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Sanctionists. All through the Italian-Ethiopian fight Colonel Stimson and his fellow-sanctionists—among them President Nicholas Murray Butler of Columbia University, Professor James T. Shotwell of the Carnegie Peace Foundation, Bishop William T. Manning—lived in hope that the League of Nations would invoke effective economic penalties against Italy. In November 1935 the League imposed sanctions (on arms, credit, raw materials) but omitted oil, asserting that no oil embargo would prove effective that did not include the U. S. Any latent U. S. desire to do something drastic about joining in oil sanctions evaporated when Britain's Sir Samuel Hoare and France's Premier Laval made a tentative agreement in 1935 to let Mussolini get away with part of his Ethiopian swag. League sanctions did Italy no serious harm; were just strong enough to unite hitherto lukewarm Italians behind their dictator.
Isolationists. All the major neutrality law battles since 1933 have been won by the isolationists. They include Bennett Champ Clark, Senator-son of the eminent "Little American" who lost out to Internationalist Woodrow Wilson at Baltimore in 1912 ; Young Bob La Follette, Senator-son of the leader of that "little group of wilful men" which fought ineffectively to keep the U. S. out of war in 1917; Michigan's Senator Vandenberg; Minnesota's Shipstead; Kansas' Capper; North Carolina's "Our Bob" Reynolds. Leader of the group is Nye of North Dakota, father of U. S. neutrality laws.
In general sentiment Borah, the old lion of Idaho, and Hiram Johnson of California belong to the isolationist group. But Borah and Johnson differ with Ny in their feeling that mandatory neutrality legislation is likely to prove too inflexible when confronted with unique circumstances.
Classicists. The school of classical neutrals has few famed adherents in Congress but when the present Neutrality bill was before the House 68 Representatives were in favor of outright repeal and a return to historical neutrality. Chief public advocate of this school is the venerable John Bassett Moore, famed authority on international law. He is seconded by Professor Edwin Borchard, of the Yale Law School, co-author with William Lage of Neutrality for the United States.
The Moore-Borchard school do not believe in fighting other folks' wars and do not believe in trade embargoes. They point to Thomas Jefferson's Embargo Act of 1807 which drove the merchants and shipowners of New England to threaten secession.