The Pittsburgh Press (October 25, 1941)
New comic team found in Japan
Editor, The Pittsburgh Press:
Comedians these days travel in twos. In this country we have Abbott and Costello, Olsen and Johnson, and others.
I haven’t the slightest idea who the paid funnymen in Japan are, but they sure have a super duo in Tojo and Togo.
Tojo is General Hideki Tojo, Japan’s new premier; Togo is Shigenori Togo, the new foreign minister.
Tojo says, on assuming the premiership:
I am awed with trepidation at my limited ability.
Togo says:
The ultimate goal of Japanese diplomacy, it is needless to say, lies in maintaining and promoting the peace of the world.
What has Jack Benny got that these boys haven’t?
RICHARD TAYLOR
Steubenville, OH
Places war responsibility on shoulder of FDR
Editor, The Pittsburgh Press:
The drive is on to repeal the Neutrality Law and push the country into the slaughter now going on in Europe. It may seem a far cry to some, from “cash and carry” to give, lease-lend and deliver arms and munitions to the warring nations all over the world, but such was the logical and inevitable result of amending the Neutrality Law to permit the sale of materials of war. Such was the intent of the interventionists who sponsored the legislation.
Now the Neutrality Law is to be repealed, or if repeal is too accurate a word to suit the war manipulators, the more deceptive word “amend” may be applied to the action Congress is now being asked to take. In short, the Neutrality Law is to be junked and the President given greatly increased powers to involve the American people in wars and strife all over the world and to commit the nation to any policy his fancy may dictate.
The propaganda drive is on in full swing. Interventionist columnists are giving the public the usual dose of half-truths, misinformation and falsehoods. This time they are a little bolder, a little more insistent, a litter more desperate. They are desperate because they realize their arguments have become shopworn, and sound ridiculous to the great majority of Americans who have not been moved by the elaborate propaganda of the past two years. There is no war hysteria in the country.
Congress was well aware of what it was doing when it enacted the Neutrality Law. It knew that the approaching war would be the usual bloody brawl with no holds barred; and in calm deliberation it endeavored to enact a Neutrality Law that would safeguard the American people against again becoming involved in Europe’s eternal wars.
Every reasonable provision was provided in the law to eliminate the possibility of incidents occurring that would lead to participation in a foreign war. And the neutral position of the United States was further strengthened by the Johnson Act prohibiting loans to defaulting nations.
So the nation was well-fortified by legislation to maintain its neutrality and remain at peace when the war broke upon Europe in September, 1939. All that was required was a faithful and conscientious administration of the laws by those high officials charged under oath with that duty.
But the President refused to abide by the Neutrality Law. Upon the outbreak of war he proclaimed a limited emergency and called Congress into extraordinary session to amend the law to permit the sale of munitions of war to belligerents. The amendments were passed by executive pressure on the Congressional rubber-stamps, and the Neutrality Law was crippled to the point of emasculation. Now let no one say that the Neutrality Law was a mistake, that it is impractical, that it would not work. The truth is that the law was not given a trial.
If the United States is involved in this foreign war, the responsiblity and consequences lie squarely upon one man.
JOHN H. DARR
Ligonier, PA