Wild Says Finnish Loan Will Not Affect Neutrality of U.S.

There isn't any question of endangering our neutrality by the $60,000,000 loan to Finland, proposed in the Hook Bill now before Congress, according to Payson S. Wild, associate professor of Government and authority on international law.

It's simply a question of giving aid to a peaceful nation," he declared yesterday. "There is no question of neutrality because legally there is no war."

Favors Loan

"The maintenance of Finland is important because it will keep Russia from spreading. Scandinavia may come next, and loaning money to the Finns now may save us from having to give drastic aid to them later."

Wild pointed out that legally there is no problem at all. Russia and Finland have not declared war on each other, and we can send them any goods we wish.

No Precedent

"A loan now will not involve us through establishing a dangerous precedent," he said, "because if another crisis arises and there is pressure brought to bear on us to make a loan to some other country, we can point to Finland's good record as a prompt payer of debts and as a nation friendly to us."

"We should take advantage of the legality of the loan to make it at the present time," he advised.

Questioned about the 300-mile "safety zone" in American waters Wild said, "We do not need it. If we had one we could not patrol it."

International law, he said, recognizes the three mile limit, but any country has the right to enforce a safety zone only for such distance outside that limit, as is necessary for protecting against danger to persons and property ashore.

Since modern guns have a range of 15 or 20 miles it might be reasonable to extend the zone slightly beyond that limit, he added.