214 On Faculty Back Aid Bill: Petitions Opposing Limitations Sent Senator

214 On Faculty Back Aid Bill

Petitions Opposing Limitations Sent Senator

Opposition to limitations on the lease-lend bill is set forth by 214 teaching faculty members in a petition forwarded to Washington today.

The original petition bearing signatures of the faculty members was sent to Senator Arthur H. Vandenberg, opponent of the measure, and a copy to Senator Prentiss M. Brown.

Letters signed by Prof. Carlton F. Wells, Prof. Preston W. Slosson and Prof. Charles F. Remer, the men initially responsible for circulation here of the petition, were sent to both of the senators.

The petition asserts "We do not pretend that there is any absolutely safe course before our country. But failure to make a decision is itself a choice, and it may be the most dangerous of all.

"To reasonable safeguards of the rights of Congress we do not object,’’ the petition adds, “but any limitations on the lease-lend bill and all necessary supplementary measures that might hamper rapid and effective action by the executive seems to us criminal folly at a period in the world’s history when new wars break out within the space of one day's crisis and great nations have been overthrown in one month’s fighting.”

An Axis victory, it is said, would “transform our temporary peril into a perpetual one. Conscription would no longer be an emergency measure but a settled policy. A navy in the Pacific greater than Japan’s, a navy in the Atlantic greater than the combined navies of all Europe, would be the bare minimum of safety.

“Our entire foreign trade would lie at the mercy of hostile powers. Our standard of living would be forced by the weight of militarism to the level of Central Europe. Every year we would pay more to fend off invasion than all the value of the equipment we could possibly lend or give to Britain and her allies this year.”

Prof. Wells said that the petition is not the work of any organization nor an official expression of the University. He stated that of the 214 faculty members (about 20 per cent of the University teaching faculty), 69 are full professors, 37 associate professors, 36 assistant professors, 40 instructors, and 32 teaching fellows.

Less than one-half of the faculty were contacted, Prof. Wells said. He remarked that none of the persons to whom the petition was presented had expressed opposition to aid to Britain but that many “hesitated to sign from a feeling that their position in a state institution created a delicacy in joining their names to any petition of this character.”