The Wilmington morning star., 1940-12-30

of the modern bomber is ever be-
ing increased.
During the past week many peo-
pie in all parts of the nation have
told me what they wanted me to
say tonight. Almost all of them
expressed a courageous desire to
hear the plain truth about the grav-
lty OF the situation. One telegram,
however, expressed the attitude OF
the small minority who want to see
nc evil and hear no evil, even
though they know in their hearts
that evil exists. That telegram
begged me not to tell again of the
ease with which our American cit.
les could be bombed by any hostile
power which had gained bases in
this western hemisphere. The gist
of that telegram was: please, Mr..
President, don't brighten us by tell
ing us the facts"
Danger Ahead
Frankly and definitely there is
danger ahead - danger against
which we must prepare. But we
well know that we cannot escape
danger, or the fear of it, by crawl
ing into bed and pulling the COW
ers over Jul heads.
Some nations of Europe were
bound by solemn non-intervention
pacts with Germany. Other ma
tons were assured by Germany
that they need never fear invasion.
Non-intervention pact or not, the
fact remains that they were at
tackled, over-run and thrown into
the modern form of slavery at an
hours notice or even without any
notice at all. AS an exiled leader
of n of these nations said to me
the other day-"the notice was a
minus quantity. 1t was given to
my government two hours after
German troops had poured into my
country in a hundred places"
The fate of these nations tells us
what it mean to live at the point
Of a Nazi gun.
PiOus Frauds
The NaZis have justified such &C.
tons by various pious frauds. One.
Of these frauds is the claim that
they are occupying a nation for the
purpose of restoring ORDER. An
other is that they are occupying
or controlling a nation on the ex-
cuse that they are protecting it,
against the aggression of some
body else. ...t
For example, Germany has said
that she was occupying Belgium to
save the Belgians from the British.
Would she hesitate to say to any
South American country, I'VE are
occupying you to protect you from
aggression by the United S~tates?"
Belgium today is being used as
an invasion base against Britain,
now fighting for its life. Any South
American country, in Nazi hands,
would always constitute a jumping
off place for German attack on
any one of the other republics of
this hemisphere.
Analyze for yourselves the future
of two other places even nearer to
Germany if the Nazis won. Could
Ireland hold out? Would Irish free
dom be permitted as an amazing
exception in an unfree world? Or
the islands of the Azores which
still fly the flag of Portugal after
five centuries? We think of Hawaii
as an outpost of. defense in the
Pacific. Yes, the Azores are closer
to u shores in the Atlantic than
Hawaii is on the other side.
There n those who say that the
Axis powers would never have any
desire to attack the western hemi-
sphere. This is the same danger
GUS form of wishfY thinking which
has destroyed the powers resist
arce of SO many conquered peo-
pies. The plain facts r that the
Nazis have proclaimed, time and
again, that all other races are their
interiors and therefore subject to
their orders. And most important
Of all, the vast resources and.
u