Imperial Valley press., 1940-06-21
THE @AVEST DANGER
OF THEM ALL TO US.

americas greatest peril To-Day comes
from her own people.
1t comes from those who are American
to the core, as much as from those who
accept secret dictatorship from alien
sources.
1t is hysteria.
Now as never before the people of the
United States need calm. clear thought.
Now, for their own sakes and for the
sake of Democracy, they need to recap
ture that trait which was for SO long the
trademark of a Yankee the world around:
the stOical ability to meet an emergency
without making a great fuss about it.
We might very well combine two ia
nous old quotations and advise ourselves:
Keep your powder dry and don't shoot
until you see the whites of their eyes
Right now there's altogether too much
shooting when the enemy isn't even in
sight.
There's no use minimizing or attempt
ing to minimize the situation as it exists.
But there's no use magnifying it, either.
The situation in a nutshell is this, that
the Democracies of Europe are faced with
possible humiliation for a few years, at
least, and the Western Hemisphere is
likely to face the same threat unless the
United States is so well armed that no
one dares attack it. Add to that fact that
the United States is arming as no other
nation has ever armed and You have the
whole picture.
1t is a critical one, but not a hopeless
one. And certainly it is not one that can
be made better if Americans all of a
sudden become as eXcitable as a conven-
ton of Italian peanut vendors discussing
the Mediterranean situation.
Let's quit acting as if the world were
going to stop turning on its axis within
the next ten years.
If we don't force ourselves into ways
of common sense, then we will force
ourselves into war. When enough people
adopt the defeatist idea that Eve can't
stay out" then we might as we'll stop
trying.
YOU CAN'T WIN A BATTLE
BY GIVING UP THE FIGHT
Americas battle right now is one to
stay out of war, and America cannot win
that battle if its people give up the fight
beforehand. The only way we will stay
out is by notifying our national leaders
in the most emphatic terms we know
that we do not intend to fight on Euro
pean soil.
At the same time we can warn Europe
that we will Highland win-if one
European dictator sets so much as
little toe in the Western Hemisphere.
But while we're doing that, let's do it
calmly, without convincing ourselves that
our world has already crumpled.
There are too many young Americans
today who are using the war as an ex-
cuse to loaf, saying there's no use work
ing because they'll be fighting soon. They
are doing more to weaken this country
than all the Fifth Columns in the world.
There are too many adults who have
closed their eyes to facts and mutter
resignedly that Hitler cannot be stop
ped. They forget that the only reason
for Hitler's triumphs thus far is that he
was prepared, his enemy was not. Their
defeatist weakness weakens the morale
which, in event of war in this hemisphere,
would be the most important part of
Americas defenses. Every time they re-
peat the silly belief that Hitler is omni-
potent-as no man ever is-they strike
blow against this country's welfare.
There is too much intolerance-an in
tolerance is the rule of dictatorship, not
Democracy.
For Americas sake, let's act like Am
orleans, live like Americans and think
like Americans.