Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1940-10-06
NAVY CONFIDENT IN PACIFIC
By Constantine Br0wn.

How is the World War shaping out in
the eyes of responsible high officials in
Washington?
Since the signature of tripartite
agreement between the European and
Asiatic totalitarian states, it is narrow
ing to struggle for world domination
between the powers of the axis and the
English-speaking countries.
In short time-much shorter than
most people think-the Pacific will be-
come as important a scene of battle as
Europe.
Until this happens, an attack against
Gibraltar, with an intensified air bonn
bardment of Great Britain. is likely to
command the headlines. But the only
serious danger to the island is the coll
lapse of the air force. This might have
been possible few weeks ago, but it is
no longer in view now; the tempo of
sending American pursuit and bombing
planes to England has been greatly in
creased in the last three weeks and it
will be further increased as time goes
on. The administration is determined
to make reality of the promise that it
will help Great Britain by all means
short of war. If the axis Germany,
Italy and JAPAN is determined to de.
eide that the sending of war materiel
across the Atlantic to the powers oppos-
ing the axis is an act of war, the admin
istration is willing to face the conse-
quences.
Blame Put on U. S.
What is new, however, is the fact that
Germany has not been able to bring
Great Britain to her knees. For the
first time since the outbreak of the
European conflict the calculations of the
German high command have missed
fire. The natural reaction has been to
throw the blame on the United States.
The German government and the leaders
of the German forces, with Herr Hitler
at their head. maintain that had it not
been for Americas unneutral attitude,
Britain could not have resisted the Ger
man onslaught. But British aviation,
they maintain, has been greatly
strengthened by the United States. The
Germans say that the figures published
in the United States putting the num-
Der of machines delivered to Britain
every month at between 300 and 400 are
pure eyewash. Washington, according
to the Germans, has sent twice that
number each month since last July and
these have not been the airplanes or.
dered from private factories by the Brit
ish government, but actually American
military planes.
The fact that there is today in Britain
an American squadron-the Eagle
Squadron by an American,
Col. Charles Sweeney, and the fact that
American volunteers are flying those
planes, is taken by Berlin as another in
dication of the effective help this coun-
try is giving the London government.
Berlin considers that this country has
done enough already to justify an open
declaration of war; the reason why the
Berlin government has not found it
necessary to raise these points officially
has been that Germany is not prepared
to fight both the United States and
England at once without some assist
ance.
But when the japanese military gov
eminent signifled that it was ready for
any emergency" Berlin, Rome and To-
kio decided to make public in a spec
tacular way their alliance in the hope of
causing panic among the American
people.
The course of Americas foreign policy
is set and those responsible for the con-
duct of the Nations affairs say that
this course will not be changed, regard
less of who the next skipper is.
Two Essentials In Policy.
The position of the United States in
regard to the present conflict has been
affirmed and reafirmed on many occa-
sions. 1t boils down to two essentials:
That we will help Great Britain by any
means at our disposal short of war;
that we will not be taken into war ex-
cept to defend our shores. This latter
policy must be somewhat amplified: The
problem of the defense of American
shores is military matter. The ques-
ton is whether an offensive is the best
defense. Should this military point Of
view prevail, the defense Of the United
States must be accomplished by an at
tack against our potential enemies. And
who these potential enemies are has be.
come obvious by reading the warnings"
given to us BY the powers Of the Euro
pean-Adatic axis.