Evening star., 1940-08-04
Reich Is Dominant
Balkan Influence
Since Paris Fell
Thousands of Nuzis With
Missions to Perform
Overruning Region
BY LELAND STOWE.
,aso Daily News Foreign Correspondent.

BY LELAND STOWE,
CHICAGO Daily News Foreign Correspondent.
BUCHAREST, Aug 3.-Actually,
1t only dates from the fall of Paris,
on June IA. But already the time
seems remote when Englishmen and
Frenchmen were something more
than curiosities in the Balkan
scenery.
Time has changed very swiftly
Today, both Great Britain and
France might just as we'll be at
tached to the continent Of Australia
as far as their prestige and influence
throughout Southeastern Europe is
concerned. The only foreigners who
really count here are the Germans.
And most of them are quite aware
of that fact.
Here, and in Sofia, Belgrade, and
elsewhere, the Germans have been
moving in faster than ever since
France capitulated six weeks ago
thousands of Hitler's tourists" are
travelling through these countries
all the time and they all have spe-
ciflc jobs to do, either political,
economic, or something else. Ger
man is the principal language to
be heard in hotel lobbies, and the
lobby of any important Balkan
hotel constitutes an extraordinarily
accurate barometer of political
prestige.
These Nazi visitors all have
crowded daily schedules, whatever
their particular missions may be.
In our hotel, for instance, the only
Germans who seem to have nothing
to do are those lonely gentlemen
who take turns sitting in the lobby
from early morning until midnight
keeping sharp eye on who is talk
ing to whom. We have long since
got used to them and, of course.
they have got pretty well used to
us by now. We have an unspoken
understanding of each others func-
tlons IN the existing system.
All Have Jobs to Do.
But the German visitors are phe-
nomenally hard workers, no mistake
about that. They all have jobs to do
IN building the new European
order and they would give plenty
of competition to the most energetic
travelling salesman in the U. S. A.
Maybe they will do that some day.
They believe that Germany's day
has dawned and they are all doing
their share both efficiently and with
patriotic fervor. One can scarcely
remember when Englishmen.
Frenchmen or Americans were so
unanimously inspired by such single
ness of purpose. When it comes to
serving their country according to
their rights, you have to doff your
hat to the Germans.
This Is why Hitler's Third Reich
Is going places and gettin gthings
cone. AS you lounge in your hotel
lobby, you wonder what some of
these Nazi tourists" have received
as assignments. Two weeks ago you
might have wondered about the tall
lean-faced, dark-haired man, who
was pointed out to you as DR.. Guido
Schmidt, the last foreign minister
OF Austria-the same Guido Schmidt
who persuaded Chancellor Kurt
Schussnlgg to take his fatal Jour-
ney to see Hitler at Berchtesgaden
Yesterdays Bucharest newspapers
supplied at least partial answer.
They reported that a new set of di-
rectors had been elected for "Resita. :"
which Is Rumania's largest metal
lurgical company, with total proper
ties and assets of nearly $4,000 900.
Four Germanic names were includ-
ed in the lists, among them the
names of Guido Schmidt and an "a.
Goering," presumably the brother
OF Reichsmarshal Hermann Goer-
Ing. 1t would appear that the Ger
man role in Rumanian industry is
being very much enlarged. Since
Resita has just voted a 10 per cent
dividend, its new directors are GER
tain to be well paid and, perhaps
before long, the German directors
will be allotted commendable por-
tion of shares in the firm.
Axis Controls News.
The history of Resita is interest
Ing because the company expanded
and 1ourished under the guidance
Of Max Auschnitt, Jewish indus
trlalist. Last winter AuSchnitt was
charged with illegal dealings in for
eign exchange and received a prison
term of six years. The control
which Auschnitt possessed has since
conveniently passed into other
hands, and it is said that most of
his shares had to be sold to pay the
fines which the courts imposed. In
any case, the important Resita
metallurgical plants will now be ad-
ininistered by others, and the Ger
man voice on the Board of Directors
commands attention.
Throughout the Balkans today all
the news that reaches print is con-
trolled directly or indirectly by the
Berlin-Rome axis. Virtually the
only summaries of events in Amer
lea to appear in Balkan newspapers
are supplied by German or Italian
official news agencies. Naturally,
these dispatches have peculiar slants
and bear such emphasis as best
serves the purposes of the Nazi and
Fascist propaganda ministries. In
this respect the reading publics In
Rumania, Yugoslavia and Hungary
are almost completely cut off from
the rest of the world.
The United States Legation in
Bucharest has total of less than
95 employees and staff members, only
eight of whom are Americans. The
German Legation here now has more
than 180 Germans attached to its
stan. All the Balkan legations of
Hitlers Reich are equally crowded
with specialists of all kinds. And all
OF them have plenty of jobs to do.
Decidedly, the Germans move fast
and they work like beavers. When
the tasks Of the Nazi tourists and
travelling statesmen are finished here,
there will be other places to 60
Wherever they go on this continent
nT elsewhere op1u tho ,,oor+ 49, ax.,-l