"America First"

Last June, a Yale law student named Robert Douglas Stuart Jr. deplored Yale University President Charles Seymour's espousal of open aid to the Allies, believing it would lead the U. S. into war. Furthermore, he thought Seymour's views were not those of the student body and got up a poll showing 3-to-1 on his side. General Robert E. Wood (Sears, Roebuck) heard of the Yalemen's activities, asked Stuart to visit him. Out of their conversation grew the America First Committee.

Last week General Wood's committee--the antithesis of William Allen White's Committee to Defend America by Aiding the Allies--had 60,000 members, eleven local chapters and an organization drive that was going like a house afire. In Washington, national committee members included such strange company as socially conscientious Kathryn Lewis (daughter of John L.) and socially conspicuous Alice Roosevelt Longworth. Just what the organization was after remained obscure: it was easier to see what it was against than what it was for. And what the committee was against was getting the U. S. into the war. General Wood last week adduced some further arguments to the National Association of Manufacturers' meeting in Manhattan:

1) Germany cannot invade America even if Britain falls. 2) the U. S. can and will do business with the Nazis even if necessary to cartelize the trade. 3) If the U. S. convoys British shipping, that act "is sure to put us in the conflict."

If the U. S. stays out of the war, said General Wood, he saw the possibility of a negotiated peace between Britain and Germany in the spring. If the U. S. should go in, he saw profound transformations in the political and economic system. Predicted General Wood:

"If the war is prolonged for two to four years more, Europe will be in ruins and victor and vanquished will end up in some form of communism or national socialism. It is probable that Great Britain will be ruined, and, even if a victor, left in such a state of weakness that her empire would possibly disintegrate."

At week's end the America First Committee was working overtime to prevent transfer of more destroyers and bombers to Britain, was girding its loins for the next session of Congress, to fight repeal of the Johnson Act (no loans to defaulters on World War I loans) and the Neutrality Act (cash & carry aid only).

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