President Roosevelt's Labour Day broad-fast to the United States will go down in history as a striking document, and an inspiring appeal ta the American people to redouble their efforts in assisting democracy to destroy the evils of Nazism and Fascism which threaten the world. His indictment of Hitler should impress American Labour with the fact that he is opposed to their way of thought and living, for no group of Americans more than Labour has realized more clearly what Nazi domination hgs meant to workers unfortunate enough to come under its sway. The deprivation of freedom which threatens them, should Hitler win this war, is sufficient incentive to them to go all out in providing the democracies with all that is necessary to bring about the destruction of Hitler and all that he stands for. The world must be restored to its former foundations of individual liberty upon which a new order may be built but not such as is contemplated by the aggressor states.
Observers profess to see certain significances in what President Roosevelt said: or did not say. For example failure to mention Japan specifically as amongst the aggressor nations is taken to mean that he was leaving the way open for an adjustment of the Far Eastern situation. The President, however, renewed his warning that there can be no compromise with aggressor nations, and that is inferred to mean that the United States will continue a firm stand in whatever dealings with Japan are entered into. Undoubtedly it was wise of the President to say nothing at this juncture which might prejudice the conversations which are going on between the two countries; but it would be a great mistake to believe that his omission in this connection comes from anything more than a desire to leave the field as open as possible for the' discussions which have been initiated. It may very well be that those talks will come to nothing, but it is clear that President Roosevelt by his reticences is doing nothing likely to contribute to that unfortunate result.
On the other hand he has said much. He has assured Russia and China that their positions as enemies of aggression will not in any way be endangered in the event of a peaceful settlement of the outstanding issues between the United States and Japan. while his appeal to the nation's workers to increase armament production and provide greater assurance that war supplies will be delivered safely is to be taken as án indication to Japan as well as Germany that the United States will continue aid to both China and Russia. There is, therefore, no change in the American attitude with regard to any of the democracies to whose assistance the United The democracies will find ultimate intervention 1n the or
that does not permit of the inference that, if the interests of the United States were threatened by future developments: that country would be at all slow in the defence of its interests, "The broadcast was then a domestic utterence with highly important external significations, the chief of which has reference to the situation in the Far East. While there can be no appeasement, no truckling to aggression in any part of the world, President Roosevelt has made it clear time and time again that the last thing the United States want is war. That reluctance to engage in bloodshed must not be taken as a sign of weakness; nor should his insistence on the fact that his country is not a warlike one. The President has spoken with the authority ames from the existence of a united behind him. His sentiments are those of the vast majority of the people over whose destinies he presides, and he has made it just as plain now as he has on other ocsions, that the masses of the Americans are behind the democracies in their struggle to defend their old freedoms. From that strugple they will emerge victorious, and it might be as well for those: who apparently contemplate an extension of the war to the Far East, io remember that defeat invariably carries some disadvantages.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.