Evening star., 1937-08-22
WARSHIP LEASE DISPUTE
BLOW TO HULL'S IDEALS
Buenos Aires Conference Had Encour.
aged Administrations Belief Peace
Idea Had Taken Root.

more substantial rapprochement with
the United States. the Brazilian gov
eminent decided to drop its economic
ties with Germany. Berlin could do
nothing about it. But the Brazilian
government received clear indications
that at the next election the totalita-
rian party will exert every effort to
win the election-if necessary. by the
same means which brought Mussolini
and Hitler to power.
The FaScist-Nazi party has only
500, 900 voting members in BraZil-a
compared with the other two
existing parties Nazism, however. is
not established in country by
popular suffrage. There is mill
tary rebellion or some other form of
coup detat. Their. after the leaders
have taken over the relns of govern
ment the Nazis follow them. as in
the case OF every other country ruled
by dictator. And the Rio de Janeiro
government is seriously concerned
over the possibility Of such coup. AS
long As the Reich had an interest In
the present Brazilian government-a.s
an important source of supply for
the Relchs raw materials-the au.
thorltarlan movement was DISCOURAGED.
There are some 1000 900 Germans and
100000 Italians living in Brazil:
some OF them are citizens, others not.
But they all follow the dictates OF
their respective governments as
scrupulously as if they lived in Ger.
many or in Italy.
Trouble Seen Possible.
President Vargas torsees the DOS.
slbillty OF trouble at the next elec-
ton because Of the change in Brazil's
attitude toward Germany. He knows
that some sections Of the army could
be won over by the proponents of die
tatorshlps. While in the past, as said
above, the land forces have PLAYED an
important political role in the Sc
lection Of Presidents the navy. say
the Brazilian leaders. alvavs has
federal outlook and generally follows
the established form of government,
The Brazilian Navy is small. In
ORDER to strengthen it. Brazil asked
for the loan Of six destroyers from the
United States and was willing to re-
commission them at a cost of about
$4,000. 600 The Official explanation
was that Brazil needed these vessels
10 train It's crews for the new ships
she intended to order from her own
and foreign navy yards. The addi-
tional explanation given was that Bra
I'll. because Of her important natural
wealth. might become the target of
an attack from nations seeking raw
materials
1t was an ill-concealed camoufaSe
The real meaning of that statemer.
WAS that If Fascist or Nazi form
OF government is esta blished in Brazil
the raw materials so much needed By
Italy and Germany will be at the
disposal OF those countries without
restriction. totalitarian coup could
be thwarted more surely If the Bra
lillian navy We're strengthened BY tho
units 1t intended to lease from the
United States. This our Government
FULLY understood. and since there was
no question. BY any stretch Of imaei-
nation, that these vessels would b.,
used for aggressive purposes azains,
any OF the neighbors. President Roose
welt and the State Department. were
all in favor Of leasing these over-aee
units to Brazil
But they did not reckon with Areen-
tina and its EuropeAn-minded foreign
secretary, Saavedro Lamas. Areen
tina was In an uproar over this pro-
iected lease, mainly because po,,rnar-
lers leading TO it had been erroneously
kept secret. None OF the South Ameri-
can republics was consulted as pro-
vided in the Buenos Aires treaty.
Argentina Has Two Power Navy.
Argentina has an adequate navy
and follows the same policy Britain
follows In Europe-the two-pover
standard. She has 4 navy which is
superior to the combined Brazilian
and Chilean navies and means to
maintain that standard as long as
possible.
The announcement that the United
States was prepared to lease six or
more destroyers to Brazil caused Chile
to take definite stand and demand
from the United States a reconsidera-
ton OF the proposal. The argument
that Brazil had no aggressive inten-
tions, although extremely logical did
not change the point of view of
President Justo and Secretary Lamas.
They remained adamant and hinted
that unless the other Latin American
states-meaning Argentina-were not
given more time to examine the prof.
ect, the Buenos Aires agreements
might be jeopsrdized
Mr.. Roosevelt and Mr.. Hull meant
we'll; they do not want to see even a
mild form of authoritarian govern
ment esta blished in South America,
mainly because they do not want Ger.
many 10 have unlimited access to Bra
Ellis natural resources at the present
time. But before the resolute attitude
of the powerful Argentine government
they decided TO let matters drop for
the time being and allow Senator Key
Pittman to bury in the Senate's For
eign Relations Committee, the pro-
posal to lease American war vessels
to the Brazilian republic until such
time as Argentina could be persuaded
to withdraw her objections.
Secretary Hull Is fighting a valiant
battle for maintaining peace and pre-
serving modern civilization. But his
chances OF succesSare slim. When ma
tions which laud his intentions 20 on
fighting. and countries like the South
American republics, possessing every
thing they need. act as Argentina did
last week, it is evident that his road
u long and pa inful one
fcopyriEht, 1879
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