HOLCOMBE FAVORS ACTION

Explaining the petition to the President of the United States, asking for an embargo on arms destined for Japan and, if existing treaties to which the United States is a signatory have been violated, a cessation of all commercial relations between this country and Japan, which has been signed by a number of members of the faculty, Professor A. N. Holcombe, first man to sign the petition, said:

"There seems to be a general feeling in this country that we have a choice of either doing nothing or really intervening in the Sino-Japanese conflict. This is a mistake, however. If we do nothing at all we are really helping the Japanese against the Chinese. There are two reasons for this. The first is that the Japanese, by seizing Shanghai and other Chinese cities, have in effect blockaded China. Consequently the Chinese can get no munitions nor other help from abroad, while the Japanese can do so to an extent depending on how much they can afford to spend for them. The second reason is that the United States is one of the powers involved in the government of the International settlement in Shanghai. The Japanese are making it a base for operations against the Chinese. To maintain strict neutrality we must prevent their doing this, and that means a good deal more than we are doing now. Therefore so long as we do nothing, we are really helping the Japanese. There is no possibility of remaining strictly neutral.