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'All-out aid for Britain.' At last that for which we have waited so long has come. In his address of March fifteenth, President Roosevelt made clear to the world all for which the Bill HR-1776, or more commonly the Lend-Lease Bill, stands. The very fight in the United States Senate which went on during the debate over this bill proves without a doubt that democracy stands firm in the Western Hemisphere. And as a result the last link in the chain of American aid to her sister democracy across the sea has been cemented firmly into place. America has truly become 'the arsenal for democracy.' Gradually there has been built up between Great Britain and the United States a deep bond of friendship. The very way in which President Roosevelt went to meet Lord Halifax, the new ambassador from the Court of St James, on his arrival in the United States was no mere diplomatic courtesy. It showed a feeling of the deepest friendship and unity. In England, likewise, His Majesty King George met the new United States ambassador to his court, John G Wiriant, at a wayside station with a most hearty handshake. All this is far different from what we see or could expect to see in the dictatorial nations. There, a curt salute takes the place of a friendly greeting. Ever since the war began The United States of America has tried to give all aid to Britain, but to do this, lacking an official bill permitting it, has been very difficult. For in a democracy things of such great importance are not decided by one man alone, but by the people themselves. And now the people of the United States cry out in a loud voice, 'All-out aid for Britain.' Prime Minister Churchill in reply said that these words "come to us like a draught of life, and they tell us by an ocean-borne trumpet call that we are no longer alone." Margaret Mary Sheehan |