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Show Weekly Xews Review New World Crawls Into Shell As Revitalized Reich Expands I lly Joseph W. La ISine International The U. S. has long maintained splendid trade relations with Western West-ern hemisphere nations, has moreover more-over done this without resorting to heavy armaments. Until five years ago the U. S. was similarly strong in China. Reason: European and Asiatic nations have always been busy at home, not daring to risk invasion in-vasion of the Western hemisphere. But since Japan became supreme in the Far East, the U. S. has been forced to expand her Pacific fleet. If this was cause for worry, a much greater cause is the Munich pact which sheared friendly France and Britain of their power. Dominant in Europe, anxious to increase their foreign trade, Italy and Germany 1 V BRAZIL'S PRESIDENT VARGAS His door is closed to Germany. can now be regarded as a serious threat to U. S. commerce. Of the two, Germany will be a greater threat because she has adopted an aggressive foreign expansion program, pro-gram, moreover because her new Sudeten territorial acquisitions bring glassware, leather and textiles tex-tiles into the Reich for export sale. Focal point of German expansion will be Latin America, which last year gave the Reich 14 per cent of its trade, compared with 34.7 per cent to the U. S. In this trade war, it has become apparent the U. S. will attempt to sell South Americans Ameri-cans on democracy, while Germany sells them Naziism. Today, as the war gets under way, the U. S. appears ap-pears to hold an upper hand. Long favored in South America through her Monroe doctrine, the U. S. has just helped preserve Western West-ern hemisphere peace by joining in settlement of the 100-year-old Chaco dispute between Paraguay and Bolivia. Bo-livia. Indirectly, the U. S. could place another feather in her cap when Brazil called home its ambassador ambas-sador to Berlin, apparently breaking break-ing off diplomatic relations with the Reich. This is President Getulio Vargas' answer to Chancellor Hitler's Hit-ler's efforts for Brazilian Nazifica-tion. Nazifica-tion. Aiding the U. S. will be increased domestic desire to woo South America. Amer-ica. Already a campaign is under way to boost our consumption of South American goods. A natural result of this activity has been growing American disinclination disin-clination to complete the long-pending U. S. -British trade pact, a sentiment senti-ment resulting from the rebirth of isolationism which followed Munich's Mu-nich's peace treaty. The greatest stumbling block is that isolationism calls for strengthened trade relations rela-tions with Canada, a plan blocked by Great Britain's renewed efforts to tighten her dominion bonds. A U. S.-Canadian trade treaty is bound to hurt American agriculture; a U. S.-British treaty will hurt American Amer-ican manufacture. Therefore economists econ-omists are betting the "most favored fa-vored nation" agreements now pending with Canada and Britain will never be consummated. Meanwhile, Germany is cocksure of her position. Busily flitting from one European capital to another, Economics Minister Walter Funk has completed bilateral accords based on barter of goods with several sev-eral Balkan states. In this way the Reich hopes to increase its economic econom-ic orbit. But when Minister Funk optimistically announced he would next attempt a barter treaty with the U. S., state department officials made it clear that optimism is unfounded. un-founded. War A large part of China's war supplies sup-plies for defending Hankow have come up the railroad from rich, southerly Canton. Moreover, Cantonese Can-tonese troops have shown remarkable remark-able bravery, reportedly wiping out 10,000 Japs near Tehan early this month. Although Canton has therefore there-fore been a thorn in Japan's side, Tokyo feared to move into South China lest Great Britain might object. ob-ject. But since Britain capitulated In the Czech crisis, Japan has become be-come bolder. Result is the landing land-ing of 35,000 troops near Canton for any or all of three purposes: (1) to force frightened Cantonese to with-diaw with-diaw troops from Hankow making that city's capture easier; (2) to cut the Hankow-Canton railroad and stop war supplies; (3) to force Canton Can-ton into an independent peace with Japan. But if Japan hopes thereby to force surrender of China's Generalissimo General-issimo Chiang Kai-shek, she will be disappointed. Though 70 per cent of China's war materials have come through Canton, General Chiang has foreseen that city's fall and developed devel-oped four alternative lines of entry. Two railroads enter from Indo-China and highways can carry supplies from both Burma and Russia. Moreover, More-over, Chinese are resigned to a 10-year 10-year struggle if necessary. Far more likely than Chinese capitulation ca-pitulation is a breach between Great Britain and Japan. Not since the siege of Japan has the British lion been so imperiled. Canton lies a scant 75 miles from the crown colony col-ony of Hong Kong, whose prosperity prosperi-ty depends largely on trade with Canton. The maddening air of righteousness right-eousness surrounding Japan's invasion inva-sion of South China, coupled with warnings to Britain, France and the United States, shows clearly that Japan now considers herself the Far East's No. 1 power. Races During the World war Great Britain Brit-ain helped liberate Palestine's Arabs from the Turks, thereby winning win-ning Arabic support against Turkey. Although Arabs expected they would be rewarded with complete domination domi-nation over Palestine, England's Lord Balfour led a successful campaign cam-paign to establish part of the Holy Land as a haven for the wandering Jew. Since then world Jewry has sent 400,000 persecuted Hebrews to Palestine, Pal-estine, investing $385,000,000 to build a national home. But disgruntled Arabs have protested with warfare, keeping harried Britain busy policing polic-ing the land over which she was given a mandate in 1923. While blood ran freely through the streets of Jerusalem, Bethlehem and Jaffa, Colonial Secretary of State Malcolm MacDonald has led a commission in search of amicable settlement. Meanwhile, Jew-hating Germany and Italy have given restrained cheers for the Arabic cause, cheers that need no longer be restrained since the Munich peace treaty has placed Great Britain on the defensive. defen-sive. Faced with threats of Italo-German Italo-German intervention unless Arabs were given a square deal, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has been reported ready to "sell out" the Holy Land's Jews. Thoroughly miserable, Prime Minister Min-ister Chamberlain and Secretary MacDonald (son of the late Prime Minister Ramsay MacDonald) were bombarded with protests the minute their weakened position was ru- MALCOLM MAC DONALD Palestine's Jews are his problem. mored. To make matters worse, Dr. Chaim Weizmann of London, president of the Zionist federation, has aroused U. S. Jewry to such an extent that President Roosevelt has been deluged with pleas to intervene. inter-vene. Thus Great Britain risks losing los-ing a measure of badly needed U. S. sentiment if she capitulates to Arabic demands. As Prime Minister Chamberlain prepared to act, the least harmful settlement Hebrews could expect was a heavy restriction on Jewish immigration to the Holy Land. Even this, commented Jews, would almost al-most make Great Britain an accessory acces-sory to the Italo-German race persecution perse-cution program. |