Nrvt York Tim«3 July 5,1939.
HOOVER ASKS WILL
TO KEEP FROM WAR
Formal Declaration by the
Government First Means of
Staying Out, He Says
'POWER POLITICS* DECRIED
Ex-President, in Article, Warns
That Neutrality Laws Will
Not Prevent Conflict
Former President Herbert Hoo-
ver asked yesterday for a formal
declaration by our government that
we will not go to war with any
European nation unless the West-
ern Hemisphere Is attacked. He
listed this as the first means by
which the United States might stay
out of war, the second being our
withdrawal from the game of
"power politics."
Mr. Hoover's views were ex-
pressed in an article appearing un-
der his name in the American Mag-
azine, entitled "Shall We Send Our
Youth to War?"
He dismissed as unimportant the
technicalities of neutrality legisla-
tion, declaring that, if we do not
have the "adamant will to stay out.
no amount of law can keep us out."
Like "Flaying With Matches"
In discussing the game of power
politics, Mr. Hoover wrote:
"The players change and the
I forces In the game shift constantly.
It is a game of delicate moves. It
is. not a game of open 'covenants
openly arrived at. Nor is the self-
determination of nations one of the
rules. Those who'play with power
politics, like those who play with
matches, always deny that they in-
tend tp eet tho conflagration of
war. Their moves are based not
alone on.bluff but on guns. When
we take sides in their controversies,
when we talk of using force of any
kind, we are playing power politics
at the European chess table.
; "I do not believe we should alt In
that game, either in their Interest
or ours. Our Idealism and our un-
certainties of policy only befuddle
the movements of expediency and
delicate adjustments in which they
are compelled to live. ¦ And our
stakes are the lives of millions of
sons of America, The stakes .are
another twenty-five years ¦ of hide-
ous national impoverishment. "The
stakes are the progress of mankind
for half a century. The stakes may
be the sinking of intellectual and
spiritual liberty for a century to
come.
"The time may come when we
could arbitrate the quarrels which
arise in that game'at some point
before shooting begins. But if we
sit In the game we shall never be
arbitrator and we may be' drawn
Into the shooting."
EMr? Hoover then took up the
Question of "war-conditioning" of
the minds of our people, noting'
various propaganda methods, and
also the "firing of words by our
government officials at the nations
we don't like."
President at "Chessboard"
"President Roosevelt has taken
a seat at the table where power
politics Is being played. He has
joined In the chessboard of Europe.
He lines us up in the balance of
power. It is said that we can do
thlS without joining in war.
"It Is said that we will do some-
thing more than words and less
than war. When we open fire on
¦the front we are in the fight. The.
enemy will fire baok .with morel
than words. If the more than I
words fall to overcome him we!
have to go farther. Ppr**Uien we
have-to win or be overcome on our
side, tint'nobody say you^can do
such things without danger of war
Itself."
He gave his program lor our re-
maining at peace by saying:
"The greatest Immediate service
that we can render- is to join In
economic cooperation with other
nations to relieve the economic
pressures which are driving the
world: constantly to Instability. A
great part of these pressures for
war are economic. The greatest
healing force that could come to
the world Is prosperity. There is
a vast field for American action
which Is free from foreign en-
tanglements.
"We should resume the confer-]
ences which were started under
such good auspices by our country
In 1932. But, far beyond that, we
lean hold the light of liberty alight
ron this continent. That is the great-
est service we con give to civiliza-
tion.
pWrWe as a people can keep out of
war In Europe if we have the reso-
lute will to do so. Our will can be
weakened by propaganda. It can be
insidiously undermined by sitting In
tho gamo of European power
polities'.
"We hear much of laws that will
preserve our neutrality. But the
question Is not legalisms. It is our
will to stay out. Staying out Is a
matter of tactics and strategy al-
most as difficult as the strategy
and tactics of war. And, if there Is
not the adamant will to stay out,
no amount of law can keep us out."
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