EXCITEMENT IN U.S.A.

Wairarapa Times-Age, 20 September 1938, Page 5

EXCITEMENT IN U.S.A.

KEEN INTEREST IN EUROPEAN CRISIS PEACE ORGANISATIONS-URGE ISOLATION " SOME NEWSPAPER ATTACKS ON BRITISH EMPIRE WASHINGTON, September 18. Reports are recurring that certain New Deal supporters are urging President Roosevelt to make some dramatic gesture in the interests of world peace, preferably the summoning of a peace conference. Many informed observers, bowever, state that it is unlikely that the President will run the risk of direct involvement in Europe. Six peace organisations today urged him to maintain a policy of isolation, expressing fears that he is acting concertedly with France and Britain, and asked him to issue a- clear-cut pronouncement upon his attitude. Cabinet tonight is watching the fastbreaking developments in Europe, but is maintaining strict silence. Mr Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, is keeping in constant touch with United States observers abroad. He and certain departmental chiefs are granted instant access to the White House. It is reported that, in order to ensure strict neutrality, the Navy Maritime Commission has formulated a plan whereby all United States . ships will be placed under Government control upon the outbreak of hostilities. It is announced that Admiral Bloch will review 400 naval aircraft at Los Angeles on September 23. One hundred thousand delegates from the American Legion Convention will witness the spectacle. The Associated Press is circulating a report that Germany has withdrawn from Spain a quantity of war equipment, including her new rapid-fire electrically-controlled artillery and Messerschmidt Heinkel aircraft. The movement is reported to be accompanied by a speeding-up of shipments of ore from Bilboa to Germany. The moderate Press, which is carrying a vast quantity of European news, and giving an intelligent picture of the situation, stresses the extent to which the world is involved, while extreme newspapers, provoked by the growing number of. speeches, in sympathy with the democracies, are screaming louder for America to keep out of the war. The “New York Inquirer” today gives a fantastic interpretation of history since the Great War. After picturing Mr Chamberlain “keeping hundreds of millions of Britishers in abject subjugation by bayonets, bombs and bullets,” coins the slogan: “Perish Czechoslovakia. Perish Europe. God save America.” . The “New York Post” refrained today from an editorial attack, but published a series of bitterly anti-British articles alleging that the Empire is founded on slavery, oppression and intrigue. It forecasts a revolution and disintegration of the Empire in the event of war. MILITANT DEMOCRACY AMERICAN DENUNCIATION OF FASCISM NEW YORK, September 18. In a further attack on Fascism today, Governor Lehmann, addressing a large crowd in Prospect Park, declared that lethargy and complacence were the greatest threat to democracy. “Militant democracy,” he said, “is the only certain defence against dictatorship. If we falter for one instant in our devotion to the principles on which the United States is built, democracy is doomed. We must stand affirmatively and militantly for the principles of democracy.” CANADIAN APPEAL ROOSEVELT ASKED TO CALL CONFERENCE IN HOPE OF FORESTALLING CONFLICT TORONTO, September 19. Appealing to President Roosevelt to provide fresh leadership to stave off war, the “Globe-Mail,” in a leading article today, says that the President could forestall a conflict without committing the United States. “We ask President Roosevelt,” says the paper, “to follow Mr Chamberlain’s magnificent procedure, to ignore ordinary diplomatic customs, and to appeal personally to Herr Hitler for a conference of European Powers to which President Roosevelt would go in person by the first available boat, free from the political association which the issues involve and free even from the fear of bombers over his people. “The President could provide the restraining influence of a dispassionate mind, and the inspiration that his only interest is in saving human lives.”