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Show ii Washington Comment Just a week ago we wrote that, despite the European tension, there were few signs of undue alarm here. In' seven short days, the situation is reversed. Today there is every sign, of keen apprehension in the capital: Mr. Roosevelt came speeding back from his cruise by special train (an airplane was even considered if the crisis became be-came too acute); Secretary Hull was already on the spot when the president arrived; the postmaster general is on the high seas returning, return-ing, and Secretary of the Treasury Trea-sury Morgenithau is reported signed sign-ed up for a Clipper passage from Europe later this week. The foreign for-eign diplomats were in Washington Washing-ton en .masse over Sunday, and our entire populace remained blued to the radio. At this writing it is still not certain cer-tain when, or if, Mr. Roosevelt will call a special session of congress to settle the neutrality problem which it left hanging fire when it departed for home a few weeks ago. Latest reports indicate that Mr. RooseveKt willi proclaim the neutrality act in effect almost immediately im-mediately if a European war breaks out, whether or not war is actually declared. It is understood under-stood that the existing law would be invoked only in case of a war involving France and Britain; in other words, not in the case of a lightning war by Germany against Poland. Meanwhile, the state department and all agencies having to do with j he safe return of European-vaca-j tioning Americans are swamped. ' Despite dire warning,, our citi- j zens, by the thousands, would visit! Europe, and now that peril actually j is at their heels, they want to ' scuttle for home. America looks pretty good to them today, when danger threatens. It was just about a year ago, before be-fore Munich, when a similar situation situa-tion prevailed, and we were writing about the overloaded and overbooked over-booked passenger ships, and how freighters were being pressed into service to accomodate the evacuation evacua-tion of the American visiting-horde. visiting-horde. And now, today, we find every ship endeavoring to take Ifive passengers where there is room for only one; putting army cots in the handsome salons w-here formerly former-ly stood the grand piano and the orchestra's dias. The travel agencies agen-cies in Europe frankly admit that for two years they have been sell-1 ing tickets that could be cancelled at the pier with no questions asked, but, what irks them, as well as the state department, is the adventurous adventur-ous type of Yankee who wants to stay recklessly on, until the real excitement starts, and then expects to find aid and accomodation when he makes frantic tracks for home. There are 59,000 Americans known by our state department to be living liv-ing it; countries likely to be affected af-fected by any European conflict, along with unknown thousands of tourists. Small wonder cur officials offi-cials .are turning gray. In Poland, there are 2,569 permanent American Ameri-can residents 28 in Danzig alone; 10,522 Americans live in Great Britain; 12,964 in France, 5,787 in Germany, 23,330 in Italy, and 3,793 in what was once Czechoslovakia. Czecho-slovakia. The European crisis having driven less vital matters right out of the picture for the time being (the personal aspirations of potential poten-tial presidential nominees being completely in abeyance at the moment, mo-ment, Dieu merci!) it is rather refreshing re-freshing to discover that the Thanksgiving controversy is still alive and active. The intrepid Dr. Galluplsipracticallylirifallilile "ipolll" j reveals that the popularity, or otherwise, of the shift in date is seen almost universally through "party" glasses. In other words, the Democrats approve, and the Republicans disapprove, almost to a man. We thing the typical and most pungent comment, was the one most often encountered in the good Dr. Gallup's inquisitive excursion: ex-cursion: the one that is giving by nearly every working man: "It makes no difference to me when I celebrate Thanksgiving. It'll be just beef-stew and a day off whenever it comes!" Just to keep the record straight, we give you the latest estimates of informed Observers on the present military status of leading . European Euro-pean powers, as understood in Washington today: France, 3,000j-000 3,000j-000 men under arms; Great Britain, Brit-ain, 600,000 or 700,000, irrespective irrespec-tive of Egypt and India; Poland, approaching 1,000,000; Germany between 1,750,000 and 2,000,000; and Italy 1,300,000. |