate approved the president's policy by the overwhelming vote of 67 to 18...
...But I do not wish to give the impression that it will be seized upon as such...
...Of course, I realize that it is a very poor president who could not get a ruling he wanted from his attorney general...
...The clan Is tantamount to the creation of a causus belli," Sen, La Follette asserted...
...Previously resolutions introduced by Sen...
...La Follette had claimed that the release of large numbers of planes nnd other equipment, to the Allies ivould endanger the United Stairs' own defense program...
...Roosevelt's argument that the World war stocks of gun...
...authorizes the president to provide for the procurement of strategic war materials...
...Arthur H. Vandenberg (R-Mich...
...Nothing becomes surplus in a military sense until it has been replaced with something equally good or better...
...La Follette, a Progressive, and Wiley, a Rpublican, were joined by a small group of "isolationist" senators in opposing the resale through private corporations of old army and navy equipment to the hard pressed governments of England and France...
...asked Sen...
...Already, under a ruling of the attorney general, many of our first line planes have been turned back," he said...
...Meanwhile, plans for mass production of new latest type for the army and navy air corps are being rapidly pushed...
...authorizes the president to establish government owned facilities at privately owned plants and to provide for the manufacture of military equipment...
...Sheppard how the term surplus was to be defined...
...The bill was subsequently passed...
...In previous debate on the resale proposal...
...if we send our airplanes, if we send our shins, without the fullest provision for the defense of the United States, and an invader ever comes over to attack the United States and finds our preparations for defense are deficient by reason of our shipments of arms to some one else, congress and every one connected with it will be guilty, will be blamable, to a- extent which will deserve the condemnation of the American people to time immemorial...
...The Missouri senator nevertheless attacked the proposal as an "evasion of international law and the neutrality act...
...was a topic of debate in connection w,th the Sheppard amendment yesterday, and the 67 to 18 vote was regarded as sustaining the entire administration program...
...Warns of Future Guilt "If we send our 75's to France or to England, or anywhere else in the world...
...He charged that first line planes iiave been designated as surplus and referred to the program as "utter duplicity...
...The Sheppard amendment opposed by La Follette and Wiley authorizes the secretary of war of the United States to exchange "deteriorated, unserviceable, obsolescent, or surplus military equipment" to private manufacturers for credit on new materials...
...Morris Sheppard (D Tex...
...and Alexander Wiley, last week voted against the policy of the Roosevelt administration of turning back used airplanes, guns, and other military equipment to manufacturers for resale to the Allies...
...It may be said that the old 75's which we bought from the French during the world war are obsolete, because there have been some improvements in that weapon, but it has been found in the present war—by the French themselves—that those old 75's, massed and firing point blank, are the most effective weapons for combating tanks...
...I know of only one instance in the history of our government to the contrary—and Andrew Jackson fired the attorney general...
...Besides authorizing the trade-in procedure with respect to military equipment, it suspends the statutory limit on the number of army planes that may be procured during the next fiscal year...
...c;narges t\ci or war In the senate debate, administration supporters stressed Pres...
...and ammunition are surplus It was stated that the army has 1.800,000 Lee-Enfield rifles and 800,000 Springfield rifles, in addition to 40,-000 new Gerard semi-automatic rifles...
...The proposal was contained !n an amendment by Sen...
...Anything that would not be required for an army of 2,000,000 men," Sheppard replied...
...authorizes the negotiation of armament procurement contracts without competitive bidding, and authorizes the president to embargo the exportation of military equipment, machine tools and my materials required to manufacture or service military equipment, such as iron and steel scrap and other The roadside mat offers an opportunity for many : era to reduce costs of distribute >. md increase farm income...
...Bennett C. Clark (D-Mo) questioned me classification of the old Enfield rifles as surplus and said that in case of war, the Enfields would be "very much better than fighting with pitchforks or scythes or something of the sort...
...Claude Pepper (D-Fla) which favored the turning over of govemment-owned planes and guns to the Allies were rejected by the senate foreign relations committee...
...chairman of the military affairs committee, to a bill providing for legal authorization of the war department's armament expansion program...
...Sheppard answered Clark with the assertion that only about 500,000 of the Enfields were to be returned, leaving about 2,000.000 Enfields and Springs in the possession of the army and navy...
...Permits Resale Under this amendment, the Roosevelt administration is given permission to make available for resale to the Allies large stocks of World war rifles, 75 millimeter guns, Stokes mortars, Browning machine guns, ammunition, explosives, and other war materials...
...The return of planes to the Curtiss Co...
...Acting under a 1917 statute authorizing airplane and motor vehicle "trade-ins' on new equipment, the government has already returned 50 naval scout bombers to the Curtiss Aeroplane Co...
...D. W. Clark (D-Idaho) opposed the resale policy, d»claring "We are indulging in an act of war, rightly or wrongly...
Vol. 10 • June 1940 • No. 25
