Huffs, Bluffs & Handcuffs

In 14 minutes, without making a single amendment, the House last week passed a $499,857,936 supply bill for the War Department, including $50,000,000 for 565 of the planes called for in Franklin Roosevelt's emergency rearmament program.

Mr. Roosevelt's policy toward Europe was now definitely known to place the defensive frontier of democracy in France. Toward Asia, Mr. Roosevelt wanted to extend the U. S. defensive frontier to Guam, but the House had stopped him at Wake Island. Senators who disapprove of Mr. Roosevelt's frontier extensions fell huffing & puffing upon his air corps expansion as unjustifiable.

Idaho's ursine Borah, still weak from flu, denounced the air bill as dictated by "bluff and jitterism." His new junior colleague, pretty David Worth Clark, 36, made a maiden speech telling the U. S. to mind its own business. Minnesota's heavy Lundeen talked darkly of Presidential secrets which would "stun" and "shock" the country if revealed. California's white-crowned Hiram Johnson, North Dakota's

"Neutrality" Nye, Missouri's chubby Bennett Clark all raised their voices in favor of what Massachusetts' prosy Walsh called national "detachment."

More embarrassing than Senate orations to Franklin Roosevelt was a proposal of twelve Senators with Wisconsin's cherubic La Follette as their spokesman, who introduced a modification of 1937's defeated war-referendum amendment to the Constitution which would effectively shackle the Administration with diplomatic handcuffs.

A year ago the Administration managed by only 21 votes in the House to beat the proposal by Indiana's Louis Ludlow that the Constitution be altered to require, except in case the U. S. was invaded, a national referendum before Congress could declare war on a foreign power. As revised by the twelve Senators, the proposed amendment would take from Congress the power to declare war except in case of "attack by armed forces, actual or immediately threatened" upon U. S. territory or upon "any country in the Western Hemisphere" threatened by a non-American nation.

Said Spokesman La Follette: "Americans have not forgotten the steps that made a declaration of war inevitable in 1917. War breaks out in foreign lands. The Executive decides to help one side. The nation becomes involved in secret commitments and breaches of neutrality. Then there are 'episodes' and excuses for taking sides further. . . . When it is too late to be neutral, Congress is asked to rubber stamp a declaration of war, and the people are lured by fancy slogans about fighting to end all war and save democracy. After the supreme sacrifice is made, democracy is destroyed and the peace settlement lays the groundwork for the next war."

With a last puff the Senate passed the air bill, amended it to up total planes--5,500 to 6,000.

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