Detroit evening times. (Detroit, Mich) 1921-1958, 1940-12-23
BY HUGH S. JOHNSON

BY HUGH S. JOHNSON
LAS the witch hunt actually
II begun? 1 haven't heard it,
but several letters and tele-
grams inform me that conspic-
uous radio news commentator is
warning the public to watch
carefully" members of the keep
out-of-war committees because
they are "appeasers" and ARE
trying to make It's afraid"
Gen. Bob Wood. who. was
honored by Congress for his
work in helping to build the
Panama Canal and brought back
from an important post in
France in the AEF TO spark the
American war production effort
as quartermaster general, is be-
ing put on the pan.
Col. Charles Lindbergh, who
brought home the greatest hon
ors American = aviation ever
knew, and who first jolted
American and British COM
placency by revealing the ire
mendous hidden powers of
German air armament. is now
under the wand of the profess
sional witch finders.
EVEN his lovely, fearless.
IL quietly philosophical wife
has taken a dirty dig or two
from such professional breast
beating Boadiceas as Dorothy
Thompson.
What goes on here?
Most OF the people who want
to dress up Uncle Sam as some
thing more canny than his old
role as the worlds prize fat boy
with the bag of candy in a
world of dead end" urchins. were
awake long before these tardy
tom-tOm heaters. witch doctors
and Sioux sun dancers were even
! aware that there was vast.
sinister and growing danger in
the world.
Some of them had been ham,
mering al the inexcuSable in
science of England, the equivocal
horse trading of France and,
above all. the spineless mac
/ tivity of America. long before
the cloud no bigger than a
mans hand" became a thunder
head and began to belch light
ming.
All OF them are. and have long
been, for about defense of this
country. All are against hysteri-
cal dissipation of it,
Who speaks for America
they or their half-crazed critics?
IF THEY were so much more
i nearly right before. maybe
they are more nearly right now.
when they question whether VIC
should rush headIong into a gun
fight with our gun not even
loaded and as first act. give
away our guns.
Our greatest lack right now
Is VIII Rogers. who said: Amer
lea never lost war or won a
conference.
We can wonder what he
would say about lets take the
silly fool dollar mark from aid
TO Britain
From how many billions have
we taken the silly fool dollar
mark" for foreigners it would
be hard to say.
We took them off from the
bill we footed .or the last World
War TO a present total. with in
terest of about Ia billions.
GOD alone knows 10 what ex-
VI tent we took it off in de-
faulfed private loans to back
ward and crippled countries"
including Germany, after the
war.
He also alone knows to what
extent we chucked the silly
fool" dollar mark by buying the
worlds gold and silver at
fictitious prices. fixed by us, at
from almost double TO more than
double their true value. produce
tion cost plus reasonable profit.
Tho total cost of all these in
credible follieS. no man can COM
pute. bat il runs into the fiscal
stratoSphere.
If we get hypnotizcd into
financing this war. it could be
doubled. If. in addition. we get
into il. the sky is the limit
but there is a limit. according
10 Mr.. Einstein. even 10 the
universe.
............,..@ - acknowledgements