The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-12-24

EdsOn chant marine, Sis- sal for ropes and lines, tapiocA for starches and paSteS and sl8lngs, palm oil for treating metal plates. It is no military secret to mention these things now, for tho world in general and this country in par- tlcular have known them since the defense effort began,
 Talk about conveying! From Singapore and Batavia to San Fran cisco across the Pacific Is Just as far as 1t Is the other way around from Batavia and Singapore to London, across the Indian Ocean, up the Red Sen through the SueE Canal, across tho Mediterranean to dibral- tar and up the coast of Portugal and occupied France to the chan mel ports.
 The routes are about equally ha2- ardous, now that Japan Is In the war and on the loose, Direct routes from Singapore and Batavia to the United States, across the China Sea towards Manila and on past Guam and the Hawaiian Islands are of course closed, for there turks the Japanese fleet, North of New Guinea, eaSternmost of the Dutch East Indies, are the Jap mantated Caroline and Marshall Islands, with half q dozen or more bases from which commerce rnlding submarines and bombers can operate like the goth century pirates that they are THOUSANDS
 OF ISLANDS
 This whole vast area of the west. ern Pacific - 5000 thousand miles of 1t from Singapore to Honolulu - Is aS dangerous 0 theater of naval warfare as the Atlantic, and 1t Is from two to three times as big, From New York to London is a mere 5000 miles, but from San Francisco to Singapore is 0,0o0 And this western Pacific Is dotted with 10000 islands and refs which make the crossings all the more hazard. ous, You have to travel this area to e real appreciation of It's distances and times.
 In spite of these hazards, 1t IS inc portant that tho sea lanes to the south seas be kept open. Next to Great Britain and Russia, these Netherlands East fnndies and tho Malay Peninsula are Rs important as any ally tho United States may have in this war. For from this area there comes more strategic mater. ialS than from any other single country.
 MalAya, the peninsula north of Singapore, has furnished the United States with 70 per cent Of its raw rubber and 66 per cent of It's tin. The Dutch East Indies have fur. nished another % per cent of the rubber and another 20 per cont Of the tin. On top of that, the Nether- lands Indies supply % per cent of the worlds qulne, 8S per cent of It's spices, 66 DOT cent of It's kapok. Put. ting the picture another way, the United States In lelo took over Q third of all teh exports from tho Indies, and fer ie4i the figure will Do even higher. U. 8. investments In rubber plantations alone total more than $40 million.
 FIGHTING
 DUTCYIMAN
 These Indies will punch their weight in any fight, too. Sinking of four Japanese trop ships by Dutch submarines in the opening week of the war IS Just an indication of what these Dutchmaa and their GO million native population can do, Nearly oil the Dutch fleet escaped the fall of the Netherlands in May, io40, and has been based in the In. dies. Also, it has been augmented by the eonStrction Of c homo fleet of mosquito boats, sub chaserS and mine sWeepers, manned by fndone. sian sailors trained to give an Ae- count of themselves in the best tra- ditionS of the Dutch sea beggarS" who licked the Spanish in the hun. dred years struggle with Spain.
 This embryo fleet of light cruisers and deJtroyers and submarines Is the offensive arm of the Indies force backed of course by SquadronS of patrol bombers that cover the 5000 miles of water in which It's islands lie.
 The army of the Indies Is It's de- fense. There IS compulsory service for all men between 10 and 46, whe. ther native or European. There Is a motorized force of some 5000 yehi- cles and combat air force of American planes.
 Tn May, l940, when the NaZis in- vaded the low countries, Amsterdam flashed just one code word to the Netherlands Indies. It was Berlin" That one code word set the colonial government in action. Every Ger man ship in e Dutch port and every German was seized. It would take only another code word to put the whole Netherlands East Indies into even more drastic action now.