While the debate in the U.S. Senate clearly Indicates the great likelihood of the Lend and Lease Bill being enacted without any serious modifications, the speeches of the various senators who have participated should prove of interest to all supporters of the principles of democracy, Indeed the sentiments which have been expressed go further than anything which was said in the House of Representatives and it would seem that the isolationists are doing no more than singing their swan song. When the change which has come over public opinion in the United States is considered, it is indeed remarkable that it has taken place with such rapidity and force. A year ago the United States in the main were highly critical of the whole war, and while there was a degree of sympathy with the allies it was at the time purely academic. German high powered propaganda was being directed to prevent the growth of that 8) thy, and that it failed was due, firstly, to the itual manner in which the Germans manage to overreach themselves, and, secondly, to the realization after the fall of France of the peril which would menace the United States should Britain be beaten.
The U.S. presidential election was fought between the two great parties on identical lines so far as the war was concerned. The Democrats had pledged themselves to extend all possible aid to Britain and her Allies short of going to war. Public opinion in the United States, when that announcement was made, was such that the Republicans could not have adopted a different line, for it was by that time realized that Britain, and her Allies were in fact a rampart against the aggressive Powers, and that if by any chance the latter were to emerge victorious from this struggle the United States would have to face the same enemies singlehanded. Thus the forces of sentiment were strengthened by a realization that the interests of the United States. were threatened in this war, and that that menace could only be destroyed by a pon victory for Great Britain and those with jer, There is plenty of support in the United States for the belief that the people were prepared fo go further if it were found in the event that the aid, which the Lend and Lease Bill is designed to give, did not prove sufficient. Senator Pepper was voicing the view of the masses when he declared "The American people will not allow England to fall—call it war or no war. Put this down a promise: America will not let England fall." President Roosevelt's declaration that even if the United States were engaged in a
pao pri of the majority aa the ithe y material to Great Britain, in the Pacific it would not interfere with
(Senate appears to be that this opinion shall be proved correct, It follows then that the attempts of German intrigue to involve the /United States in a struggle with Japan, for the purpose of preventing the shipment of war supplies to Britain has already failed, and that a war in the Pacific is superfluous even from a German point of view.
That does not however diminish the fact that during the next few months world affairs -will undoubtedly reach a crisis. Until the enormous war industrial machine which the United States are constructing gets into full production, there will be an interval during which Hitler may confidently be expected to do his utmost to force the issue. The only question outstanding then is whether the great assistance which the U.S. Legislature is planning will be at Britain's disposal in time. The aid which is already forthcoming is great and confidently expected to be sufficient to enable Britain and her Allies to withstand and beat off the German onslaughts. The next few months may indeed be dificult, but, when they have been endured, and beaten back, the tools will be ready with which Great Britain and those with her will be able ultimately to administer the defeat which Hitler, by his conduct, so richly deserves.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.