Statement of a Case

"For the last six months I have remained aside from the controversy on whether we should join in this war." So said Herbert Hoover last week breaking his silence on the great issue. Then, speaking on a nationwide broadcast, he told where he stood: against convoys and against going to war. Unlike Colonel Lindbergh his reasoning was not that the War was none of the U.S.'s business, nor that Britain was bound to lose. Said he:

"Let me state at the outset that I support provision of the maximum tools of war to Britain; that I am convinced we can give this maximum during her next critical months only if we keep out of this war; that putting our Navy into action is joining this war; that the whole European war situation is in transformation; that America is as yet unprepared even for adequate defense; that our people are not united. To go in now is neither wise nor for the interest of either Britain or ourselves. . . .

"If we join this war we must join in earnest. We shall lose it any other way. If we join we must at once increase our Army to 3,000,000 or 5,000,000 men. We would have to use a larger part of our immediate manufactures to supply our own Army. We would have to use a larger part of our air production to defend our own coast cities. We would have to at once increase our protections for the Pacific Coast and our island possessions. . . . We would have to hold merchant ships in reserve to carry troops to protect them. . . . We would have to use our light naval craft to convoy and protect our own sea lanes, especially in the Pacific. . . .

"Is it not clear that we will give less tools to Britain if we join in the war? The solution is not for us to go to war but to give her every tool that will readily serve her regardless of our own preparedness. . ."

Only President Roosevelt, by position, experience, current information, could answer ex-President Hoover. The President was sick and silent.

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