Evening star., 1940-05-19
A Menuced America

Now that the dread specter of total
war has materialized in Europe, now
that the British and the French are
reeling before its devastating fury
and are fighting with their backs to
the wall for their very lives, the peo-
pie of the United States must cast
aside the last of their illusions and
face the grim but inescapable fact
that our own security is seriously
threatened
This stark truth-that we, too, are
In peril and that the peril is immi-
nent-must be accepted now. If we
delay In grasping this, if we con-
tinue to exert anything less than a
supreme and intelligent effort at
self-protection in the comfortable
but no longer tenable belief that we
are relatively safe behind the bar
riers of two oceans, the time is not
far off when we may be brought for
chilly to the realization-when it is
too late-that we are tragically vul-
nerable to concerted attack.
From the outbreak of this war
more than eight months ago The
Star has taken the position, and has
repeatedly reaffirmed it, that our
own economic welfare-even our own
military security - has depended
upon an allied victory. In other
words 1t has been and still is The
Stars belief that the first and most
logical effort for this country to
make in furtherance of its own de-
fense is to help check the spread
of German aggression at its source
in Europe. To that end The Star
has urged time and again that every
support short of war should be
given by us to France and Britain.
Others, including the President,
while obviously thinking the same
thoughts and shaping national poll
cies to that end, have felt themselves
restrained in making the open, un-
qualified declarations that the sit
uation demands. The allied cause
is our cause. Our best, perhaps our
only hope for peace, now lies in an
allied victory. The allied war coun-
ellis undoubtedly know that The
German leaders know it. But do
our own people know it? Do the
suffering people of France and Eng
land know it? Has the time not
come to proclaim it, not by indirec-
ton, not by suggestion, not by par
ables, but by fortnight declaration
from the President himself that all
our resources-save the men not now
needed-are at the disposal of the
allies from now on? That is the
case. Why not say it?
X
The menace to America that will
arise with German victory is plain
Perhaps its exact dimensions cannot
be estimated at this time with fine
precision, but the worst that may
happen can be envisioned and it Is
for that which we must plan and
prepare. If the allies should win the
war, or even gain stalemate, the
grave and immediate military threat
to this country will have been re-
moved. Therefore, it is upon the
possibility-and it is very real one
of a quick and decisive German VIC
tory that we must base our calcu-
lations.
The first and most obvious move
of a victorious Hitler would be to
seize any possessions of the defeated
nations which might be useful to
him. The question for us to consider,
then. is what these possessions are
and how they might be used to our
disadvantage.
1t Is a foregone conclusion that
Hitler or one or more of his totali-
tartan partners will attempt to take
over certain of the strategically and
materially important islands and
other territories of the British,
French, Dutch and Norwegians.
What of Bermuda and the other al
lied islands in the Caribbean area?
Can we be safe If they fall into strong
and hostile hands? What Of Iceland,
Greenland, the Azores, the East In
dies and perhaps the Philippines, not
to mention allied naval bases scat
tered throughout the world? These
regions are of utmost Importance to
us from military standpoint, and
their possession by enemies of ours
would indeed be deadly menace to
America. And from some of these
territories we draw essential raw ma
terials which we do not produce our
selves. Without access to them the
perfection Of our own continental
defenses would be infinitely compli-
Gated and most seriously delayed.
A second possibility which we must
face is that Hitler, if he triumphs
now, may gain possession of the
French and the British fleets. This
is possibility which is heavily dis
counted by some people, who prefer
to believe that the allied naval forces
never will be surrlpdered' that they