Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-05-28

shipping routes to and from the
South Atlantic.
Western Hemisphere
Near Brink of War.
The war is approaching the
brink of the Western Hemisphere
itself. 1t is coming very close to
home.
Control or occupation by Nazi
forces of any of the islands of
the Atlantic would jeopardize
the immediate safety of portions
OF North and South America,
and of the island possessions
of the United States. and of the
ultimate safety of the continent
tai United States itself.
Hitler's plan of world domina-
ton would be near its accom-
plishment today. were it not for
two factors: One is the epic re-
sistance of Britain, her colonies,
and the great dominions, fight
ing not only to maintain the
existence of the Island of Brit
ain. but also to hold the Near
East and Africa. The other is
the magnificent defense of China,
which will. I have reason to
believe, increase in strength. All
OF these together, prevent the
Axis from winning control of
the seas by ships and aircraft.
The Axis powers can never
achieve their objective of world
DONNA ton unless they first OBJ
tain control of the seas. This
is their supreme purpose today;
and to achieve it. they must
capture Great Britain.
They could then have the power
to dictate to the Western Hem
isphere. No spurious argument,
no appeal to sentiment. and no
false pledges like those given
by Hitler at Munich. can de-
ceive the American people into
believing that he and his Axis
partners would not. with Britain
defeated. close in relentlessly on
this hemisphere.
But if the Axis powers fail to
gain control of the seas. they are
certainly defeated. Their dreams
Of world domination will then
go by the board; and the GRIM
inal leaders who started this war
will suffer inevitable disaster.
Both they and their people
know this-and they are afraid.
That Is why they are risking
everything they have, conduct
ing desperate attempts to break
through to the command of the
ocean. Once they are limited to
a continuing land war, their
cruel forces of occupation will
be unable to keep their heel on
the necks of the millions of in
nocent, oppressed peoples on the
Continent of Europe; and in
the end, their whole structure
will break into little pieces. And
the wider the Nazi land effort,
the greater the danger.
We do not forget the silenced
peoples. The masters of Ger
many-those. at least, who have
not been assassinated or escaped
to free soil-have marked these
peoples and their children's
children for slavery. But those
people-spiritually unconquered:
Austrians, Czechs. Poles, Norwe-
gians, Dutch, Belgians, French
men, Greeks. Southern Slavs-
yes, even those Italians and Ger
mans who themselves have been
enslaved-will prove to be
powerful force in disrupting the
Nazi system.
All American History Tied Up
With freedom Of Seas"
Yes, all freedom meaning
freedom to live, and not freedom
to conquer and subjugate other
peoples-depends on freedom of
the seas. All of American his
tory-North, Central and South
American history-has been in
evitably tied up with these
words, freedom of the seas"
Since 1899, when our infant
Navy made the West Indies and
the Caribbean and the Gulf of
Mexico safe for American ships,
since 1904 and 1905 when we
made all peaceful commerce safe
from the depredations of the
Barbary pirates; since the War
of 1872, which was fought for the
preservation of sailors rights:
since 1867, when our sea power
made it possible for the Mexicans
to expel the French army of
Louis Napoleon, we have striven
and fought in defense of freedom
Of the seas-for our own ship
ping, for the commerce of our
sister republics, for the right of
all nations to use the highways
of world trade-and for our own
safety.
During the first World War
we were able to escort merchant
ships by the use of small cruisers.
gunboats and destroyers; and
this type of convoy was effective
against submarines. In this
second World War, however, the
problem is greater, because the
attack on the freedom of the
seas is now fourfold: First-ths
improved submarine; second
the much greatay use Of the