When he froze Japanese assets in the U.S. last week (see p. 11), President Roosevelt did not automatically put an end to U.S.-Japanese trade. Neither, except oratorically, did he put an end to the U.S. State Department policy of appeasing Japan with U.S. oil. There were plenty of official loopholes in the freezing order through which that trade could be carried on. What the President did was to load and point an economic gun at Japan. But it was a big-caliber gun, and it was ready to fire at any moment.
The gun crew is a three-man "policy board": Treasury's...
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