hand, if we sincerely want peace we have to face the necessity of great sacrifices of trade in order to remain at peace,
and until we can have the courage to take our choice between
the two we will not be ready to vote on a genuine and
sincere neutrality measure.
I would not question the sincerity of a single Member of this House, but I do submit that many of us have said in our campaigns that we are for neutrality; that we would never vote to send another American soldier across the sea. That is what I said, and I meant it; and because I still mean it I am intensely eager to see us pass legislation here which would prohibit the sale of munitions by Americans at any time and which would embargo every kind of material of war absolutely to any belligerent, not merely on American ships, but on all kinds of ships, in order to try to keep this pledge. Short of this we have, I think, done little toward keeping our country out of war. Short of this we shall end up by sending American men overseas to bleed and die for the sake of trade.
I recognize there is another point of view which is honest and sincere and for which I have the utmost respect. This is the point of view that America should be a crusading nation, protecting her trade everywhere, insisting upon her rights, crusading to protect the weak and to protect the smaller nations, picking out the aggressor nation and siding with the nation that is not the aggressor. But if we are to do this, we should unite hand in hand with other nations that we feel we can trust and embark upon that policy definitely with our eyes open, realizing it leads inevitably to war, and forget the idea of neutrality, and not pretend we are considering it at all. To be consistent, I believe those who hold the foregoing point of view ought to advocate America’s joining the League of Nations. As I say, I have sincere respect for those who hold this idea, and perhaps those people are rights but I hope, on the other hand, that we can. find a way in which we can keep America at peace. I have hoped we could develop an "American peace", developing friendships with South America and with the entire Western Hemisphere, building up commerce and trade and a consciousness of neutrality among a group of nations and keeping out of wars In other parts of the world. But I think we must have very strong measures, a good deal stronger than this bill, if we are to be able to do this. [Applause.]
[Here the gavel fell.]
The Clerk read as follows:
TRAVEL BY AMERICAN NATIONALS ON BELLIGERENT VESSELS
Sec. 9. Whenever the President shall have Issued a proclamation or proclamations as provided In section 3 of this act and he shall thereafter find that the maintenance of peace between the United States, and foreign states, or the protection of the lives of citizens of the United States, or the protection of the commercial interests of the United States and Its citizens, or the security of the United States requires that American citizens should retrain from traveling on the vessels of the state or states named In the said proclamation or proclamations, he shall so proclaim, and thereafter It shall be unlawful for any citizen of the United States to travel on any vessel of the state or states named In the proclamation or proclamations issued pursuant to section 3 of this act, except under such limitations and In accordance with such rules and regulations as the President shall prescribe: Provided, however, that the provisions of this section shall not apply to a citizen traveling on a vessel whose voyage was begun In advance of the date of the President’s proclamation, and who had no opportunity to discontinue his voyage after that date: And provided further, That they shall not apply under 90 days after the date of the President’s proclamation to a citizen returning from a foreign state to the United States or to any of Its possessions. When, In the President’s Judgment, the conditions which have caused him to issue his proclamation have ceased to exist, he shall revoke his proclamation and the provisions of this section shall thereupon cease to apply.
Mr. WADSWORTH. Mr. Chairman, I move to strike out the last word in order to ask the chairman of the committee and others interested if it would not suffice to insert into this bill a declaration to the effect that any American citizen traveling on a belligerent vessel does so at his own risk, rather than make it actually a crime to do so.
Mr. McREYNOLDS. Mr. Chairman, we had this in our bill last year, and after studying it, and with the fear that American citizens would be traveling at their own risk, and be blown up, and then fearing the effect of that on the people of the United States, fearing they would forget about the man traveling at his own risk, we thought it best to put in this other provision, and in the discretion of the President.
Mr. WADSWORTH. May I ask the chairman of the committee what is the penalty for a man doing this?
Mr. McREYNOLDS. Not over 5 years’ imprisonment nor more than a ten-thousand-dollar fine—either or nothing.
Mr. WADSWORTH. Mr. Chairman, I suppose any protest coming from me at this time will be of little avail, but it seems to me that we are going pretty far when we say to an American citizen that he cannot travel on a belligerent vessel and threaten him with fine and imprisonment up to as much as 5 years for doing so.
Mr. McREYNOLDS. More or less. It may be the minimum.
Mr. WADSWORTH. We cannot anticipate what personal crisis may overtake an American citizen. It may be that he may find himself very far from home.
Mr. McREYNOLDS. - Oh, we have taken care of that In this bill.
Mr. WADSWORTH. How? Mr. McREYNOLDS. By putting in the provision about the discretion of the President, so that he can give the man permission.
Mr. WADSWORTH. Mr. Chairman, the chairman of the committee says that all these things have been taken care of. If that is the fact, there is not much use in the provision.
Mr. McREYNOLDS. The President has the discretion.
Mr. WADSWORTH. But an American citizen may find himself in an exceedingly difficult situation and he is the only person who may judge of the degree of the difficulty. He may find that he has to go to a foreign country which is a belligerent. He may have to go there for family reasons, he may be compelled to go in ordinary decency; it may be the impending death of a relative, and it may be that the only way he can go there is on a belligerent vessel. He is more than willing to go at his own risk, but potentially, at least, this bill makes him a criminal if he goes. I think we have gone just about far enough in this kind of legislation.
The CHAIRMAN. The time of the gentleman from New York has expired.
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment, which I send to the desk.
The Clerk read as follows:
Amendment offered by Mr. Martin of Colorado: Page 28, lines 7 and 8, strike out the words “vessels of the state or states named In the said proclamation or proclamations’* and insert the words ’’high seas’’; line 10, beginning with the word "of”, strike out the remainder of the line and all of lines 11, 12, and 13 and insert in lieu thereof the words “on the high seas."
Mr. McREYNOLDS. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent that all debate upon this section and all amendments thereto close in 10 minutes.
The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection?
There was no objection.
Mr. MARTIN of Colorado. Mr. Chairman, the effect of my amendment will be to forbid and prevent Americans from traveling on any vessels on the high seas during the period of the emergency proclaimed by the Resident. It Is not anticipated by me that this amendment will be adopted. It is offered merely for the purpose of enabling me to indicate that this section and section 4 and this entire legislation will not effectuate the desired objective, that it is unworkable, that it is Impracticable, that it will not protect American lives or property in case of foreign war, or keep us out of war; but that, on the contrary, it may plunge us into foreign wars; and the implication was carried in the statement which the gentleman from Tennessee [Mr. McReynolds] made a moment ago with reference to passengers on the high seas, that it was feared the passenger would go on a belligerent vessel and get killed, which would so inflame the country that it might result in war.
