Oh, Mr. Holcombe!

(Ed. Note--The Crimson does not necessarily endorse opinions expressed in printed communications. No attention will be paid to anonymous letters and only under special conditions, at the request of the writer, will names be withheld.)

To The Editor of the CRIMSON:

It's pretty discouraging to hear from a man unbarrassed by constituents and the head of the government department in one of America's most liberal Universities speak of the Monroe Doctrine with the assurance of Calvin Coolidge or Theodore Roosevelt. Admitted that the government control of munitions would require careful research perhaps enough could be spared from the forces of the NRA administration. It seems possible that if the manufacture of munitions could be placed in the hands of persons more interested in preserving the peace than filling their own pockets, we should stand as good a chance of avoiding a war as now. If the United States is one of the countries best fitted to manufacture armaments, the unifying of that ability under an authority whose prime interest is peace might conceivably attain some end other than merely "allowing this business to pass into the hands of those European powers." Most assuredly in the event of war the United States would have to cease sending munitions to all countries concerned, and if the result were no better than merely turning the business over to European concerns we would be safer from embroilment than if the munitions were being furnished by unscrupulous irresponsible private American interests.

It seems paradoxical that Professor Holcombe in his pessimism regarding the ability and idealism of the government should "believe that little of importance has been done by private manufactures with the end of fostering war scares." A. C. Koch '34.