Bob LaFolleite Says: Despite Our Sympathies This Is Not America's War
Bob LaFolleite Says: Despite Our Sympathies This Is Not America's War EVERY STEP along this one road to war has been advocated as *^ a means to insure our remaining at peace. Seventeen months ago...
...George W. Norris, famed Nebraska Independent, announced support of the amendment this week, saying, "We don't intend to send our boys across the ocean, and I don't think it would hurt us to say so in this bill...
...They are not fighting our war...
...They become subjects of war dictatorship...
...and that the great machines built up by him to destroy the peace of the civilized world will fall apart and disappear...
...Rapidly growing support for the Ellender amendment, which would prohibit the sending of armed forces outside the Western Hemisphere, alarmed Administration leaders who were directed by the White House to resist an: amendment which would weaken the President's hand in dealing with the foreign situation...
...It created and intensified economic problems which brought this nation to the brink of disaster...
...As a result, he continued before the TNEC, inventories pile up, production is cut, workers are'laid off and there is drop in production and national income...
...No matter how much we detest bruitalitarian aggression, no matter how much we admire the gallant British fight, no matter where our sympathies lie, no matter what our prayers for the outcome of the war—this is not our war...
...The economy of every nation was distorted by the demands of war production...
...George D. Aiken announced his opposition to the bill after canvassing the sentiment of the people in his home state...
...Norris said...
...President Roosevelt told newspapermen that such aims could be discussed only after Germany had been defeated...
...Bob LaFolleite Says: Despite Our Sympathies This Is Not America's War EVERY STEP along this one road to war has been advocated as *^ a means to insure our remaining at peace...
...HR 1776 is a "monstrous proposal," Sew...
...that Hitler will fall...
...Carter Glass, ancient Virginia Democrat, said he favored cloture—a rarely used, iron-clad limitation on debate...
...Endorsing the Lend-Lease bill, Sen...
...Scott Lucas asserted that the supporters of the bill "are the guardians of peace...
...What difference will it make when we reckon the cost in wealth when we shoulder the burdens of economic dislocation and social upheaval, when we sow the seeds of racial and religious intolerance—what difference will it make whether the war be declared or undeclared...
...Hendrick Shipstead, Minnesota Republican, charged...
...We have not been told the war aims of Great Britain, nor will our interests govern the terms upon which Britain makes peace...
...Political and economic necessity will compel her to serve, first, last, and all the time, th« economic interests of Great Britain, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, South Africa, India, and Egypt...
...He said there were some "excellent" private vocational institutions but warned against unlicensed schools which "advertise widely, charge stiff fees, hare inadequate equipment, no supervision, and are wholly money -Making ventures...
...Robert M. La Follette, Jr...
...the defense drive here and the war abroad...
...Sen...
...Neither candidate would have dared to say he favored such a bill...
...His face flushed, Majority Leader Barkley roared back, "The Senator knows there never was a way and never will be a way by which legislation can be submitted to the vote of the American people...
...The suggestion that we are "buying time" with British blood is a sordid basis upon which to expect friendship...
...No Matter Who Wins War, We Face World Trade Problems "Vp, REGARDLESS of how friendly the British people may feel toward us when this war is over, and even if Great Britain wins, she will be forced to utilize her control of world trade as a means of trying to revive the collapsed internal economy of England and the Empire...
...To remedy this situation Ezekiel recommended the following program: 1. Government spending to counterbalance excess savings, including spending based on borrowing, interest-free money and on taxation...
...They become objects under the control of the war machine...
...The hates of the peoples of every nation involved were mobilized...
...The flower of the world's manhood was decimated...
...Today we have moved so rapidly from an avowed position of neutrality, that the intermediary stage of "steps short of war" is now only an j episode'to which historians will devote a sardonic paragraph in tha recital of our entrance into this war...
...Norris Ellender Wheeler...
...Sen...
...Aiken argued, "is the final step before the armed forces of the United States are scattered over the seven seas and the lands of four continents...
...Wheeler declared, would "convert our great god of democracy into an engine of autocracy...
...The President's bill, Sen...
...This problem will be intensified a thousand fold by another foreign war...
...There is censorship of the radio and press...
...The British are fighting to defend their homeland and to preserve the Empire...
...We cannot presume or expect that any of the belligerent countries at the conclusion of "total war" can or will be willing to grant any favors in world trade for money or men which we give or withhold now...
...FDR Forces Drive Desperately To Ram Bill Through Senate EXPLODING TEMPERS and threats of gag rule mark;df the Roosevelt Administration's desperate drive - this week to ram passage of the Lease-Lend bill through the Senate late this week or early next week in the face of mounting public opposition to its sweeping provisions...
...Once in a war, there can be no turning back...
...Those interested in training should see the nearest state employment service office or write to their state vocational education department, he advised...
...Threats of limiting debate were heard as the Senate began its third week of deliberation on the momentous measure...
...We had no part in Old World power politics which generated the war, nor were we consulted when war was declared...
...If we pass this bill, the probabilities are that England will win...
...I hate war as deeply as I did in the days of the first World War," the Nebraskan continued...
...McNutt declares that although Congress "has voted money for this type of training and tens of thousands of young people are being trained without expense to them through public schools and the NYA, complaints in increasing numbers are reaching my office that schools are springing up in many parts of the country to exploit the unemployed, particularly youth, by offering to train them for important jobs in defense industries...
...Administration leaders, aware that : ch a step would be smothered by the Senate, talked hopefully of less drastic limitation on discussion...
...David I. Walsh, chairman of the powerful Senate Naval Affairs Committee, denounced the all-out British aid measure "as equivalent to a declaration of war...
...Seventeen months ago the nation was sold the theory that we could be neutral, that we could be absolutely impartial by repealing the arms embargo, by refusing to go in for credits, by spurning the establishment of a wa>- economy...
...It is a relic of barbarism, and in a peaceful, liberty-loving world, it has no place except as a means of self-defense...
...Let's put the question to the people...
...Finding adequate solutions may then be all the more difficult because of the new economic maladjustments which will have been created during...
...I have been criticized by many honest, well-meaning people, who tell me that I have reversed myself since the World War when I voted against the declaration of war," Sen...
...The bill, Sen...
...Economists estimate that in the last World War, 300 billions of wealth were destroyed...
...Norris declared, "As I see it, this bill is necessary to keep us out of war...
...In short, no matter who wins this war, American farmers, workers, industrialists, and financiers dependent upon world trade will face economic problems and adjustment* of the first magnitude...
...Earlier, Sen...
...Wheeler challenged the Roosevelt Administration to submit the issue of entering a foreign war to the American people...
...War Poisons Democracy, Ends In Economic Collapse VFTER HUGE SACRIFICE of men and treasure a military vic-**• tory was won...
...But the inevitable economic collapse which follows modern war was only different in degree in the victorious nations than it was in the defeated countries...
...They never knew HR 1776 was in the offing...
...Its passage, he went on, "will be the longest step toward a one-party and a one-man government that has yet been made...
...The La Follette-Wheeler plan is similar to the Ludlow war referendum ' which Roosevelt forces have consistently buried in the House despite indications that the House would pass it if it reached the floor...
...Men cannot speak, think, or write freely...
...Norris, life-long liberal...
...Even though the defense program might eventually put everyone to work—if it lasts long enough— Ezekiel warned that then we would only have cor ered unemployment "by the same means that the Fascist countries conquered it, by organizing our people and our resources into a military economy...
...When the defense period is over we will face anew all the problems that we have faced during the last 10 years," the economist predicted...
...2. Taxation to reduce the excess savings and increase investment by reducing the willingness to save and increasing the willingness to invest...
...Even such an ardent champion of the Roosevelt Administration as Sen...
...Such a war will not be America's war...
...Weak link in purchasing power, Ezekiel declared, is in the use of savings, since the present amount set aside as savings rises faster than the national income increases...
...George O. Aiken, Vermont liberal, who has been hailed as one of the coming progressive leaders in the Senate...
...The British Are Fighting For Britain—Not America TTfAR PROPAGANDISTS have repeated continually that Brit-vv ain is fighting our war, that our destiny is bound up with hers...
...On the other side of the Senate fence, however, Sen...
...I am forced to a conclusion that a British victory will not solve •ur problems of foreign trade, much as I would prefer to face these problems under British control of the Old World's foreign trade...
...What difference will it make to those who die and the families theyJeave behind...
...Wheeler promptly retorted, "But there is the resolution I introduced with Senator La Follette calling for a Constitutional amendment to let the people vote on whether they'll go to war...
...I am not at all certain that a friendly attitude toward the United States will prevail after a British victory be won...
...They never had a chance to vote on it last fall...
...The last war struck staggering blows to our democracy...
...Opponents of the bill gained a strategic convert in Sen...
...Indications that both war aims and peace aims were taboo as far as the Administration is concerned came from the White House during the past week...
...It has no regaining feature...
...It is absurd to assume that she will be in a position to shape her world trade policies to benefit American farmers, industrialists, and financiers...
...Unemployment, idle money and machines, huge debts, economic dislocation of agriculture—all these are the tragic reminders of our last mad adventure into war abroad...
...All of the nations, #ave our own, sought to extract from that victory economic rehabilitation for their own economies...
...I cannot forget that after the real sacrifices of the last war the majority of Englishmen called us "Uncle Shylock", not "Uncle Sam...
...3. Procedures to increase individual security—such as adequate social security—and reduce the pressures to save...
...Strongest support of the measure came from Sen...
...We are the realistic, hard-boiled avoid-ers of war...
...The rearing of the ugly head of fascism in this country is evidence of the epidemic and madness sweeping over the world...
...In his first speech before the Senate, Vermont's liberal Sen...
...4. Modification of business practices to make income more evenly distributed and to insure that profits do not increase out of proportion to payrolls in periods of prosperity...
...No longer do they participate as citizens of a free state...
...Burton K. Wheeler, Montan-an who was among the first to come out against the Lease-Lend bill, told the Senate last week that "responsible officials of this government" informed him that "we must set up a totalitarian government in the United States in order to fight totalitarian governments across the water...
...Modern war poisons democracy...
...The Congress will have no choice, the people will have no choice...
...It will be a World War in which we will join in world ruin...
...Let us face the facts...
...5. Measures to increase the consuming power of low-income groups by giving their dollars a greater buying power than the dollars of higher-income groups...
...So far as the American people are concerned, it makes little difference whether we are engaged in a declared or an undeclared war...
...The first thing to do is to win the war, he declared at the same press conference where he announced sweeping disapproval of pending amendments to the Lease-Lend bill...
...Ezekiel Warns Danger Facing U. S. Economy -odecai Ezekiel, economic adviser to the U. S. Department of Agriculture, last week recommended to the Temporary National Economic Committee proposals aimed to modify "our capitalistic economy so as to make it capable of maintaining full employment and full production even after the defense expenditures come to an end...
...If they will, we can pass it in both Houses and it Will sweep the country...
...The issue in this bill is peace or war," barked Wheeler...
...Of Schools 'Guaranteeing' Defense Jobs For Stiff Fees Beware of commercial schools "guaranteeing" defense jobs to persons who pay "stiff fees" to take their courses, warns Federal Security Administrator Paul McNutt...
...Will the Senator and the Administration support it now...
...Let them vote now...
Vol. 5 • March 1941 • No. 10
