davidaulloa/AmericanStories huggingface dataset:
Evening star., 1940-01-28
finnish Successes Lond and British Losses Sea Mark Euope Two Wars

Europe before Poland, backed by French
and British guarantees, resisted him and
forced him to substitute bullets for fiery
oratory. One by one Der Fuehrer picked
of small states-Austria, Czecho-Slo-
valkia, Memel-while others stood by in
active, hoping each last conquest would
appease his hunger.
Taking the history Of these conquests
as his text, Britain's blum first lord of
the admiralty, Winston Churchill, last
week appealed to the small neutral states
OF Europe, now menaced by the possi-
bility OF either German or German
Russian aggression-Belgium, Holland,
Switzerland, Denmark, Norway and
Sweden-to make common cause with
the Franco British entente against their
enemies.
Not only the hope of self preservation,
but also their duty as CO.
Allies Woo members Of the League Of
NeutroIs Nations to aid the allies
against an "aggressor,"
was placed before the small neutrals as
an argument for joining in the fight
against Hitler.
But Churchill spoke into the wind.
Most neutral capitals officially ignored
him. Hollanders were annoyed, regarded
the first lords speech as bumptious.
Said Foreign Minister Eelco N. van
Klefens:
II strongly deny there is juridical
or moral obligation for the Netherlands
to participate in the war"
The Netherlands government, how
ever, like its neighbor, Belgium, con-
tinued to strengthen its defenses against
q possible invasion by German forces,
intent on establishing air bases for an
attack on England. or to flank the
Maginot Line and invade France.
Largest producer of oil in Europe is
King Carols Rumania, now fanked on
the north by a German-Russian-d -domi-
mated Poland. Oil, without which air
planes, tanks and motorized units would
be useless, is perhaps the prime essential
of modern warfare, and one in which
Germany is dangerously deficient. Some
80 per cent of Rumanian oil production
is controlled by British, French and
American companies.
These facts, taken together last week,
added up to politico-economic situa-
ton which threat
Lure Of Oil ened to involve neu-
In Rumonio trail Rumania in
Europe's war.
German ENJOYS in Bucharest warned
Rumania that the Reich must have more
oil-that 1t was matter of life and
DEATH" and that if the country would
not voluntarily step up its exports to
Germany, it would be forced to do so.
The meaning was plain: A possible Ger
man occupation of Rumania's oil fields.
After the German demands, the Ru-
manians heard hints from London and
Paris that, if necessary, the democracies
would take military action to prevent
Germany from increasing its oil imports
by tapping foreign production in Ru-
mania. 1t seemed possible that the little
country might become a new battlefield.
While the Canadian government of
Evening star., 1940-01-28
FRANCO STAYS STRICTLY NEUTRAL IN WAR
New Spanish Regime Grateful Muson Policy;
Resents Alliance Of Germany and Soviet Russia

Throughout the Civil War in Spain,
the worlds ears were deafened with
predictions that victory for Gen. Franco
would mean Spain's military adherence
to the Rome-Berlin axis, and the be-
stowal of strategic bases upon its bene-
factors. Italy and Germany. In case
of European conflict, it was proclaimed,
Ell Caudillo would fling half million
veteran troops into the scale; his first
steps would be to sweep the English out
of Gibraltar and invade France from
the south.
Whatever may prove the country's ulti-
mate position in the current struggle,
Gibraltar and Pyreneean France remain
as yet unmenaced, though 10 months
have passed since the fall of Madrid
and five months since the outbreak of
war. It seems clear that until now the
Franco government has avoided mill
tary commitments on the side of the
Reich. Its first diplomatic act, on
March II last, was to sign treaty of
friendship and aggression with
Portugal, one clause of which stated
that nothing in the pact should preju-
dice that corner stone of Portuguese
policy" the Anglo-Portuguese defensive
alliance.
On September Gen. Franco issued
and apparently has vigorously observed
the following proclamation: In view
of the fact that war officially and un-
happily has broken out between Great
Britain, France and Poland on the one
hand, and Germany on the other, I
ordain by the present decree the strictest
neutrality on the part of Spanish SUBJ
jects in accordance with existing laws
and the principles of international law"
England Becomes Customer.
According to recent dispatches, Spain,
instead Of attacking France, is ardently
competing with Palestine for French
imports of citrus fruits; and is so far
from besieging Gibraltar that negotia-
tions virtually have been completed
under which England will purchase with
foreign exchange much Of the traffic in
iron ore, copper, mercury, lead and cork
which flowed from Spain to Germany
under barter arrangements prior to the
British blockade. The Spanish govern
ment is bitterly hostile to Germany's
friend, Soviet Russia, and has cham
pioned Finland to the extent of offering
to supply it with Bolshevik arms and
equipment captured from the defeated
Loyalist faction. Finally, Gen. Franco
has volunteered to cooperate with the
Vatican, Italy and the United States in
forwarding world peace conference.
What are the factors, economic, po-
Htical and geographical, which have
thus far confounded the soothsayers?
Can light be thrown upon domestic
conditions in Spain, which has issued
no commercial reports since 1885? What
progress has been made with the coun-
try's problem of social rehabilitation,
which has been compared to the task
of reconstruction after our own Civil
War? What are Spain's present and
prospective attitudes toward italy and
Germany?
Information under such heads was re-
fused at the Spanish Embassy in Wasla-
Evening star., 1940-01-28

sions. Only three times has he written
the majority opinion, which stands as
the law of the land.
In Justice McReynolds' eyes, even
Chief Justice Hughes and Justice Rob-
erts who often sided with him, recently
have veered from the course which
Justice McReynolds has followed un-
finchingly through his years of deci-
sion writing
Justice Roberts, the philadelphia
lawyer" appointed by President Hoover,
will share quiet joke during the courts
long day with New Dealers" Reed and
Douglas
Formal With New Deal Appointees.
But Justice McReynolds' relations
with the new justices are most formal.
Friends say the only one of the lot for
whom he has much use is young Justice
Douglas man well versed in his spe-
cialty of corporation law.
Justice McReynolds, scrunched down
in his low leather chair between the
Chief Justice and Justice Roberts, listens
silently to the legal battle. His bald
and statue-like head rests heavily on
his right hand, forefnger pressing on
forehead.
At intervals, he sits forward, throws
his shell-rimmed specs loosely over his
ears. reads a moment and then fires
cutting question at counsel.
He has a reputation for bedeviling
lawyers appearing before the court.
Many silver-tongued virtuoso, rising to
heights of oratory, has been brought to
esrth with thud by Justice Mercy
nolds' curt:
whats the real question at issue?"
So hostile do his questions sound that
lawyers often are misled as to his views.
This practice of asking hostile ques-
tions, friend explains, is aimed to de-
velop the strongest points in the lawyers
case. The justice is apt to be as harsh
with a lawyer presenting Justice Nc
Reynolds own views as with one whose
case opposes the McReynolds philosophy.
AS Justice McReynolds approaches his
18th birthday anniversary February 8
a date which usually passes unnoticed,
WIFI WOIk dS USUAL -Ile lOlQS 10 tlle
pattern of his life:
Rigid and righteous.
Born the son of rebel" doctor, edu-
Gated at Vanderbilt and Virginia, he
started his career as secretary to Sen
ator-Howel E. Jackson-who later was
to serve on the Supreme Court.
Fought As "Gold Democrat
When william Jennings Bryan was
shouting You shall not cruelty labor on
a cross of gold" young McReynolds en-
tered the 1896 election battle as Gold
Democrat" The future jurist was de-
feated for Congress by an opponent who
called him silk stocking candidate"
Nearly 40 years later, when Franklin
D. Roosevelt sought TO reduce the gold
value of the dollar, Justice McReynolds
threw aside the written text Of his dis
senting opinion (the court had upheld
the administrators gold clause" legis-
lation by five to four vote) and shouted
from the bench:
'Ihe Constitution Is gonel"
In the Republican adnainis*ratton Of
Evening star., 1940-01-28

The Canadian Premier, under
fire for his ,par policies, carried his
fight for vindication to the elec-
torate. -Harris-Eping Photo.
Prime Minister w. L. Mackenzie King
has been making vast industrial prepa-
rations to aid It's mother country. Great
Britain, it has so far
Conodo to Vote taken little actual
On War Policy part in the war. That,
its leaders say, re-
suits not from lack of patriotism or en-
thusiasm, but from wise and cautious
planning. Nevertheless, the present gov
ernment has been censured by its enc
mics for lukewarm attitude toward the
war
Challenging this criticism, the govern
ment suddenly decided last week to seek
new mandate from the people" Par
lament, meeting Thursday at Ottawa
was hardly seated before Lord Tweeds-
muir, governor general, dissolved it and
called for a general election, to be held
probably late in March. Said Mackenzie
King:
"As was prepared to trust the people
on the question of peace or war, so am
prepared now to trust the people to de-
eide what government is to carry on the
war"
Evening star., 1940-01-28

President Taft, the Democratic McReyn-
olds, as special assistant to the Attorney
General, won famous antitrust case
against the tobacco interests.
In that decision the Supreme Court
laid down "the rule of reason" rejecting
Justice Harlans contention that the laws
prohibited all restraints on interstate
trade, whether unreasonable" or not.
And this was the line which Justice Nc
Reynolds followed later.
One of the few recent opinions in
which Justice McReynolds spoke for the
majority upheld the Governments right
to press an antitrust suit against steel
company.
AS Woodrow Wilson's Attorney Gen.
eral, Mr. McReynolds negotiated the
much h-discussed Kingsbury agreement
with the American Telephone 81 Tele-
graph Co., settling "out of court" the
Governments antitrust argument with
the corporation. He did not insist on a
consent decree" signed by the Judge.
Explained in Statement.
A statement which explained the JUS
tice Departments attitude at that time
declared:
Without abating the insistence that
the statutes must be obeyed, it will al
ways welcome opportunity to aid in
bringing about whatever adjustments
are necessary for the re-establishment
of lawful conditions without litigation" :"
During his eventful year as Attorney
General, Mr.. McReynolds did recon-
mend that when any Federal judge
failed to leave the bench on reaching
retirement age. another judge should be
appointed to function in the same court
But he specifically exempted the Su-
preme Court from this recommendation.
There is quotation in one of Justice
McReynplds' opinions which might well
sum up his philosophy:
"'To let ones self slide down the easy
slope offered by the course Of events and
to dull ones mind against the extent Of
the danger that Is precisely to fail
Ia one's obligation Of Responsibility"
Evening star., 1940-01-28
kozis Rush
Submarines
THE SUPREME COURTS LEADING DISSENTER
Justice MRe Approaching 49, Hos Reputation Kindly
Hord-Biten Objectonst at the Same Time
By WiIIiam NJ. Pinkerfou,
Associated Press Stan Writer.

When the car swerved off the road last
fall and rammed the guy-wire of a tele-,
phone pole, the justice clambered out
and went home.
To reporters who called, he announced:
Il feel quite clipper"
S-Room Bachelor Quarters.
He lives and works in the eight-room
bachelor establishment he keeps in q
swank hotel on Embassy row." His
drawing room is decorated by fine COL
lection Of Audubon birdprints.
The justice drinks only an occasional
glass of wine. No discreet person would
light up cigarette in his presence. Court
gossip credited him with ordering mo
Smoking" signs posted througout the
new $11 ,000, 900 Supreme Court building.
Lawyers sometimes joke among them
selves about this judicial prejudice. One
lawyer very prominent in the admins
tration, talking to friend who just had
been appointed to the Supreme Court,
offered this suggestion:
'I'll tell you what to do. When the
court meets in private to confer on pend
ing cases, you take long, strong black
cigar and light it up in the conference
room. It might change the whole course
of constitutional law
Visits Childhood Home.
The justice holds a deep affection for
childhood associations he made around
Elkton, KY. While his mother lived,
Justice McReynolds was very attentive
to her. Now he returns regularly to the
old family place, to visit old cronies
and to see that the house is in repair.
He never has married.
Socially, Justice McReynolds does
little gadding about For several years
he has not even attended the big White
House reception for the judiciary. And
since 1887, he has skipped the Presi-
dents annual state dinner in honor of
the Supreme Court.
But his New Year Day "at home" is a
Washington institution.
Glittering debutantes mingle with
staid statesmen. Among the guests who
this year slipped the eggnog whipped up
by Harry, the super-chef, were two of
Justice McReynolds' colleagues of an
other day on the Supreme Court-for-
mer Justices Sutherland and Van De-
vanter.
These retired jurists are among the
old friends he sees quietly from time to
time.
Justice McReynolds is not at home in
the new Supreme Court, dominated by
five New Deal" appointees. Every other
justice on the bench has voiced views he
will not tolerate.
It has been said Justice McReynolds
joined in more opinions holding laws un-
constitutional than any other man in
the courts history. In the 13 vital New
Deal" tests brought before the court up
to the middle of 1896, he alone voted
against the administration on every
| issue.
Since then he has maintained steady
record as the courts leading dissenter.
Often he has entered, alone, protest
against the stand taken by his asso-
ciates. In the current session, he has
voted against the majority on II occa.
Evening star., 1940-01-28
By Richard L. Stokes.

ington, on the ground that 1t has been
instructed to abstain from even the
slightest hint of propaganda. Resort
was then had to Spaniards close to Gen.
Franco who have recently arrived in
this country. Since these are avowed
partisans of the Nationalist regime, their
declarations have been checked wherever
possible against data supplied by Amer
ican agencies with observers inside
Spain.
From both sources, in the first place,
came an affirmation that neither Italy
nor Germany possesses single military
base in continental or colonial Spain.
This would appear to dispose of widely
circulated reports that in return for their
aid in the civil war Italy was rewarded
with air bases on the Island of Majorca
and Germany with artillery bases in
Spanish Morocco and air bases in the
mountainous Basque country, to say
nothing of submarine bases at Malaga
in the Mediterranean, Cadiz and Villa
Garcia on the Atlantic and Passages and
Ferrol on the Bay of Biscay. Spaniards
are fond of contrasting the retirement
of Italy and Germany, without terri
torial recompense, with the circum-
stances under which England in 1704
gained possession of Gibraltar.
These informants do not maintain that
Italy and the Reich served the National
ist cause gratis. In truth, Franco spokes-
men remark with sardonic smiles that
Germany invented the "cash-and-carry
system" They mean to say that for
all supplies and services during the war
the Reich insisted on being paid on
the barrelhead-just as Russia did in
similar dealings with the Loyalists The
only difference was that Russia was
paid in gold and silver and Germany
with commodities.
Nothing Owed to Germany.
One consequence is that the Franco
government does not owe Germany a
peseta. Another is that the Reich's
tight-isted methods still rankle in the
Spanish temper, and have contributed
not little to an alienation which be-
gan with National Socialisms persecu-
ton of Christianity and came to head
with the pact between Hitler and Stain,
which to Catholic Spain was in the pro-
foundest sense shocking and bias
phemous.
If expressions of thankfulness to Ger
many tend to be perfunctory, there is no
nistaking the kindling eyes Of Franco
representatives when they turn to the
subject of Benito Mussolini. It is well
known that during a considerable part
of the civil war Ell Caudillo's troops
viewed their Italian allies with resent
ment and disdain, particularly after the
debacle at Gaudalajara. II Duce was
able to reverse this sentiment through
what Spanish leaders, in q passion of
gratitude, describe as his "chivalrous
good faith" and "long sighted, states
manlike generosity"
Franco could not pay for Italian as
sistance with gold, for he had none. He
could not pay with commodities, for
Spanish products are largely those which
Italy also has for export. Mussolini.
therefore, gave credit for his military
Evening star., 1940-01-28
War on Land

Red Army attempts to drive on into
Finland and wipe out the blemish on
Russian military power which has re-
suited from its heavy losses and serious
defeats over the past six weeks centered
on the Mannerheim line in the south
and on the front northeast of Lake
Ladoga.
Fiercest fighting of the week ragged
Just northeast OF the lake, where Soviet
forces attacked in mass with a two-fold
purpose: To relieve two Red divisions
which were isolated there and in danger
of starvation; and to turn the left flank
of the defenders of the Mannerheim
line.
The two endangered divisions were cut
off there in recent fighting and lost
contact with their base of supply. One
authority estimated each division nor
mally would require a trainload of food
daily. All they have received has been
scant supplies dropped from Red air
planes by parachute.
Fighting centered around Kollaanjoki
as the Russians tried to drive southwark
to Kitelad where the
Firms Fight isolated divisions are
FierceIy based. Hoping to save
these stranded soldiers
from the fate that overlook their COM
rades of the l63d and 44th divisions-re-
Gently wiped out by the Finns-the Rus
sian commanders began their push to-
ward them last Sunday, but, Finnish
reports said had made no progress dur
ing the week and had lost several thou
sand men.
Meanwhile, advancing under heavy
artillery barrage, Soviet troops farther
south made an attack in force against
the Mannerheim line. There, too, the
Firms held their ground, moving down
the enemy with machine-gun fire.
Finnish officers reported that the fight
ing quality and equipment of certain
Red Army units now entering the line
were superior to those which began the
invasion.
One Russian officer, interviewed in a
Finnish prison camp by an American
correspondent said:
"We can see that there is something
wrong somewhere. We can see that
Soviet Russia is in
Russ Officer a difficult position.
Admits Errors Either she must
withdraw the third
grade, unframed troops from Finland
and show the world the real Red Army
for what is In Finland is no part of the
Evening star., 1940-01-28

services and supplies. Department of
Commerce records show that Spain has
s5o,0Oo,0O0 of blocked" commercial
debts contracted abroad prior to 1886;
but that it owes no public debt whatso-
ever to foreign countries, with the single
exception of Secret commitments" to
Italy.
Thanks to Spanish informants, the
approximate total of these concealed
obligations" may be given here, perhaps
for the first time. Gen. Frances treas
ury owes to Fascist Italy something like
$l00000,000. Mussolini, they say, did
not retain foot Of Spanish soil as Sc
curity, and refused even to exact q
formal agreement as to when and how
repayment would be made. With tears
in their eyes, Franco spokesmen VOW
that Spain's record shall be more honor
able than that of Great Britain and
France in regard to American war debts.
Follows Italian Policy.
This emotional entente between the
two Latin relationships has brought to
pass momentous political development.
In brief, it may be assumed that SPANS
foreign policy will follow that of Italy.
Or as Spaniard would phrase it, the
policies of the two countries will tend to
coincide, since their interests are par.
allel For the present, it seems to be the
resolution of both nations to utilize their
neutrality as a basis for war booms.
Spain cannot but remember wistfully its
lucrative career as a neutral in 19l4-8,
during which it amassed the fifth largest
gold reserve in the world. From the
wealth of England and France, National
ist Spain now hopes to obtain resources
with which to mend the ravages of civil
war and set on foot the sweeping pro-
gram of social rehabilitation to which
the Franco regime stands committed
No reflection on the good faith of the
Franco government is intended, Amer
ican informants assert, when they re-
port that little substantial progress has
been made with what they describe as
an impressive and enlightened under
edAAAAS. ~ Aido UdACAy lldu tuIlC W ICdCIl
the paper stage, they declare, when war
exploded. 1t pointed out as an example
that all housing projects perforce came
to halt, since the British blockade cut
of indispensable supplies of timber.
Whatever the final outcome, it is OBJ
vious that France and England have
profited enormously from the fact that
SPANS self-interest has thus far en-
gendered an orientation Of policy toward
Italy rather than Germany. Disciples Of
the new science of geo-politics affirm
that a combination of Germany and
Russian will in the long run leave to
such peninsulas as Spain and Italy no
choice save resistance Other students
believe that Signor MussoIni has no
idea Of limiting his gains to mere war
profits, and at the strategic moment will
follow the traditional policy Of the House
of Savoy and sell out to the highest bid
der. In that case. cynics remark, it
would be worth many times 500 000, 900
to II Duce II he could fling not only Italy
but Spain into the balance.