Evening star., 1940-04-03
Member Of the Associated Press
Bad News for NeutroIs

Bad News for NeutroIs
The progress Prime Minister
Chamberlain reported to the House
OF Commons yesterday in closing the
gaps in the blockade about Germany
was good news to the peoples of the
allied countries and their sympathiz-
ers, but definitely bad news for the
neutrals.
Striking the same note as Winston
Churchill in his broadcast last Sat-
urday-caution to neutrals not to
become the tools of Germany-the
British war leader warned the little
states Of Northern and Southern
Europe Of the "hideous fate that has
overtaken previous victims of Ger
man policy" and triumphantly an
nounced that control of the sea had
been frightened and a series of trade
agreements concluded with neutrals
regulating their exports to Germany.
The emphasis which Mr.. Chamber
lain, like Mr.. Churchill, placed on the
relationship of neutrals to Germany
hints the nature of the decisions
taken at the meeting last week of the
Allied Supreme War Council, and
portends deeper involvement in the
conflict for the little states which
are striving desperately to avoid
wars pitfalls.
Britain is striving diligently to
persuade the neutrals to forego the
rights which they claim. Britain's
purpose to shut of Germany's sup
plies would be most easily and most
effectively served if Norway, Sweden,
Denmark, Holland and all the states
Of the Balkans would voluntarily
surrender, in favor of the allies the
rights which have most frequently
brought them into conflict with Paris
and London.
But allied statesmen are not so
naive as to believe that is likely, and
the persuasive admonitions carry a
thinly yelled threat that Britain and
France will not stand idly by and
permit Germany to utilize the rules
of legal neutrality to breach the
blockade. Mr.. Churchill slapped
vigorously at interpretations of
neutrality which give all the advan-
tages to the aggressor and inflict all
the disadvantages on the defenders
Of freedom" and Mr.. Chamberlain
charged that Germany was intimi-
dating neutral nations with threats
to make them conform to double
standard Of neutrality"
With a British fleet already
patrolling the route of German ore
ships through Norwegian waters, the
warning is an ominous one for the
Scandinavian states, although the
danger of clash involving Norway
Is diminishing as the resumption of
navigation in the Gulf of Bothnia
approaches with the breakup of the
Ice in the gulf.
The return Of spring, therefore, is
shifting the focus more and more to
the Balkans, where allied plans for
diplomatic offensive to shut off Ger
many's supplies are in the making.
The real danger in the southeast is
not Of allied, but of German military
action. Although now restrained be-
cause Of the Nazis' hopes to make
the Balkans feed their war machine,
the peril will become imminent If the
allies succeed in persuading the small
nations of this region to reduce their
shipments to Germany. Rumania
already is feeling Nazi pressure to
stimulate her exports of vital war
supplies, which have fallen far short
OF German expectations.
Supplementing the threats to Scan
dinavia and the diplomatic pressure
on the Balkans is the more direct
means Britain has taken of stopping
Russian merchant ships in the Far
East, where the trade through Vladi-
vostok has increased tremendously,
partly in response to Russia's own
needs and partly, no doubt, to Ger
man use of this back door to evade
the blockade.
If there has been any criticism of
allied inertia along the western front,
the same can hardly be said now of
the blockade. It has entered its most
critical stage, with Britain deter
mined to force the neutrals to ad-
here to a form Of economic, as well
as military, neutrality which would
prevent them becoming the source
Of Germanys war sinews.
Tnk:na &ka (o...