Glacier County chief. [volume] (Browning, Mont.) 1931-1940, 1940-05-31

'||3E|||l I||'
.-.... Washington, d. C.
BRITISH FLEET FOR q. s. LOANS
L. w. C'Chip') Robert, secretary
of the Democratic national commit
tee, has a plan for refunding war
debts, also for selling more supplies
to the allies and at the same time en-
suring Western hemisphere defense.
Briefly put, it is to take a mort
gage on the British fleet in lieu of
war debts.
In other words, the British would
make a small token payment, then
promise to turn their fleet over to
the United States on the war debt
in case of default. In return, the
johnson act would become inopera-
tive, and the United States would ex-
tend immediate war credits.
Behind this, Of course, is not so
much the matter of war debts, but
the very real fear that the United
States may lose its greatest bulwark
of protection-the British fleet.
How important the British fleet is
to American defense is only Just
percolating to the general public.
Real fact, however, is that the Unit
ed States is not now prepared to
defend both the Pacific and At
lantic coasts, and will not be pre-
pared for four more years. It would
take at least that long to build a
second fleet.
Note-Another plan receiving in
formal consideration by some of the
insiders is to repeal the johnson act
and give immediate credits to the
allies, in return for a mortgage on
the French and British possessions
in the Western hemisphere.
GREENLAND AIR BASE
You can write it down as certain
that should Hitler send an air expe-
dition to Greenland or OCCUPY it
otherwise, Roosevelt would oppose
that occupation, if necessary with
the armed forces of the United
States.
However, should Hitler get to
Greenland first, the United States
would have no adequate airplane
force or naval strength in the At
lantic to dislodge him.
If Hitler took Greenland or Ice
land, the United States would have
about as hard time getting him
out as the allies had in roofing the
Nazis out of Norway.
Military axiom emphasized by
this war; is: Once the enemy gets
control of a seaport or an air base,
it is going to be twice as hard, al
most impossible to get him out. So
you may see something done by the
United States about Greenland in
the not too distant future.
HEMISPHERE DEFENSE
These are days when the United
States is supposed to be bending
every effort to coordinate the de-
tense of the Western hemisphere;
days when President Roosevelt i'm
presses upon congress the vulner-
ability of the Panama canal and
Latin America to airplane attack.
Boiled down to cold fact, however,
the United States has done very
little toward cooperating with Latin
America on Western hemisphere de-
tense.
For instance, four years ago
Brazil asked the United States to
permit the leasing or sale to South
American neighbors of decrepit de-
stroyers rusting in Philadelphia and
San Francisco harbors since the
World war. But congress threw lip
its hands in horror of rearmament
and said No.
Then in March, 1889, a bill was
introduced in congress permitting
Latin American nations to build
ships in U. S. navy yards and buy
certain equipment from the U. S.
army and navy which would not con-
flict with our own national defense
all paid for in cash.
The bill passed the house of rep
resentatives but hung up in the SEN
ate. And there it still hangs. In
fact, it has been stymied for a year
by Senator Vandenberg.
LATIN AMERICAN CRITICISM
Meanwhile Latin American ma
tons, not understanding the Amer
lean parliamentary system by which
one man sometimes can thwart the
rest OF congress are critical, say
ing U. S. doesn't cooperate.
Note-The senate foreign relations
committee also has buried the Ar