| Show weekly news analysis U S counters diplomatic blitt Z rf wah economic warfare airfare Jar W y ar fare by edward C wayne EDITORS NOTE wita whon opinions ocl ue re expressed la in these columns they jr re thosa tho s a of el the t news analyst fad and not necessarily of this newspaper sews piper DIPLOMACY war bitter it seemed hard to believe that with to human beings bitterly engaged in a death struggle on the russo german fronts that battles of diplomats and economists could stand out in the e important news of the day but such indeed was the case germany was engaged in a well defined diplomatic blitzkrieg against pan american solidarity and many believed that the entire fabric of japanese moves in the south pacific were not only nazi inspired but executed unwillingly by nippon in obedience to direct orders from berlin the effort obviously seemed to be so 20 to engage the attention of the united states at half a dozen different points that americas entry tato into the war would be postponed to the last possible moment or if that entry could not be avoided the axis intended that the first attention of the united states should be directed toward the east indies thus holding our fleet away from the atlantic there was conceded to be little change that the outbreak of border war between peru and ecuador the attempted nazi coup in bolivia the ditto in argentina and the strained relations with mexico were not part and parcel of a gigantic diplomatic propaganda and espionage campaign against pan american solidarity though it might be said to have tailed failed it nevertheless engaged our attention for more than a month then came dakar back onto the front pages again with a nazi demand upon vichy which seemed not only aimed at bases in dakar but a new effort to enroll the french fleet as a direct german italian instrument ment of warfare these were big stakes and the entire trend and sequence of them almost dwarfed the fighting on the eastern front particularly since it continued to be difficult to gain any accurate picture of what was going on in the active fighting ECONOMIC war outstanding hardly of secondary importance to the diplomatic blitzkrieg launched in the far east and pan america by the axis was the worldwide world wide economic war engaged in by pan america the united states and britain against the axis now morea more sternly than ever against japan there were analysts who felt that the outbreak of war between germany and russia was directly caused by the success of the economic blockade plus the fact thit that russia either would not or could not transship trans ship sufficient needed goods from japan nor furnish enough of her own despite the huge losses of the british at sea it was pointed out that ships sent to the bottom bot tom simply meant goods not reaching england it did not mean that any of this ma material teriah was reaching germany the economic war therefore not only launched the russo german war but also the renewed move by germany to attempt to corral the french fleet to replace her surface raiders which were either sunk or bottled up with which germany might hope to reopen some trade route now that the japan russia rail method had been halted by the war other observers saw in the success of the economic war against germany a definite sign that germany could not win even if she won a complete victory over russia without one further victory an actual taking of the british isles and with it the british fleet for as long they said as the tea sea lanes were open only to british all 7 A X f NEW YORK CITY heres an example of what the alie gas curfew along the eastern seaboard really means murray Jupi jupiter tor owner of the gas station takes off his working clothes when night time comes around despite the plied piled up cars behind him he refused to sell a customer in keeping with the recommendations oi of secretary of interior ickes the sign tells the story no gas tiu 7 a m cargoes and as long as axis pow ers were denied the use of the th oceans then the needed materials never could be obtained even by b the utter conquest of all europe the conviction that a german total victory over russia was apparently not to be gained swiftly and that a german invasion of britain was growing more dubious of success day by day made the end ol of the war seem to those who professed to understand the power of an economic war just a matter of time CONNALLY on foreign relations the elevation of sen tom connally of texas to the chalem chairmanship of the senate foreign relations committee brought forth from the senate veteran of a quarter of a century the following brief statement of P policy our foreign policy must be vigorous and positive we must not be truculent but we must let other nations know that we have rights we w will ill fight to maintain we must maintain the ancient doctrine of freedom of the seas I 1 am for the monroe doctrine I 1 was for sending troops to iceland I 1 favored getting bases from britain I 1 am for a big navy for giving latin american nations every legitimate assistance toward the maintenance and improvement of their own democratic processes GASOLINE curfew starts the gasoline curfew ordained by secretary ickes at the request and instance of the oil producers and dealers in the eastern united states was started on short notice but seemed doomed to failure and some form of rationing seemed certain to be adopted scarcely anybody except some few oil dealers and some government officials believed that the closing of gas stations from 7 p m to 7 a in seven days a week would accomplish anything except two things it would throw out of their jobs some filling station operatives and it would change the gaso line buying habits of the people of the affected districts trucks many of them carting goods in the national defense were to be exempted also taxicabs and the buses most of which today are dies diesel elope el ope operated rated nearly all carry 20 hours supply of fuel the curfew not hampering their operations whatever ickes expressed hope was that the curfew would make the populace conscious of the shortage and hence inclined to operate cooperate co in a restricted use of the fuel but most believed it would simply mean that those taking long trips would drive by day instead of at night and that most city dwellers using their cars to and from work and tor for pleasure driving at night would see to it that they had a full tank at 7 p m RUSSIANS slow tempo most of those who conned the russo german war scene believed that the russians had slowed the german advance down to less than a walk A realistic russian source claimed german casualties on the long war front since the attack started and closed with these words and if our losses have been greater what of it that statement gave the picture of a nation of people pretty well geared tor for war willing to fight and seemingly possessed of huge quantities of arms and ammunition it was nearly a repetition of the chinese answer to japans attack resulting in a stalemate war now well into its fifth year with the present front little changed in a long time and chiang kai shek reputedly having a larger organized army on the front than the japanese by two or three to one the japanese casualties admittedly had been heavy the chinese admittedly mitt edly much heavier but what of it russian sources were however claiming much more than this they were claiming not only the actual destruction of german division atter after division they were asserting that there was a definite nazi withdrawal in the central or sk region made necessary by flanking and cut through movements gloomiest Gloo antiwar anti war correspondents some of them tar far from the front pictured the german advance addan c e lines within miles of moscow but few there were who believed that there was any real capture of territory as close to the capital as that partly because of the complete failure of the nazis to bomb moscow with any effectiveness russia claimed that some of the shot down bombers showed a gasoline content that told of having come from far distant bases A real capture of territory within miles of moscow would make possible landings and takeoffs take offs and sustained flights over the capital there was a jubilant character in the moscow dispatches that could not be overlooked and the lack of detail from german sources and the fact that the identical claims were put forth each day concerning the identical territories painted a picture of strong russian resistance the tip off as to the situation came from adolf hillers Hit lers own newspaper the Voel kischer which said we have found in the red army an enemy who battles with dogged tenacity ft surpasses surpasses all previous opponents in fighting temper many of us believed that tha t after the th first waving of the german sword the enemy in the east would collapse like a colossus on feet of clays buethe soviet armies are arb de with dogged resolution ol still throwing new material ined ineatha mhd battle SIGNS of revolt stockholm dispatches that norway was practically in a state of siege because of serious outbreaks on the part of the people against german occupational control were taken to indicate that the pressure of the war on the russian front was thinning out the german guards and giving the populations of occupied countries a chance to strike back some analysts pointed to the tact fact that this report closely followed the intensification of the bombing of germany and occupied territory by the RAF and the opening of the V for victory campaign at all events the word from sweden was that norwegian courts had been put out of business and that any offenders against the law were now being tried in german courts martial the possibility that there might be a british invasion of norway was seen in a nazi order that all residents of coastal frontier and certain key towns in the interior turn in their radio sets at once to the germans future building of radios or their sale to any but germans was said to have been flatly forbidden JAPAN pours men alen in creating the greatest army in point of numbers in her history with men reported called to the colors japan was warning of an imminent explosion in the far east and was pouring men and munitions into indochina indo china it was pointed out that large sections of the burma road of thailand of the dutch east indies and the whole of the philippines were soon to be vulnerable to japanese bombing raids as soon as the new air bases are established through the franco japanese agreement the world repercussions were terrific and to each of them japans apparent answer was to become more and more warlike more and more apt to predict that only a mill to iceland e i 4 washington D C recently returned to the unit ed states from service as minister to greece lincoln macveagh above has now been named U S minister to ice land lately occupied by U S naval forces this country has been represented in ice land by a consul since last year tary out outcome coln c could auld bo be looked for in view of the economic pressure being heaped upon her the dictum that the entire output of the silk industry would be needed by the army and navy pre surn usably ably tor for parachutes sent american women rushing to department stores to buy up all their stocks they asked the women of theli chenik tion to give the producers of substitutes a chance to get their supply lines organized meantime the hosiery industry faced a close down and it appeared that workers might be thrown out of work with britain canada australia the netherlands east indies and pan america crac cracking ki na do down wn on trade with japan the crisis celsis mounted at home and abroad with the probability that japans mutterings rings might soon become something louder and plainer before long WELLES W warns arns on dakar sumner welles as acting secretary e of state lashed out bitter 41 again at the vichy govern government men bitle w wiy i having surrendered indochina indo china tu to japan and at the same time warned france that if any effort is made by germany to occupy dakar the e united states may beat the nazis to it the welles note made public with the knowledge and after conference with the president had been preceded by a meeting at which the british australian and african envoys were present while the note did not definitely mention dakar or french morocco it warned vichy that it it did not defend its own territories against the occupation of axis powers the united states would have to take action in its own interests in those colonies the note was taken to mean and the comment went unchallenged by mr welles or the white house that it if the nazis attempt to occupy dakar the united states will move against that port also that if the forces of maxime in morocco decided to fight against nazi infiltration or attempted occupation the united states will send them active aid it has long been claimed in axis circles that the united states has a long range plan afoot to carry out both of these objectives DUKE As dramatic in its way as the sudden flight of hopkins across the atlantic to england and moscow was the journey by plane of the duke of kent brother of the king ar c england to canada and thence t the united states the duke late this month plans plan a afave five day tour of american defense industries and a visit to the president at hyde park his visit was to be brief but tremendous interest was expressed in the first announcements BRIEFS london an urgent government request was made to the british public not io to travel on roads or highways to seaside resorts during the august bank holiday weekend week end the press pushed the campaign for a week countless thousands ignored it it the government later complained railroads and roads were packed berlin the german radio reported that several bolivian citizen had been seized by the govern mer bl charged with taking part in plots against the reich mexico city the german minister protested against mexico observing the united states blacklist of firms accused of trading with germany mexican congressmen suggested that the minister be re called and diplomatic circles expected a break in relations similar to that which took place in bolivia released by western newspaper union |
