ASSURANCE TO DOUBTERS

Waikato Times, Volume 128, Issue 21373, 18 March 1941, Page 4

ASSURANCE TO DOUBTERS

Indirect results of the passage of the “ Lend or Lease ” Bill and of Mr Roosevelt’s interpretation of the temper of the American people may be just as fateful for the regime of Hitlerism as the direct assistance given Britain. There are still some nations which have not yet decided on which side to throw their weight. Some believe or fear that Germany will win the war and that they would be foolish to support the losing side. On such people the effect of the American policy must be salutary. Therefore it is claimed in many quarters that Mr Roosevelt’s declaration marks the turning point of the war. How in the face of the recruitment of this most powerful nation to the side of the Allies can the hesitating States hesitate any longer ? A Belgrade correspondent says the declaration is featured prominently in Yugoslavian newspapers and that the country has been profoundly impressed. This is the country which is now perhaps most directly menaced by the spreading movement of Hitlerism. Because of the consolidation of the democratic and Allied front by the promise of the aid of all of America’s vast resources, Yugoslavian and other people who might have contemplated giving away before the German pressure will have cause to hope that their resistance will not be in vain. Roosevelt’s is a rallying cry to millions of people who were in doubt.

The Athens radio says that Mr Roosevelt has officially and irrevocably signed the death warrant of Hitler’s new order. Hitler put forth the promise of that new order as a bait to lure doubtful nations into the net. The United States has declared against that order and said that it will offer all its resources to ensure that the Hitlerian plan shall not become established permanently. That is the most powerful reversal yet suffered by the Nazi plotters. The influence of the United States spreads round the world. Its weight, if used to full effect, is sufficient to tip the balance—in the active conduct of the war and in the minds of'those who have not yet decided whether they should join the Axis or the Allies.