^Ex-SecretaryStimson s
Letter on Foreign Relations^
Following is the text of former
Secretary of State Henry L. Stim-
son's Utter on the /oreign polioy
of the United States:
To The Editor
Or THE NEW YORK TIMES':
There is an Inoreaslng number
of our people who feel that, In
the face of the situation abroad,
our government should follow a
policy of faraighted affirmative
action rather than one of drift
and negation. Their belief Is that
in the former lies the beet hope
for the prevention of war; while '
by the tetter we should run the
most serious risk of becoming
ultimately dragged Into war.
Recent actions indicate that this
may be also becoming the policy
of our government. I refer for
example to the action of the
Secretary of State In persuading
our airplane manufacturers not
to sell planes to nations—notably
Japan — which are engaged in
bombing helpless civilian popula-
tions; the action of the Export
and Import Bank In making a
loan of $25,004,000 to China; the
action of the government in en-
couraging the sale of large num-
bers of airplanes to Great Britain
and France In the emergency
which confronts those nations;
the 'very frank and outspoken
answer which Mr. Welles of the
I State Department addressed to
the German Ambassador on the
. subject of the provocative utter-
ances of the governmcnt-con-
trolled Nad press; and finally the
January address of the President
to Congress indicating that It was
the intention of our government
* to bring our influence to bear •
upon aggressor nations by meth-
ods which were "short of war,
but stronger and more effective
than mere words."
Danger In Isolation
Z have long been In favor of
such a policy. I believe that our
foreign policy cannot with safety
be geographically limited to a de-
fense of this hemisphere or of
our own continental boundaries.
On the contrary, I think that If
we should stand idly by without
protest or action until Britain,
France and China are either con-
quered or forced to make terms
with militaristic aggressors, our
own hemisphere might become
economically so affected and mili-
tarily so endangered that it would
be neither a safe nor happy place
to live in, for a people with
Americas, ideals of life. On this
point I think that the statements
of the President in his January
address to Congress and of Secre-
tary Hull last year are sound and
timely.
- These great and fundamental
issues are now being widely dis-
cussed. The policy of the gov-
ernment has been sharply criti-
cized, j It may not be inappropri-
ate for me to attempt to analyze
some of these criticisms and what
seem to me to be the answers to
them. By way of premise I fully,
recognize that this problem of
war prevention has become much
more serious and difficult by the
setback to world cooperation for
peace and by the growth of inter-
national lawlessness which has
taken place during the past doc-
:-ade.v But that does not relieve
us of the problem • We mutt still
face it and solve It if possible. .
One very common objection to
such an affirmative policy of our
government is in substance that
we are nedlessly Irritating and
antagonizing nations with"-whom
otherwise we might safely llvo In
peace and that we are meddling
with what really does not concern
us- These critics say that de-
mocracies'have lived In the same
world with autocracies before;
therefore they should be able to
do so now.L>i think .that the fun-
damental error Involved in this
objection Is an Imperfect eppre-
l cl&tlon of . the basic alms and
I methods of the so-called fascist
governments, by which? term I
SSSip tbe tbree nations united by
^so-called Berlin-Rome-Tokyo
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and at peace with 1(0 neighbors,
we might agree that It was a do-
meaUoGutter which concerned
that nation alone, and that it,
was not1 our business to meddle
with It,
Attack on Democracy
But it is becoming every day
more clear that fascism Is not
such a system. On the contrary.
It Is now evident that It Is a rad-
ical attempt to reverse entirely
the long evolution out of which
our democracies of Europe and
America have grown, and that It
constitutes probably the most se-
rious attack on their underlying
principles which those principles
have ever met. -
We know now that the Inhab-
itants of those countries from
childhood up, by means of metic-
ulous and absolute government
control and by the skillful use of
modern engines and methods of
mass propaganda, are being
taught to reject freedom; to scorn
the principles of government by
discussion and persuasion instead
of force, and to despise the neigh-
boring nations which practice
such principles. We now know
that those Fascist inatlons have
created a skillful technique for
foreign aggression and that they
are In fact girded under virtual
martial law for threats and. If
necessary, for acts of force upon
their neighbors. In succession
the attacks upon Manchuria,
North China, South China, Ethi-
opia, Spain, Austria and Czecho-
slovakia have shown us the error
of likening modern fascism to a
domestic system with which the
rest of the world could live in
peace.
Furthermore, fascism has in-
volved a serious moral deteriora-
tion; an Increasing and callous
disregard of the most formal and
explicit international obligations
and pledges; extreme brutality
toward helpless groups of people;
the complete destruction within
their jurisdiction of that Individ-
ual freedom of speech, of thought,
and of the person which has been
the priceless goal of many cen-
turies of struggle and the most
distinctive crown of our modern
civilisation. Such a loosening of
the moral and humane ties which
bind human society together gives
powerful confirmation of the
basic unfitness of such a system
for organised International life.
It strongly suggests that in
our modern interdependent world
Lincoln's saying holds true, that
a house so divided against Itself
cannot permanently stand. Today
the neighbors of a fascist nation
are compelled to live in anticipa-
tion of Immediate forceful at-
tack. Such a situation is obvi-
ously the reversal of all civilized
International society as we have
known It .In' the past. Today, in-
stead of the' family of nations
being composed only of States
whose Individual sovereignty Is
mutually recognized and re-
spected, it also contains a power-
ful and united group of States
armed to the teeth which Is con-
tinually threatening and attack-
ing some of Its neighbors.
Soft Words Ineffective
Does any thoughtful man be-
lieve that Inaction or soft words
from us would prevent similar
''attacks being made against, the
United States today If a fascist
government believed that .such
attacks would be useful and could
be carried through with success?
On the contrary, it is now clear
that we are confronted with seri-
ous danger which will exist until
the liberal movement regains Its
faith, Its courage and Its momen-
tum, and until the people of the
fascist nations themselves be-
come convinced of the futility of
their systems and compel the
necessary changes.
J Ttpday**tnose people ^nw«"»»>
shackled by censorship and con-
1 trolled   by   government propa-
Sanda that no early ohange can
I anticipated. It may be delayed
until economic or military disas-
ter compels It, but in the mean-
while the danger of a general war
'hangs' over us. The prospect Is
as somber as it is without par-
allel In our experience. The
danger is as formidable as It Is
Imminent. In my opinion It can
be successfully resisted only by
the far-sighted readiness and co-
operation of the nations which
are opposed to such a system.
Another objection to an affirma-
tive policy by our government Is
that It will drag us Into war.
This Is an objection which seems
to me to be based partly on con-
fused thinking and partly on I
emotion—or, to speak plainly, on 1
undue timidity. It Is true, as his-
tory has shown, that if a general
war aotually takes place we
shall very probably be ultimately
dragged Into It. When war has
once begun, the combatant na-
tions become so desperate and so
reckless that, however cautious
we may be, our rights and In-
terests will eventually be so
trampled upon that our people
will Insist on defending them by
force.
But that Is not the present
question. What we are discussing |
now Is the prospect of preventing
such a general war from actually
breaking out. That is an entirely
different matter. Even if they
are Impervious to moral reasons,
these < aggressive fascist nations
understand very well the possible
dangers as well as the possible
advantages of force, and they
may be deterred from beginning
a war by timely and vigorous
warning of the dangers which
they will thereby certainly Incur.
Even more Important, peaceful
nations may be encouraged not
to make surrenders which will
ultimately endanger our safety,
if they now receive from us in
advance encouragement and ac-
tual assistance which it lies with-
in our power to give them.
No one realizes more strongly
than I do the uniquely secure
position, geographically as well
as In the possession of vital
natural resources, which the
United States occupies today. To-
day we are mora nearly self-con-
tained than any other nation In
respect to the raw materials
necessary for making war, and
today we are also practically safe
from that new terror of war—the
bombing of large cities from the
air.
A Choice for Us
But the question now Is: Having
those unique and powerful advan-
tages, how shall we use them?
Having this present security from
attack, how shall we conduct our-
selves In this threatening world?
Shall we bury our heads In the
sands of Isolationism and timidly
await the time when our security
shall be lessened and perhaps de-
stroyed by the growing success
of lawlessness around us? Or
shall we use our present strength I
and security from attack to throw
our weight Into the vacillating
scales In favor of law and order
and freedom? Today our govern-
ment can with safety speak uh- I
welcome truths to a dictator or J
do unwelcome acts, which It I
might bo extremely hazardous for I
a weaker European neighbor of
the dictator, either to do or utter.
Recent events have Indicated that I
such activity by us may produce
extremely wholesome reactions in
the cause of peace. On the other
hand, It Is far from Inconceivable
that a threatened or devastated
France or Britain or Holland
might be forced to cede to a
fascist nation some of Its posses-
sions In the Western Hemisphere
or In the Orient or make commit-
ments to that nation which would
be even more dangerous to our
safety. Would ¦ our position be
bettered by Idly waiting for that
to occur?
There la a flood of reaction and
violence overrunning the world \
today.   Our faith Is that this is
temporary; that the great prog-
ress of many long centuries will
not be permanently lost but that-
after the social and economic dis-
locations caused by the Great War
are readjusted the progress in
freedom and In the humanities
will be resumed.   In the mean-
while and until the present vio-
lence has spent its force that
flood must he h«],d backfrom
overwhelming us. ' During that
Interval oaoh liberty-loving nation
which stands confident In Us own
strength and f rccdom-'ls'. or strong
point of defense.  But that de-
fense Id not complete unless there
1b created among all such nations
the fullest sympathy and encour-
agement as well as a readiness to
assist to nn extent proportionate
to the danger.
What X have written may ex-
plain why I am unalterably op-
posed to the doctrine preached in
many quarters that our govern-
ment and our people must treat
the nations on both sides of this
greet issue with perfect impar-