President signs Neutrality Act

Congress passed the neutrality act and the President signed it yesterday.

The act would prohibit sales of arms and materials to any party if war should break out in Europe. It also stipulates that American citizen travelling does so at his or her own risk.

President Roosevelt said that the new law would require American vessels to obtain a license to carry arms, would restrict Americans from sailing on ships from hostile nations and would impose an embargo on the sale of arms to "belligerent" nations.

It provides the strongest language yet warning other countries that the U.S. would increase its patrol of foreign submarines lurking in American waters. This stated neutrality is mostly a response to Germany's insistence on rebuilding her forces despite the Treaty of Versailles prohibiting such.

The President lobbied congress for the Executive ability to impose economic sanctions on nations at the Presidential discretion. Congress did not take this option and has chosen a complete neutrality.

The act will expire in six months on February 29th.