Evening star., 1939-08-09
Anticipates Failure Of
German Propaganda
Clear Thinking Held Antidote
For Efforts of Alien
Aeitotors
BIZ William, Mann.


with the grim approval of all loyal
Americans, however much some may
regret the circumstances under which
the declaration was made. The sincere
and scholarly statesman made the state
ment IN the heat of discussion, and
possibly regrets it now himself. One
may we'll ask, however, what springs
of thought, subconscious perhaps, could
have prompted a liberal like Senator
Borah to say such thing to liberal
like President Roosevelt. The hypothesis
that the Senator was merely taking a
not very indirect slap at the President
for asking repeal of the Neutrality Act
of 1887 we reject with more than mod
crate horror. Surely not! And yet a
man as serious as Senator Borah does
not say such things lightly.
What are the facts? Is Hitleristic
philosophy gaining ground in America?
1t would be strange if no ground at all
were gained when one considers the large
and continuous streams of foreign radio
and gratuitous printed matter being
directed toward these shores. Under
modern "peacetime" conditions Nation
like ours can no more prevent the en-
trance of organized and subsidized ide-
ologies than the Nazis can wholly pre-
vent the subterranean whisperings and
handbills that annoy them SO much. In
fact, we don't even try. From this the
Nazis are prone to credit themselves with
an immoderate degree Of success.
But are there really signs that Nazi
emanations are taking effect here? There
are some shadows on our horizon, not
big enough to be alarmed about, but
still too definite to ignore altogether.
pretty nearly untouched by the strenuous
Nazi shortWave radio programs which
lombard us nightly and by the PAM
phlets which are shipped in from the
same source. Even the German COM
munities scattered over the United States
remain, on the whole, aloof from doc
trine that is fundamentally as un-Ger-
man as it is un-American. The most
influential German language papers here
are definitely opposed to Nazi excesses.
The followers of Fritz Kuhn are rela-
lively negligible in number; an exceed
ingly noisy minority which has lost the
struggle to take possession Of the old
line German singing and benevolent So
cieties. Without subsidies the movement
would probably collapse altogether.
1t must be remembered, however, that
there are many people who present only
nominal sales resistance" to hysterical
or even terroristic propaganda. Most of
these won't do any thing to help it
along, neither will they take active steps
to stop it. Many even like to know
something's going on, because it's safely
exciting; while ordinary life is pretty
humdrum. They don't object very much
to anything aggressive people do.
There is another susceptible group
which succeeds in combining an admit
tedly poor set of nerves and perpetu-
ally sour stomach with great pride in
their blood" These ready dupes of
racial propaganda begin with the modest
assumption that they are the most val
liable section of the population. They
spend considerable part Of their waking
time worrying about aliens, and just
as they magnify their own importance,
they belittle the contributions Of others
to the development of American life.
These are potential arm-raisers, but they
are mostly not vicious.
Worst of all is the small group of
criminally minded persons, ordinarily
submerged by the heavy hand of the
law, who have fierce and abiding aver
sion to ordinary pursuits, and enter ex-
tremist political organizations from the
reasoned view that it is good racket.
The non-uniformed variety are known
the world over as gangsters. The beat
ings, torturings, pogroms and mass exc
cutions required to maintain totalitarian
control over a country are the work
of this group. OF course, they are a
minority everywhere, but when armed
with official sanction few thousands
of these brutes are enough to terrorlze
a nation of many millions. 1t must be
remembered that most political over
turns are engineered by minority,
though not generally of this type.
The work of this element explains a
European phenomenon which has long
puzzled many observers. How does one
account for the sudden local changes
OF European mores? How is it possible,
for instance, to turn the noble land OF
Goethe Schiller and Mommsen SO quick
ly into a cultural shambles? The lads
, under discussion provide the answer.
They are the ones who can turn a
tolerant democratic country into an in
tolerant despotism almost overnight. Let
the new authorities provide them with
weapons, promise no police interference
and unleash them on the helpless popu-
lation, and the thing is done. The re-
verse change takes place when still
newer authorities order the police to take
up their normal duties. The great mass
of the population, having never left
normal activities, continue to 60 about
their work in the same old way.
Nazi influence can be plainly seen in
the TRADES of a certain radio orator
whose sophistries and their sources have
been rather fully exposed. There are
submerged mutterings among one or
two Congressman who have been proper
ly rebuked by their colleagues on the
floor. Proposals to establish concentra-
ton camps in the United States and
to Withhold from aliens the benefits of
security pensions for which they have
paid would hardly be considered if we
had not learned such doings from