Page:Congressional Record Volume 81 Part 3.djvu/4

2378 United States to any belligerent state, named In the proclamation, or to any neutral state for transhipment to, or for the use of, any such belligerent state.

(b) The President shall, from time to time, by proclamation, extend such embargo upon the export of arms, ammunition, or implements of war to other states as and ^ien they may become involved in such war.

(c) Whenever the President shall find that a state of civil strife exists In a foreign state and that such armed conflict Is of such a magnitude or Is being conducted under such conditions that the export of arms, ammunition, or Implements of war from the United States to said foreign state would threaten or endanger the peace of the United States, the President shall proclaim such fact, and It shall thereafter be unlawful to export arms, ammunition, or Implements of war from any place In the United States, or possessions of the United States, to any such state or to any other state for transshipment to, or for use in, the state named in the proclamation.

(d) The President, by proclamation, shall definitely enumerate the arms, ammunition, or Implements of war, the export of which Is prohibited by this section.

(e) When in the Judgment of the President the conditions which have caused him to Issue his proclamation or proclamations have ceased to exist he shall revoke the same and the provisions hereof shall thereupon cease to apply, except with respect to offenses committed, or forfeitures Incurred prior to such revocation.

Mr. FISH. Mr. Chairman, I offer an amendment, which I send to the Clerk’s desk.

The Clerk read as follows:

Amendment offered by Mr. Fish: Page 19, line 9, after section 3 (a), strike out all of page 19 and on page 20 down through line 8. On line 9, change paragraph (d) to (b). Strike out all of paragraph (e). Insert the following, so as to read: "Sac. 3. (a) It shall be unlawful to export, or attempt to export or cause to be exported, arms, ammunition, or Implements of war from any place In the United States In peace or war.”

Mr. FISH. Mr. Chairman, I want to congratulate the leadership of the House for providing 10 hours of general debate. There were those doubters who believed there would not be sufficient requests for time to warrant considering this bill for 10 hours. As a matter of fact, near the conclusion of the debate we had to cut down some of the requests to 4 minutes and in some Instances to 1 minute.

Debate on both sides of the House has been conducted on a very high order and plane, and, as far as I am concerned, on a nonpartisan basis. I am making my appeal, as I did when I spoke first in this House, that this bill be considered purely on its merits and on a nonpartisan basis. It is a question of war and of peace or declaring the peace policy of the United States.

During the World War Republicans and Democrats served alongside each other shoulder to shoulder, not as Republicans and Democrats but as Americans. We served under a great war President, our Commander in Chief, Woodrow Wilson. [Applause.] There was no question of politics once you were in the Army. You served as Americans and you died as Americans. It was only toward October or November 1918 that Woodrow Wilson himself injected the partisan angle by asking for the election of a Democratic Congress, which was a colossal political blunder. Later on came the question of the League of Nations, which, unfortunately, developed a political angle. As far as peace or war is concerned, there should be no partisanship, and I am pleading for the consideration of the amendment on the basis of merit and merit alone. It is a question of war and of peace or declaring the peace policy of the United States.

The amendment I have offered is a very simple one. The present law today provides that it is unlawful to ship arms, ammunition, and implements of war in time of war to belligerent nations. Everybody is for this. I want to make this provision applicable also in time of peace. [Applause.] Why should we sell arms to nations preparing for war in order to go to war for the sake of profit, greed, and blood money? Why should we prepare the nations of the world for war and become the symbol of arms, ammunition, and the dollar sign for wholesale slaughter?

I submit in all sincerity and all good faith that with many foreign nations arming to the teeth, going mad building armaments, and spending $15,000,000,000 this year—three times as much as they spent 3 years ago and four times as much as they spent back in 1914—if we are sincere, if we are in good faith at all about this bill, we ought to extend its provisions against shipment of arms in time of peace as well as time of war. [Applause.]

I hope, if the gentlemen and gentlewomen of this House vote down this amendment, we will have a chance—and I am going to give it to you—to vote on it by a motion to recommit on a roll-call vote.

If we are against the sale of implements of war in time of war, the logical thing to do is to stop it in time of peace. [Here the gavel fell.]

Mr. FISH. Mr. Chairman, I ask unanimous consent to proceed for 3 additional minutes.

The CHAIRMAN. Is there objection to the request of the gentleman from New York?

There was no objection.

Mr. FISH. We have signed the Briand-Kellogg Pact to renounce war as an instrument of policy, except for national defense. Having done this, we have outlawed war except for national defense. Having outlawed war, it is only logical and proper that the next step should be to outlaw the sale of ammunition and implements of war. This is what I am proposing to do here, to extend the prohibition to times of peace. Otherwise we become the potential slaughterhouse of the world. We will be selling armament right up to the day nations declare war. To my mind it is actually worse to prepare these nations for war than to supply them munitions of war once they have entered into war. Once they have entered into war we cannot stop It; but before they enter into war we can stop it by not selling them ammunition and implements of war which might also be used against our own soldiers. My proposal constitutes a real neutrality policy in time of peace as well as of war and would be a far more effective step toward promoting peace than anything contained in this bill.

Mr. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield?

Mr. FISH. I yield; certainly.

Mr. JOHNSON of Texas. The amendment which the gentleman now proposes he did not propose or even suggest during the consideration of the bill by the Foreign Affairs Committee of the House?

Mr. FISH. I am glad the gentleman asked that. 1

Mr. JOHNSON of Texas. Is that true or not?

Mr. FISH. Certainly it is true, which is all the more reason we should consider it here. I did not think of this amendment before the committee. There are many other amendments I hope Members of the House will offer today to improve this legislation. We did not give any too much consideration to the details of the bill, and we received almost no help from outside in writing it.

Mr. SIROVICH. Will the gentleman include munitions in addition to ammunition and implements?

Mr. FISH. No; certainly not; only arms, ammunition, and implements of war.

Mr. SIROVICH. How about munitions that could be converted into arms, ammunition, and implements of war?

Mr. FISH. No; I do not want to go that far. This is the law now as affecting belligerent nations. I want to extend it to time of peace to all nations.

Mr. JOHNSON of Texas. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield for another question?

Mr. FISH. Yes.

Mr. JOHNSON of Texas. I did not quite catch the full import of the amendment as it was read, but, as I understood it, the amendment substitutes the few lines the gentleman offers in the amendment for the entire section?

Mr. FISH. No. If this is adopted, which I hope it will be, we will then put back practically all that section as written. I do not want to take anything out of it.

Mr. JOHNSON of Texas. I simply want to understand the amendment, which I did not understand when it was read.

Mr. SIROVICH. Mr. Chairman, will the gentleman yield for a question?