The Alto Herald (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 27, 1940 Page: 6 of 8
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i'.
THE ALTO M, \H'().THXAS
GENERAL
HUGHS.
JOHNSON
Washington. P C.
BASES IN SOUTH AMERICA
It seems to be, or to have been,
a principal part of our defense pot-
icy to rety largely on the British
navy and the good will of our Good ;
Neighbor league with the Latin
Americas in protecting the Monroe
Doctrine. The post-World war pe- }
riod of international treaty-break-
ing, debt-repudiation and double- } ;
crossing should have been warning !
enough that no nation can safely rely , ;
on any strength but its own.
Some people now fear that the i }
British navy may not always be j
there. It may be a good time to j: -
question also our reliance on the
South and Central American coun-
tries
At the very start, it must be ad-
muted that there has been a good
deal of hokum in calling them
democracies. In greater or less
degree they are military oligarchies.
Some, like Santo Domingo, are ; g
dictatorships as bloody and ruthless jp
as anything Hitler ever dreamed, j ;
None is a democracy in the Anglo-
Saxon sense.
Their legal systems stem from the
civil taw of Rome and not from the
WEEKLy IffTS /iA'.4Z,y.S/.S By /'am/tarn F. DM<fgpo„
French Government Asks Peace
After Revnaud (labinet Resigns;
England Pledges 'We'll Fight On
(EDITOR'S MOTH—When opinions arc expressed in these eo!umna, th^y
are thos? of the news analyst and not necessarily of this newspaper.)
Released by Western Newspaper Union. ———
When Italy joined forces with Germany in the war against France and
Engiand she had a good supply of armored tanks to aid in clearing the way
for troops in true blitzkrieg fashion. Mere are pictured a number of Mus-
solini's soldiers manning the best tanks Maty has been able to produce.
In addition to these "regular " tanks, the Malian army is said to possess a
large number of the "Itame-throwing" variety.
^4s Some See ft
-By Thomas.
common law. They have never i
reaily understood or very much i
cared about any such institutions as
self-government as ours.
In the next place, in spite of all
the declarations, treaties and diplo-
matic palaver, most of them dis-
trust us and in some cases despise
us. Mr. Roosevelt has done much
to improve this state of affairs but
you don't change national sentiment
and the thinking of generations by
a few visits and a lot of ballyhoo.
To the contrary, several of these
countries have much closer tics of
blood, education and tradition with
European countries than with us.
Their language is either Spanish or
Portuguese and their immigration
has been much more heavily Ital-
ian, Spanish or German than French
or English.
Finally, their military, naval and ;
air strength and aptitude is almost i
negligible. AH we could expect to
gain from our league with them
are defensive naval and air bases
for our own arms but with that un- j
der the present plan, come the ob- {
ligation and tremendous task of po- '
I icing and defending a continent full
of suspicious or unfriendly, if not
outright hostile nations.
This column thoroughly agrees
that, for the sake of our own hides,
we have to get naval and air bases to
prevent enemy lodgments—at least
to the bulge of South America. It
notes with alarm that we are not
getting them.
It doubts whether we are ever go-
ing to get them or buy for ourselves
anything more than a mare's nest
of dangers and trouble if we don't
put the pressure on to get them and
recognize that we are doing it as an
absolute necessity for our own de-
fense and without much, if any, re-
liance on the loyalty, strength or
friendship of any country south of
the Rio Grande.
.
UNIVERSAL TRAINING
As an illustration of snap judg-
ments in the highest places is the
President's approval after having
read "only the first paragraph" of
a New York Times editorial, saying:
"The time has come when, in the
interest of seli-protection, the Amer-
ican people should at once adopt a
national system of universal com-
pulsory military training."
Later on the editorial said:
"We believe that it 6hould be so
drafted as to provide training not
only for young men but for older
men as well."
So do It, but in 1918, we had regis-
tered for, or actually in military
service, 23,348,000 men between the
ages of 18 and 45. Since then our
population has increased 30 per cent.
Presumably we now have at least
33,000,000 in that class.
Setting out to train 33,000,000 men
THE WAR:
"Our race does not allow itself
; to be beaten down by invasion . . .
Our race has always thrown back or
dominated the invaders ..." Brave
j words these, spoken by Premier
Reynaud of France as he was tell-
i ing his people of his "last" appeal
j for help to President Roosevelt.
But within four days following this
desperate plea, Paul Reynaud re-
} signed his post as premier of
{ France's "war" cabinet and was re-
placed by 84-year-old Marshal Henri
* Petain, to whom fell the fateful job
j of arranging a "peace with honor."
France, weary and tired under the
constant pounding of the relentless
German blitzkrieg, had decided to
; concede defeat in order to save what
was left of the country from the in-
vaders.
Premier Petain's cabinet began its
negotiations to end the war through
Generalissimo Franco ot Spain—a
friend of both Petain and Hitler.
Even before this grave
reached London the British had
pledged themselves to continue the
war even if France should find it
necessary to cease firing. Great
Britain declared that Germany had
used up her resources in too great
a hurry and unless she was able
to conquer the allies within a few
months all chance of a German vic-
tory would vanish.
Russia meanwhile had stepped into
the picture and assumed "protec-
tion" over Lithuania because, ac-
cording to the Soviet, that tiny na-
tion was busy obtaining Russian mil-
itary secrets that were "threaten-
ing peace." It was also claimed that
the Liths had entered into a mili-
tary alliance with their small neigh-
bors, Estonia and Latvia. So Rus-
sian troops marched into these two
nations, as well.
Before the French decision to
seek peace had been made, German
troops had entered Paris and the
swastika was unfurled on the streets
of that historic city. The French
had cleared the city of soldiers be-
fore the Germans arrived so that it
could be classed as an "open city"
and thus be spared destruction by
bombing or shell fire. The high com-
mand explained that no worthwhile
strategic aim would justify destruc-
tion of their beautiful capital, al-
most sure to result in any battle to
defend it.
HOME FRONT:
Big Joh
In a machine age war world, with
dive-bombers, flaming tanks, and
motorized equipment of all types,
industrial mobiiization of national
resources takes precedence over
manpower mobilization.
Germany's swift thrusts into en-
emy territory stand as evidence
that while France and England idly
watched, Nazi factories were work-
ing overtime turning out their me-
chanical instruments of war.
H E AD LIKE H S
C. Gov. Luren Dickinson of Michi-
gan removed Thomas C. Wilcox as
sheriff of Wayne (Detroit) county
after hearing charges that the sher-
iff received a "cut" in a vice and
would be absurd and preposterous. I gambling payoff.
Of course, piany of these would be
exempted by reason of physical dis-
ability, or dependency of others, or
by reason of industrial necessity.
The number is impossible to com-
pute until we know the liberality or
strictness of the exemption rules.
If we decided to train all the classes
that were in 1918 classified as fit and
eventually liable to military service,
the total would be more than 10,000,-
000.
Obviously, the writer of that edi-
torial did not mean "universal com-
pulsory military training." It would
be destructive, impracticable.
C. Arriving safe in Canada, Prin-
cess Juliana of The Netherlands
and her two infant children plan to
live in the dominion until the end of
the war.
€. Vacationing in Kentucky, Su-
preme Court Justice McReynolds
warned in an interview that, "if
Adolf Hitler's plans prevail, our fan-
cied security cannot survive."
C. Sen. Ernest Lundeen (F. L.,
Minn.) charges that President Roose-
velt is "crusading for war" in per-
mitting army and navy planes to
be purchased "indirectly" by the al-
lies.
Allied leaders themselves are ad-
mitting these days that it was this
lack of a unified industrial produc-
tion program that left them so far
behind Germany when the war be-
gan.
Evidently th* United States does
not intend to tc caught napping in
a similar fa^'jon, should this nation
be called t on to defend its shores
against invasion. For the $5,000,-
000,000 preparedness program is
moving along with increasing
smoothness and speed.
The President's defense commis-
sion, co-operating with government
agcncies, has increased the tempo
of its program to aid in this mob
zation.
From Detroit, likely to be
key point for the mass pro
of war planes, came newp tl
Henry Ford and his enRim
inspected two planes sent ^
the war department, be arm
that his statement of being
to produce 1,000 ships a day, ^
stood. It was further stated thatri
en six months noticc Ford T
turn out this many planes wi<^
interruption to nori ^ outpt
automobiles. Ford emphasir
an interview that any p! nes 1^
duced would be "for defense
Poytwg f/ie
Secretary of the Treasury
genthau believes that the public
"willing and ready" to accept ad
ditional taxes to support the de-
fense program. Most tax experts
agreed with him but many cautioned
that a hurried revenue bill rushed
through congress would have to be
reviewed and studied later to see
that the tax was distributed fairly
among all income groups.
rouTics:
Now As (he
Opening their national convention
in Philadelphia the Republican par-
ty faces a difllcult task indeed.
From its ranks it must pick a pres-
idential candidate that will first of
all be able in some manner to mate!)
the experience in international af-
fairs that the Democratic party can
present to the U. S. voting poputa-
tion in its candidate.
For war or peace, preparedness
or lack of it, the foreign situation
is to be the biggest factor in the 1940
political campaign. Both major po-
litical parties realize this and many
domestic issues, truly important
ones, may be neglected becausc
of it. And with knowing this they
are concentrating on choosing a
standard bearer that will give the
American public full confidence that
if elected he will be successful in
pursuing a wise foreign policy.
INDUSTRY:
Since last December, American
business has been following a down-
ward trend but now the picture is
changing and according to recent
reports of the federal reserve board
this trend has been suddenly re-
versed.
Government economists and Sec-
retary of Commerce Harry L Hon
kins believe that domestic busi-
ness activity wilt increase enough
(due to the multi-billion dollar d^
fense program) to^more than offset
losses in international trade due to
invasion of many of Uncle Sam's
good customers in Europe.
Not only have the so-callcd war in
dustries (machinery, aircraft, shin,
building and chemicals) evidenced,
nice gains recently, but other in-
dustnai fields not directly retated
to armed conflict have increase,
their activity Outstanding among
these other industries are: nieit
packing, rayon production, petro'le
um output and coal production
But the greatest increase in vol
ume of business is in production of
steel. Marked increase in orders
for foreign buyers and domestic
manufacturing plants are pushin.
steel plants up to capacity "^
Washington, D.C.
m ril COH'MN -GUNS' IN U. S.
Attorney General Bob Jackson's
! .'en for a federal law requiring reg-
I .'trafon of all privately owned fire-
,,„is had more behind it than he
Isrlosed. Inside fact is that this
constitutes one of the most serious
problems facing the government
,ts war against fifth columns.
Following the World war, one
armament company alone disposed
of 15.000 "Tommy" guns to private
purchasers after trying unsuccess-
ful to sell them to the army. About
[0,000 of these deadly weapons are
- unaccounted for." How many are
in the hands of potential fifth col-
umnists the government, under ex-
isting laws, has no way of knowing.
Jackson's proposed statute would
provide the power to find out.
Another unmentioned factor trou-
bling officials is the tremendous in-
crease in the sale of guns and am-
munition in the last two years. Tax
coltections by the internal revenue
bureau give the foltowing figures on
this astounding traffic in our
"peaceful" country:
Total sale of taxed firearms, rifles,
shotguns, pistols, revolvers, to pri-
vate persons in 1938—$24,959,048; in
1M9—$36,010,684.
In the past three years these sales
reached the amazing total of $97,-
403,730—which is almost one-fourth
of the army's 1937 appropriation. It
is also vastly in excess of average
sales for sporting purposes and law
enforcement.
Note—The U. S. is far behind oth-
er powers in regulating firearms.
England. France, Germany, Italy,
Japan all have drastic laws on the
private possession of weapons. The
national firearms act of 1934 im-
posed a limited regulation on the
sate of machine-guns and sawed-off
shotguns by requiring manufactur-
ers, dealers and pawnbrokers to reg-
ister sales and transfers. But the
)Rmny thousands of these lethal
weapons sold before 1934 still are
^accounted for.
* * *
OIL TO ITALY
fltaly's entrance into the war has
^teast one harmful effect upon
^ally, Germany. It means the
* tt. S. oil shipments to Italian
^r trans-shipment to Ger-
-pments, especially of !u-
have been heavy since
ftonth of the war. With
L-?, however, U. S. shipsi
Axis cfforls to
csources in the Near
' ly is sure to make a
British and French
Or getting through
canal, she will strike at the
.s of Iran, under control of
fnglo-Iranian company.
Meanwhile British oil shipments
these sources will be diverted
the Mediterranean route, and
bt result probably will be a heavy
icreaseofU.S. oil shipments to
Britain and France.
APPEASING MUSSOLINI
Attied and Roosevelt diplomacy
struggled behind the scenes until
almost the last minute to keep Mus-
solini out of war.
It was on a Monday that the Ital-
ian dictator shouted his hoarse-
voiced proclamation of war. And
as tate as the preceding Saturday,
the French were still dickering with
him. At that time they offered him
the island of Corsica, birthplace of
Napoleon, as well as the important
African colony of Tunisia, plus
i rench Somaliland with its Red Sea
,ort of Djibuti.
But Mussolini wanted more.
Real fact probably was that he
iutd not afford to antagonize Hit-
!, r by failing to declare war. A
!\azi victory looked too certain, in
s hich case Mussolini would have
i jen left facing the triumphant and
r sentful hordes of Nazi Germany
j ist across the Brenner pass.
Note—A lot of people thtnk Mus-
^lini will face an aggressive Nazi
army anyway.^ ^ ,
ROOSEVELT'S MOVES
President Roosevelt came to real-
that nothing counted with Musso-
) ,t except (1) what he was going to
t in return for keeping the peace;
i d (2) whether- he wds going to
),, on the winhing s'de.
Accordingly, 'he last' weeks an-
, ^cements from the White House
tJt the United States was selling
.^y and navy pianes direct to
! t , allies, Ptus surplus ar^Y etWP-
L? was calculated to haveadou-
I ,Effect One was the actual help
^.ive the allies. The other
"'"the hope that Mussolini would
t "inoJeB by the fqct that tj-e
' States was talhitig in deeds,
Imtod StateSordg, ^ ^ ^ ,
^'.dfmight turban allied victH-
POLITICAL CHAFE
- Alf Landon's hardest jobs
^fhh.C booms for himself.
' s^fn'"evcry day, by long dis-
1 ; ictica! y telegraph, he has to
the% of some admirer to start
a trive f°r Sports that Communist
''"^ agents are working along
anj Nazi 38 - ^rder, Senator
,.^1'of Oklahoma proposed con-
J., h Lee of ..prjeg of forts, each
sh iction oi - ^ next, to shoot
w.iiin s.'&i . gee sneaking into
an foreign agen
the U. S.
BrucAarf'a Washington Digest
Aftermath of World War H
To Present Serious Problems
Economic Depression, Threats of Other Conflicts, Large
U. S. Standing Army, Are Among Grave Situations
To Be Facet! With Arrival of 'Peace.'
Wm. Brucltart
By WILLIAM BRMCKART
WNU Service, National Press B!dg.,
Washington, D. C.
WASHINGTON.—It may be some-
what early to talk about what will
happen after the second World war,
but I believe it is time to look in that
direction. With that
hell hole that is Eu-
rope still far from
giving us and the
rest of the world an
answer as to wheth-
er Hitler's murder-
ous philosophy or
the reasonable type
of freedom shall be
the governing force,
there are neverthe-
less many things to
come as an after-
math. We may wish to avoid think-
ing of those things, but I repeat we
will gain nothing by failing to look
to the future.
For one thing, if the first World
war was the cause, direct or in-
direct, of the depression that has
now gone 10 years, then there is an-
other one due after several years of
wintry blasts and burning summer
suns have destroyed the stains of
blood on Europe's battlefields. My
inquiries of men who study the field
of economics have brought little
more solid information than that we
must expect another cycle of torn
business and personal relations. As
far as I am personally able to figure
out, the depression that has been
with us for 10 years may prove to
be only a rehearsal for the real
worldwide depression that is to
come. I cannot see how it can be
avoided.
Another thing that gives the life
perspective a blue-black appearance
is the certainty that whoever wins
the gigantic martian explosions of
the current war, there will remain
thereafter hatred and threats of new
waA. The hatred is certain. Who
will not hate another people by
whom hundreds of thousands of hus-
bands, brothers, sons and sweet-
hearts were destroyed? The hatred
will obtain whether Hitler dominates
all of Europe or whether, as any
sane person hopes, he is destroyed
and his followers subjugated.
Comfawf 3TArenf of War
WM a f-ong jTtfne
The threats of war are bound to
come, likewise. If Hitler wins, ob-
viously every Frenchman, English-
man, Pole, Finn, Dane. Norwegian
or any other member of an op-
pressed people will hope and pray
for liberation. And liberation can
come only through fighting for that
liberty, especially when the force oi
government be vested in the hands
of a beast. The threat of war will
be with us, and the current genera-
tion of our people will have to live
with it.
That is the tragedy. The current
generation will know no real peace.
Children of today and tomorrow will
grow up, hearing rumbles of thun-
der from the god of war. They can
know only of large armies and
great navies. They must learn to
look to the future of war plans, fan-
tastic plans, weapons of mystery,
life underground if the warclouds
roll nearer. I repeat, there is so
little hope for a final adjustment of
the hatred in Europe upon a sane
basis that the current generations in
the United States will know no real
peace.
Then, there is the cost to which
we, as Americans, must look. Of
course, it is only infinitesimal com-
pared to the price the fighting na-
tions of Europe are paying. But
that is their war. It is not our war.
The price that we must be pre-
pared to pay is for keeping us out
of their troubles by keeping them
away from our shores. It promises
to be a terrific price in cold cash,
and so there will be taxes a-plenty.
They are starting now. Congress is
giving taxes quick consideration,
and there is every probability that
the nation's tax bill will be a billion
or a billion and a half dollars great-
er than ever before in history. It
has to be. For seven years there
has been a terrific waste, and the
public debt of the United States
now is around $45,000,000,000. We
have no cushion upon which to lean.
The tax bill for preparation must
be met from scratch. It will go on
and on.
Couftfry^< /ntfmtWafnt*
Are a ZM DiMatis/teJ
I hear also rumblings of discomfi-
ture and dissatisfaction among the
industrialists of the country. They
are being appealed to—yes, they are
AFTERMATH
Although he believes it might
be a bit early to be discussing
the aftermath of World War II,
Wiliiam Bruckart, Washington
correspondent, here presents
some very interesting angles on
what problems will arise in a
new time of peace. He forecasts
that a depression of world-wide
impact will come as surely as we
suffered from one after the last
war.
being told emphatically—to get go-
ing and produce and produce and
expand and expand. It is a part of
the hysteria that grips the national
capital.
With respect to the situation In
which the manufacturers find them-
selves, the story is simple. Itia
merely a repetition of 1917 and 1918.
The nation's industrial structure
was urged and threatened and ca-
joled into the greatest speed possi-
ble. "Make war materials" was the
cry. Industry did. But in the end,
industry that went overboard, head-
long into the manufacture of war
materials went broke. Its expendi-
tures for plant expansion and for
general increased facilities bled it
white. When the tax bill was paid,
war industry had nothing left. It
will be the same this time, unless
common sense prevails. There can
be war preparation without hyste-
ria; there can be war preparation
without the destruction of business
firms, butl am afraid it will be the
same story as evolved from the first
World war.
To bring this phase to a specific
basis, it is necessary only to call at-
tention to the tremendous losses that
were sustained by individuals who
had savings invested in stocks or
bonds of great corporations. When-
ever those losses occur, there nat-
urally follows destruction of the
whole economy of a family's life.
It is fatal. But it will be so again,
I am afraid.
We are told that we must have a
gigantic army. There is need of it.
We do not know now what may
emerge from the secret that belongs
to Mexico. Nor can we be sure of
South American countries—at least
some of them. There is a decision
to be faced in that direction. It is
a decision which will require the
United States, as a matter of na-
tional policy, to let the world know
whether we are ready to defend all
of South America or whether we
shall withdraw within our own boun-
daries and dare somebody to come
get us. But we need an army to
meet such eventualities. Nobody
knows what they may be.
Large Standing Army
Presents Metu Problem*
And these observations about the
army—they are true, also, of the
navy—bring another problem. It has
been true all through history that a
great standing army has served to
give that army or some of its out-
standing leaders undue importance
in determining national policy. I
fear it may be a case in which
history is going to repeat itself.
Of course, there can be patriotic
army ieaders who will look first to
the nation's general welfare. There
can be another kind, too. It is a
thing to which the current and next
generation must look with an eye of
caution. Indeed, it is entirely pos-
sible that we, as a race of people,
could be converted into a warlike
nation.
I am thinking, too, of the losses
that are coming—many of them al-
ready recognizable—in the ways of
science. Scientists work for years
to accomplish whatever advances
are made in the direction of better
living. It is too obvious to need a
reference here that all of the great
scientific developments that have
come from Germany are lost to the
world of the future. That is to say,
there will be none of consequence—
except war machines—coming out of
Germany, because the inducement
to invent and discover is being driv-
en out of the hearts and the minds
of men and women in the war-torn
continent.
In our country, there are losses
being sustained in that direction. Not
as much, it is true, as has been not-
ed in Europe, but there are losses
because brains and imagination will
be directed towards the evolvement
of machines and programs to meet
any attack. The world will be armed
and we must know what others are
doing. So our scientists will be de-
voting fertile brains to the produc-
tion of terrible machines of death,
and there will be praise for those
who produce the most horrible types
of death-dealing apparatus.
It is indulging in idle imagination,
perhaps, but I contend that even in
our peace-loving country, those with
a life of 30 years more may yet wit-
ness great terminals of railroads un-
derground; great artificial reser-
voirs of food established in safe
places, new types of defenses not
now envisioned.. All of these things
may come because thp warclouds
are going to continue to roil and the
United States must sit with its anti-
aircraft guns trained to the skies.
There is then only this thought to
be added: the United States must
accept the idea of greater protec-
tion than it ever has had, and it
must be prepared to pay for it,
which is to say, taxes and more
taxes are coming. It must accept
a readjustment in its business pur-
suits and individual training. But
while it can do all of these—must
do them—there is no plausible ex-
cuse for going nuts and adding to
the bill by wasting resources in
preparation that has not been
thought out.
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Weimar, F. L. The Alto Herald (Alto, Tex.), Vol. 40, No. 8, Ed. 1 Thursday, June 27, 1940, newspaper, June 27, 1940; (https://texashistory.unt.edu/ark:/67531/metapth214998/m1/6/: accessed May 30, 2024), University of North Texas Libraries, The Portal to Texas History, https://texashistory.unt.edu; crediting Stella Hill Memorial Library.