The Wilmington morning star., 1940-05-02
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK
By JACK

WASl11N11O Mdy In COuplc OIL OQOn-
toglossum Alexandria to Rep. John M. Vorys
of Columbus, Ohio.
The other evening at a social gathering, Mr..
Vorys took the floor and demonstrated that he
is a master of satire.
His audience was too small. So-although
I'm sure I'll turn up missing with the broad
humor of Mr.. Vory's personal appearance
I'm going to risk passing it on.
Mr.. Vory's lecture" was on ''War and
Peace" Explaining that he was a famous
professor, schooled in foreign affairs, Mr.,
Vorys let it out that he accompanied" Under
secretary of State Sumner Welles on his recent
mission abroad. He could not ~"divulge'' any of
the great Wellesian discoveries but with charts
and figures he had prepared from observation
and research, a few enlightening conclusions
on war and peace might be drawn.
+
Now, There's China
Mr.. Vorys started with the slaughter in
China, where there is no official war. He sum-
med up with the startling information Che
made up the fgures) that some 10,0 600, 900 per-
sons had been killed.
Shifting to Poland, which never was officially
at war with Germany, Mr.. Vorys estimated
that 300, 600 had been killed there.
Then, there was the matter between Fin
land and Russia where another ESQ, 900 spilled
their life s-blood on the field of battle-in spite
of the fact that the two countries were not
''at war"
Now, said Mr.. Vorys, the scene has shifted
to Norway, where Germany insists there is
NO war. Although it is too early to estimate
with any accuracy, it is safe to say that deaths
there already have mounted into the many
thousands.
Even in the United States, Mr.. Vorys ex.
plained,-this great nation which has been
blessed with peace for several years now
from go, 900 to los, 900 persons die Violently
every year.
BUT, said Mr.. Vorys, the Allies and Ger
many are at war. On the Western Front stalks
Monstrous Mars, welding his sword in Mar.
tan glee.
War Dear: 118
And what happens? After seven months,
there were lib killed, including two fellows
who fell % stories down an elevator shaft in
the Maginot line on New Years morning.
1.-THE conclusion says Mr.. Vorys, pontifi-
cally, sis almost too obvious to necessitate
statement. 1t isn't war that kills people, it's
PEACE
I can hardly wait until Mr.. Vory's great
theory reaches the four corners of the civilized
world and pressure groups get to work.
Perhaps Japan could be persuaded to de-
clare war on China and end that great slaugh-
ter. Maybe new world organizations would
spring up: the Society to Prevent Peace or
an Observation-Disclosures Organiza-
ton to Make Hitler Declare War on the
World" What a relief it would be if the world
were at war with Adolf and young men didn't
have to die in needless peace.
An Old Stunt
Washington, I nm sure, must be one of the
most naive capitals of the world. It's commen-
%tators, although among the best informed any
where, are the last to suspect perfidy.
When the Nazis took Norway, the Washing
ton observers creased their brows and couldn't
believe Nazi political infiltration started so
many months, even years, ago, that the bus
mess of clipping Norway's wings was merely
a matter of regimenting traitors.
Yet I talked to one of the men in the army
today who beat his head, and said: Lord yes,
I should have known. 1 talked to hundred of
Belgians after the war-I. was stationed there
and over and over heard the stories of how
the Germans took scores of towns by false Or
ders and by driving ahead of them a small
army of Belgian peasants, so the defenders
could not shoot without numbering their own
blood. The Nazis aren't doing anything new.
It's just that we've forgotten German methods
of warfare-which are the cleverest in the
mor1d -