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> That the democracies will be threatened with defeat by the dictatorships. Said the authors: "Should they [the democracies] be on the eve of defeat, the square question would be presented, whether to aid them by methods no longer short of war, using them as our outlying defense posts; or whether to let them be beaten, treble our navy, radically alter our economic system, and meet the ultimate issue between us and the dictatorships bent on dominating the world.'' While Franklin Roosevelt has vowed to send abroad no U. S. troops—for which there is no military need—he has said nothing about sending the U. S. Navy and Air Force.
When will this "square question" be presented? If the war should go on two years or more (which the authors seem to assume it will)—when the English and French liquid assets are gone; when the U. S. must choose between giving the Allies credit, supplies, gold and taking the consequences of Nazi triumph.
"In this case, however," say Alsop & Kintner, "far more than in any other, the ultimate decision must rest wholly with public opinion. If our history has a lesson, it is that in these times one must pray, above all things, that public opinion will be wise and well-informed."
Over Hull's Shoulder. The week's diplomatic news made significant footnotes to American White Paper. When Japanese Foreign Minister Hachiro Arita made a verbal pass at The Netherlands East Indies, it was significant that Cordell Hull gravely, politely, promptly warned Japan against intervention—warned beforehand instead of protesting afterwards, as the U. S. has often done.
To many observers, a U. S. war with Japan seemed far in the distance. The U. S. Navy was not so sure about that. Rear Admiral Joseph Knetler Taussig this week told Congress that in present circumstances he regards war with Japan as inevitable eventually. Some sources, bluntly assuming that Hitler will invade The Netherlands before the end of June, further expect that Japan will seize the moment to move in on the Indies. It would therefore not be surprising if the tag end of U. S. Fleet maneuvers now in progress found a squadron near Manila. Well Cordell Hull knows that Japanese Ambassador Kensuke Horinouchi, visiting him, sees over Mr. Hull's shoulder the U. S. Pacific Fleet. But it is still a secret whether Mr. Hull himself sees the Fleet when he looks around.
Last week the Senate passed a Navy appropriation bill, 63-to-4, providing $963,797,478 to start building two 45,000-ton battleships, two cruisers, one aircraft carrier, eight destroyers, six submarines, five auxiliary vessels, to complete four cruisers, seven destroyers, seven submarines, and to purchase 471 airplanes. Before the Senate Naval Committee came Admiral Harold H. ("Betty") Stark to ask that another bill, authorizing an 11%, $655,000,000 naval expansion, be made a 25%, $3,486,000,000 expansion; and that an immediate $45,400,000 be voted in order to begin work at once. But ships still to be laid down will probably not be finished before the present crisis is passed.