American Notes of the Week
NEUTRAL RIGHTS.
The discussion of neutral rights provoked by the British White Paper is particularly unfortunate, in view of the cumu- lative effect of earlier statements by Mr. MacDonald and others, notably General Smuts. Earlier statements had already created the impression here that a very different construction was being placed upon the Kellogg Pact abroad from that accepted, at least by some sections of opinion in the United States. The White Paper argument, as understood here, that under the Pact, as Europeans count on implementing it., as under the Covenant of the League, there would be no neutrals in future wars, and consequently no issue as to neutral sea rights, intensifies this impression. The general view here is that neither the wording of the Pact nor any responsible American interpretation of it can be held to affect the neutrality issue. Bluntly, the United States has not the least intention of forfeiting its right to remain a neutral whenever it sees fit, and in making that position plain Senator Borah has general support. The pointed explanation that, in preparing the White Paper, the British Foreign Office did not have the United States in mind, does not nullify the unfortunate effect which the Paper has had here. For since the contentions advanced in it are consistent with the earlier arguments of Messrs. MacDonald and Smuts they have provided more ammunition for the Isolationists in their present campaign against American adherence to the World Court and against the Administration's disarmament policy.
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