The statement that as the result of moral pressure United
States manufacturers have exported practically no aeroplanes at all in the last six months is significant as regards both the past and the future. It is worth observing that not only is there no legal prohibition on the export of aeroplanes to Japan but manufacturers might in some cases a:tually be proceeded against for failure to fulfil contracts. Bit: this is a case in which the opinions of the public, the State Department and the White House all coincide, and the manufacturers have deferred to them. That is of importance in its bearing on a future war in which the United States is neutral but in which issues where American convictions are strong arise. It has its bearing equally on the past. In 1935 " oil-sanctions " against Italy were discussed and rejected largely because it was urged that the United States would take no legislative, and that the President could take no executive, action to prevent oil-exports. League of Nations statesmen were assured, on authority that ought to have convinced them, that the desired effect would be obtained by moral pressure. They were sceptical—but it looks more than ever as if they were wrong.-
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