Anxieties in the U.S.A.
The events of the last three weeks have brought home to the people of the United States the fact that even they can no longer regard themselves as safe from Nazi attack. The reverses suffered by the Allies have made all Americans realise that the army of France and the fleet of Britain are the first line of defence of America, and that if these were defeated the main armed defences of the Western hemisphere would have gone. Of this they have been warned by American voices speaking from Europe, and President Roosevelt himself has no illusions about the matter. In his broadcast to the American people last Sunday he spoke of " the futility, the impossibility " of the idea of isolationism in the Americas, and pointed out that " a defence policy based on that is merely to invite future attack." But though he insisted on the danger, and on the need of increasing production for defence, he said nothing about enlargement of governmental powers to put new drive into the defence programme, still less did he hint at any direct assistance to the Allies. America is still under the shadow of the Presidential election and the Government hampered by the fear that it will be accused of assuming exceptional powers. She has not yet reached the stage when she will offer to sell United States military aeroplanes to the Allies, though she may be counted upon to speed up production of aircraft already on order. But the conviction of urgency is growing. Mr. Cordell Hull has just relaxed the Neutrality Act regulations to permit of accelerated delivery. From more than one reliable American source she has been assured that the immediate delivery of no more than 50o first-line aeroplanes would make all the difference to the Allied cause.
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