OCR Text |
Show - Weekly News Analysis- 1 Britain Drops 'Appeasement' But Policy Even Weaker Now IJy Joseph YV. La IJine 1 Politics Smart politicians never count chickens before they hatch. But neither nei-ther do astute political observers forget that it is a nigh-well impossible impossi-ble job to bounce a favorite from the saddle. Although more than a year remains before Republican and Democratic parties hold their nominating nomi-nating conventions, New York's Republican Re-publican District Attorney Tom Dewey and Texas' Democratic Vice President John Nance Garner have emerged definitely as men of the hour. Garner. Sometimes disgustingly independent to President Roosevelt, the vice president has led a powerful power-ful Democratic revolt this session of congress and today controls approximately approx-imately as many house and senate votes as the White House. Though 70 years old, he holds the favor of Emil Hurja, astute party analyst who has indicated there is little chance Garner can be bounced from favor in 1940. The chief Garner opponent op-ponent is Postmaster General James Farley, whose vote-seeking efforts have been confined to east and northeast states while Mr. Garner Gar-ner concentrates on the Southwest. Many Democrats can see nothing more natural than a union of these two forces, one for President, the other for vice president. Unpredictable as his father, Texas' Tex-as' Elliott Roosevelt gave politicians a puzzle by announcing that Mr. Garner is "in the driver's seat, well in the lead as a likely Democratic candidate for the presidency in 1940." That Son Elliott holds White House favor for this remark is seriously se-riously doubtful. Franklin Roosevelt Roose-velt prefers not to run again in 1940 but will do so unless the party accepts ac-cepts another man who will and can "P' POLISH CORRIDOR ( 'J tr'v?) German agitation for ('I""""""" -. Jm? A J( th'' trip "pcctcd VL LITHUANIA ) ( Cvl -J momentarily. ffifrl M F M E L I ? 'Vv Y-sSq ' ,t'WV T" Former Lithuanian :V-C5 f c,ty- Pro-Nazi. (y fy . BX AXfi V nian "cmomic ;;Vxn?1 DANZIG I 1 "advantage" SVV Free city, needed by ij g 5 p ERyVV O-X))v0vv3 Germany to close ' . . VVWX Eap between Prussia RUMANIA WYY and "mainland." Here Hitler presses vN VvA-VXVVVvxVxxxXAv economicencroach- AlSj x D(yvVvSVN V w ment to make nation VCsWxVSSSo8SSS POI AND another "protector- n Hke Slovakia HUNGARY f (pro-Nazi) nil ka A Ml A "V ITALY JUGO-V . y KUV1MIN I A ) SLAVIA '-"( EASTWARD THE MARCH OF EMPIRE GOES A week's supply of conquests and objectives. EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those of the news analyst, and not necessarily ot the newspaper. Europe (2). Neutrality legislation expiring May 1 permits "cash and carry" sale to belligerents of anything but war materials. Nevada's Sen. Key Pittman has asked that munitions be placed on the allowed list. Utah's Sen. Elbert Thomas would give the t ' i I is 1 h I ; President power to designate an aggressor ag-gressor nation and forbid shipments to it. (3) . Washington's Sen. Homer T. Bone has offered, with bi-partisan support, a bill to tax profit out of war. The plan: Greatly increased tax rates would be imposed in case of conflict, lowering exemptions and imposing surtaxes on highest brackets brack-ets ranging up to 93 per cent for individuals. Corporations would be taxed 100 per cent on net incomes over 6 per cent of their adjusted declared value. (4) . Within 15 minutes, both senate and house passed the $358,000,000 emergency defense bill, authorizing 6,000 army planes, stronger Panama Pana-ma canal fortifications, bigger sea-coast sea-coast and inland defenses, better army equipment and more effective hemispherical protection. White House How to raise U. S. price levels is one of the administration's biggest problems. Republican laymen, and many Democrats, contend a retrenchment re-trenchment of federal spending would do the trick. But the White House places more faith in Marriner S. Eccles, federal reserve chairman, and Sen. Key Pittman, Nevada silver sil-ver advocate. Even these two "doctors" "doc-tors" find themselves at odds, however. how-ever. During a recent public debate they outlined these two opposing paths to the coveted price level. Pittman. Favors currency inflation, infla-tion, "since government billions have completely failed to raise the price level." Believes federal re- It is easier to hoot at a boxer from outside the ropes than within. If I the average U. S. citizen were an Englishman he would be far less critical of a government which eschews es-chews war even if it means loss of prestige. But after eight months of a "foreign policy" which is more concerned with immediate convenience conven-ience than permanent direction, the most peace-loving Englishmen are now beginning to believe Prime Minister Chamberlain might have achieved greater results with no more risk by holding to a steady course. From the Czech crisis last September Sep-tember until mid-March, Mr. Chamberlain's Cham-berlain's "appeasement" cries grew progressively weaker as Britain and France strengthened their defense against possible aggression from Dictators Hitler and Mussolini. By March 1 the two democracies were strong enough to suggest dictating terms to the Reich, whose economic econom-ic position had grown intolerably weak. Then, overnight, all semblance sem-blance of "policy" collapsed. The events, in sequence: (1) Hitler grabbed Czechoslovakia, whose boundaries were guaranteed last autumn by France and Britain. Mr. Chamberlain said it was no concern of his. (2) Two days later Mr. Chamberlain Chamber-lain suddenly whipped about-face, accusing Hitler of dishonesty and unwarranted aggression. (3) Russia, for 15 years unwelcome unwel-come in British circles, was asked to join London in a pact to "consult" "con-sult" in case of future German aggression. ag-gression. (4) Britain reversed its course again and made no protest when Hitler occupied Memel, whose ownership own-ership by Lithuania was guaranteed by British-French signature of the Memel statute. (5) Britain backed down on its pact with Russia, refusing any stronger measure than the useless "consultive" treaty. The substance of these disjoined events is that Britain's "appeasement" "appease-ment" policy has given way to no policy at all. It can well be doubted that London sincerely hoped its Russian Rus-sian overtures would have more than a temDorarv jolting effect on ELLIOTT ROOSEVELT Garner in the driver's seat. carry out his New Deal philosophy. John Garner would not be apt to do this. Dewey. New York's district attorney at-torney lost the governorship to popular pop-ular Herbert Lehman by less than 1 per cent of the popular vote last fall, but the mere fact that he lost and that a few weeks earlier his case against James Hines had been tossed from court cost Mr. Dewey much popularity. But since last November No-vember old guard Republicans have dropped from the picture. Moreover, More-over, able men like Michigan's Sen. Arthur H. Vandenberg have shown disinclination to run. Realizing a candidate must be found soon, G. O. P. voters have unofficially settled on Dewey since he "came back" to convict Hines on the rackets conspiracy con-spiracy charge. Whereas a mid-February mid-February poll by the American Institute In-stitute of Public Opinion gave Dewey Dew-ey only 27 per cent of the popular Republican vote, a month later he had jumped to 50 per cent. People Resolved, by Michigan's new Gov. Luren D. Dickinson, that no official business will be transacted on the Sabbath; f - it r I - Zkf- I 1 German territorial ambitions. For Britain still wants nothing to do with Moscow; in fact, the fondest Tory hope is that Germany and Russia will eventually lock horns, fighting out the issue of Naziism versus Communism to the ruin of both. Britain will be happy so long as Hitler drives eastward, confining his ambitions to such objectives as Danzig, Dan-zig, the Polish corridor and Rumania, Ruma-nia, ultimately reaching into the Russian Ukraine to invite war with the Soviet. This conclusion is inevitable inev-itable because the most concrete result re-sult of Mr. Chamberlain's umbrella waving thus far has been a French-British French-British military pact to aid Switzerland, Switzer-land, the Netherlands and Belgium against German aggression. Congress Europe's Czechoslovak and Memel Me-mel crises (see EUROPE) have brought quicker, more definite reaction re-action in the U. S. than most people realize. l ast January, when President Presi-dent Roosevelt made timid suggestions sugges-tions that the present neutrality law should be changed, a terrific uproar up-roar ensued. The same uproar returned re-turned when he asked a special $358,000,000 defense appropriation a few weeks later. But the new European Euro-pean situation has brought a remarkable re-markable show of inter-party solidarity, soli-darity, admittedly temporary, but strong enough to give France and Britain a strong moral support and warn Reichsfuehrer Hitler that he is not wanted on the western hemisphere: hemi-sphere: (1). Undersecretary of State Sumner Sum-ner Welles received both Democratic Democrat-ic and Republican praise for his diplomatic protest against Hitler's seizure of Czechoslovakia. PITTMAN (LEFT) AND ECCLES The doctors did not agree. serve board's periodic increases and decreases in reserve requirements have had a bad effect on business. Eccles. Against currency inflation. infla-tion. Partially agrees it would help raise price . levels, but fears new money would not be put to use. "Lack of opportunity to get a profit is the principal impediment to recovery re-covery today." Whether the White House could pull a definite monetary program from such an exchange of theories is doubtful. But there are indications indica-tions that the ideas of Mr. Eccles, famed advocate of spending, hold favor. President Roosevelt told his press conference that he refuses to cut U. S. spending until private enterprise en-terprise guarantees jobs. Neither will he favor repeal of "deterrent" taxes, apparently, for he has mildly denounced advocates of a slash in the federal budget. But since Mr. Eccles is on record as favoring government gov-ernment action to "remove impediments impedi-ments to the encouragement of private pri-vate capital," White House and Eccles Ec-cles do not jibe. Neither do White House and Secretary Sec-retary of Agriculture Wallace jibe. Defending an unchanged AAA for 1939, Mr. Wallace told the house agriculture ag-riculture committee that industrial recovery was a prerequisite to farm recovery, and that industrial activity activ-ity should be increased 40 per cent as speedily as possible. Then, he said, farmers will secure their just share of the total national income |