The Wilmington morning star., 1941-01-04
BY PEGLER

NEW YORK, Jan. 3.-The Satur-
day Evening Post carries an ar.
ticle, apparently authorized by the
himself, in which c. B,
Allen %interprets Charles A. Lind
bergh's recent activities on behalf
of, let us say, American rearma-
ment or peace. incidentally, this
writing flips some interesting
charges into the winds of contro-
versy, but we will ignore them for
the time being to come to that
which 1 regard as the nub of the
great national squabble over Presi.
dent Roosevelt's rearmament, or
war, policy.
Colonel Lindbergh, says Mr.. AL.
len, thinks the United States has
come to a sorry pass when those
it's destiny proclaim any
other country is or should be it's
first line of defense.
A sorry pass is right, but neither
Lindbergh, Senator Burt Wheeler
nor anyone else of their general
persuasion in this dispute has been
able to talk the United States out
Of that pass, and the people faced
their predicament in the recent
campaign when Wendell Willkie, in
his acceptance speech, confessed
the truth as he saw it.
Wilkes Stand
Admitting that the United States
was "hopelessly unprepared" for
war, Mr.. Willkie nevertheless
scolded President Roosevelt for
shouting insults at Adolf Hitler,
but then conceded that if the Brit
ish fleet were lost the Atlantic
might" be dominated by a power
hostile to our way of life. Con-
trolling, in that event, most Of the
ships and ship-buildirg facilities of
Europe"
I will take the liberty of believ-
ing that in using the word might
Mr.. Willkie was only indulging in
a little political hedging; in other
words, that he knew well the At
lantic not only might" but GER
tainly would be dominated by a
hostile power in the event that
the British fleet were lost. He was
conceding that this nation had, in
deed, reached that sorry pass in
which the British fleet constituted
the first line of defense against a
foreign power whose hostility has
been revealed in a thousand ways,
and has only recently been posi-
lively proclaimed in Adolf Hitler's
declaration that Nazi Germany
never could be reconciled with the
free world. This was the view of
the only other important candidate
for the presidency, and he ampli-
fled it in the same speech in these
words:
1--WE must face a brutal but ter
rible fact. Our way Of life is in
competition with Hitler's way of
life. I promise to outdistance Hit
Ter in any contest he chooses in
1910 or thereafter"
Promise
Now, it seems there is a promise
On record made by Winston
Churchill that the British fleet new
er would be surrendered to the
Germans, even to save the people
of the British Isles from the atroci-
ties which the Germans inflicted
on the Czechs and Poles. But such
promises are mere sky-writing, as
the world observed when the
French nation fell and a new gov
eminent, adopting a policy of IF
you can't lick 'em join 'em," would
have turned the French fleet over
to the Nazis for use against their
late ally. In that predicament the
British were compelled to the sad
duty Of smashing the "renchmen
while they lay at anchor-a job of
sheep-shooting which tn e United
States might not be able to exc
cute in like circumstances should
Britain fall. There r plenty Of
Fascists and opportunists in Brit
ain who, in the event of defeat by
Hitler, would prove to be British
I avals, and not only yield the At
lantic to Hitler but help him
against the United States.
So not only has it been agreed
by the two men who polled prac-
tically all the vote there was for
the presidency less than two
months ago that the British fleet
is this country's first line of de-
tense against an avowed enemy,
but it should be noted that that
fleet might become a terrible
weapon in Hitler's hands should
Britain go down.
AS for the insults which the
President has shouted at Hitler and
Mussolisi these last few years, it
is useless to argue as to who nurl-
ed the first insult, but it must be
conceded that this Is the only
means by which a president can
a ouse the American people to the
necessity for rearming. Unless we
are shown an enemy we won't
spend the money, deny ourselves
anything or do any soldering OF
parading. We have to be told first
where the danger lies, and if Presi-
dent Roosevelt had demanded a
big army, navy and air force and
peacetime CONSUMPTION when Hit
Ter was just a wild-eyei nut in a
greasy raincoat squawkirg like a
spoiled wife and slittin. the threats
Of his friends, the people and the
press of this country, and %particu-
larly the republicans, would have
said he was irving to create a mill.