| Show weekly IVoe ekly news analysis fear of foreign entanglement brings return to isolationism by joseph W la nine EDITORS NOTE when opinions OPT ions or r expressed in I 1 B these columns they a are t those jose ol of the news analyst and ns not necessarily saraly of at the newspaper domestic since president Roosevel ts quarantine speech at chicago in october 1937 U S public opinion has veered sharply and outspokenly against dictators meanwhile making new friends for france britain and china traditional policy of isolation and neutrality has well nigh gone by the boards thanks to nazi jew baiting japans threat to U S interests in china and dictator inroads throughout south america most heated U S speechmaker against adolf hitler has been secretary of the interior harold ickes whose tirades presumably surn ably reflect white house sentiment long awaited reaction against foreign entanglement took root only a month ago when congress discovered the administration was sponsoring military plane sales to france and britain today the issue of isolation is growing by leap and bound not only as a question of foreign policy but as a political football headed for the 1940 presidential election in less than one late february week enough shots were fired to constitute a definite trend wicked dictatorships to pittsfield mass went william R castle assistant chairman of the re T A republican CASTLE alore concentration less chatter publican national committee once U S envoy to japan later a hoover undersecretary of state said mr castle before a 40 and 8 american americ n legion society there is still so much work to keep this the best possible country that our officials would do well to confine themselves to this task instead of spending so much time talking about wicked dictatorships and the dangers of war we certainly want none of their philosophy but if that philosophy is what other matious want it is not for us to attempt to prevent it nye again an irreconcilable pacifist north dakotas sen gerald P nye saw red when he learned of the french british plane sales rushed to his office and drafted a bill its gist military and naval officers could bar exl exist L t of any planes developed in the U S until they determined ter mined that the craft are not needed exclusively for american defense one reason for the bill was testimony that mr roosevelt had ignored high military naval officials in making the foreign deal another reason is senator nyes ayes fear of an ultimate U S desire to sell planes to germany italy japan or any other nation thus producing a vicious circle next day it became apparent the vicious circle had already been created internationally tio nally A member of the civil aeronautics authority reportedly told the senate military affairs committee that germany was willing to sell fighting planes to of all nations france reasoning france would thereby become dependent on foreign plane factories committing national suicide in case of war with germany foreign trade among important loans of the federal sponsored ex port import bank was one to china for financing sale of 1000 trucks for obvious military use fearful lest this constituted a dan PEACE RIOT resigning because france failed to ratify a 1936 treaty granting the land independence pen dence syrian premier jamil cardam bey touched oi off street clashes REVOLT while president oscar benavides was away peruvian interior minister gen antonio rodriguez attempted to seize the government was slain REBELLION held responsible for deaths in eight months of race rioting ba maws cabinet was ousted in burma replaced by a coalition government repercussion fighting bombings by the outlawed irish republican army in in eire and great britain eires parl parliament ament authorized the death penalty for the perpetrators berous rous commitment congress thought twice when the export im port bank due to expire june 30 came up for two years extension argued rep jesse P wolcott this bank can get us into a situation which may involve us in any european or asiatic conflict it is a dangerous thing to have this power lying around argued chios sen robert A tatt taft the government be in the export business passed by the house after vigorous debate the extension bill could expect a chary reception by the senate meanwhile the U S chamber of commerce lifted its eyebrows over a report that 25 american industrialists would join a british german cartel to regulate competition in world markets and offset a threatened trade war the state department knew nothing about it and was far from enthusiastic but while one branch of U S opinion obviously swung to isolation another branch stuck out its neck by virtue of a longstanding long standing thoroughly accepted american creed the monroe doctrine illustrating how any U S interest in south america leads to Intern international on complications in the world of 1939 were two developments 1 the civil aeronautics authority prepared to fight german italian french and dutch air services for supremacy in south america 2 dr raul ribeiro brazilian economist offered U S capitalists a chance to invest in a mining development project for his country with possible exchange of brazilian ore for amer ican made munitions europe all ali european crisis since 1930 have been started by scheming italy and germany with europe well on its way to another nervous breakdown scheduled for mid march signs now indicate that britain and france lovers of peace and the status quo may at least boa be blamed if not responsible for the spring crisis underlying every potential european development is the spanish war whose early termination will leave italy free to pursue mediterranean territorial demands demand s against france this because a fran franco co victory in spain is an italian victory giving il II duce more mediterranean power it would jeoma jeopardize ruize not only frances colonies but brit ains lifeline to the far east by now the paris london axis has at least three reasons to decide on an aggressive course which may decide Eu ropes future 1 unconfirmed but persistent reports of french italian clashes on the libya tunisia border see map jibe with announcements that italis libyan garrisons are being increased tunisia is one french territory specifically demanded by italy unofficially reports say fascist troops penetrated tunisia at a spot 25 miles southeast of the first french fortified zone just as italis marshal pietro badoglio baroglio Ba doglio visited libya to inspect frontier FRANCE k 1 arora em to to I 1 etire aa e lf 1 0 A sol L 1 8 YA it 0 an 1 MO LIBYA AND TUNISIA it IS this ail the next battleground baule ground forts meanwhile rome reports indicate men will be under arms this spring 2 germany has started mobilization for annual war games accompanied compa nied by renewed grumbl ings n ainest war scares by western democracies 3 chancellor hitler premier mussolini and generalissimo franco are scheduled to meet soon for a decision on future and presumably surn su ably the future course of an enlarged european fascism viewing these three developments the british parliament has approved an extra armament appropriation starting a new international munitions race which prime minister chamberlain admits might lead to the bankruptcy of every country in europe at the same time london has agreed on plans for an expeditionary force to help france in case of war meanwhile both london and paris have been making desperate last minute efforts to win franco german italian reply to these warlike threats will probably be to hold their troops in spain until france grants african concessions thus perplexed london and paris must either use a whip lash thereby provoking a new crisis or permit the most serious blow to democratic crat ac prestige thus far inflicted if they planned the latter course there w would be little justification for frenzied rearmament asia japans thinly veiled ambition is to drive westerners out of china until this year the white man was oppressed only insofar as he stood in the way of marching armies but japan looks covetously and angrily on such prosperous developments as shanghais Shan ghais international settlement britaina Brit ains hong kong crown colony and frances indochina indo china already hong kong has been isolated by jap conquest of C canton anton her gateway to china more recently british territory along the hong kong canton railroad was bombed farther south japan seized independent hainan k PREMIER HIRANUMA niRA NUIMA Is international settlement next island despite an agreement with prance france ohis accomplished munitions shipments into china through french indo china might be blocked latest and craftiest craft iest japanese plan is seizure of the shanghai international ter settlement only non jap area left in the city and an unwilling haven for chinese guerrilla warriors in the past 18 months 88 political murders have been committed there most victims being puppet chinese governmental officers in japanese pay latest victims were chen lo 10 foreign minister for the central china government in and marquis li kuo chieh grandson of chinas cainas great statesman li hung chang life is cheap in the orient and loss of a few puppets would be small small for control of t the he shanghai international settlement though backed only by rumor there is growing belief that chinese murders may have been planted by tokyo as an excuse to march in and keep peace conveniently setting an important precedent whether true or not the belief jibes with retaliatory action taken in tokyo up before a turbulent meeting of the diet rose lt gen seishiro itagaki minister of war to declare he was convinced of the necessity to take an effective measure of self defense in the international settlement later in extraordinary session the cabinet placed official approval on such action when premier baron kiichiro hiranuma declared the terrorism compels japan to take fundamental measures to maintain peace and order meanwhile premier hiranuma could see that his newest drive to close chinas cainas open door would meet stubborn resistance from london came bitter protest against the hong kong bombing in shanghai the international police redoubled their efforts and prepared to resist a threat on the settlement to the south at lazy Hai phong indochina indo china france was angry enough to junk her japanese agreement just as japan had junked bunked it opening her gateway to supplies for sorely pressed chinese troops business U S efforts to reconcile heavily taxed business have proceeded since uncle dan roper was replaced as commerce secretary by harry hopkins after initial promises mr hopkins settled back in in i silence for two months of study to learn what made his heretofore ineffectual department tick some hint of more reconciliation was contained in president roose belts pre vacation re remark mark that business need fear no more taxes more hint was found in the speech of secretary of war harry woodring I 1 who stepped from his military shoes to tell the Demo democratic democrate crati c national council that he hoped soon to see an end of spending and taxing if private business will take the initiative even before secretary hopkins hopkin S left for des moines to make his policy speech washington knew pretty well what an obviously revitalized vitali zed commerce department intended to do main points in the hopkins program 1 develop the heretofore unimportant business advisory council 2 promote re em to slash rolls 3 study taxes and their effect on business 4 attempt to succeed where the labor department had failed in settling the feud between the american federation of labor and the congress of industrial organizations people tom mooney BIo oney recently pardoned labor leader has been admitted to a san francisco hospital 0 capt fritz adolf hillers Hit lers personal adjutant and new german consul to san francisco has as his announced purpose the i 6 promotion of good will |
