Evening star., 1941-02-03

f8 WHICH 90 not Sc
riously restrict
it's operations.
Jay FRANKLIN The Senate
committee opened its own hearings
with all the mad impetuosity of
turtles. Two weeks for
hearings were scheduled, including
testimony from many Of those who
had already given their views to the
House committee. This was char
acteTlzed as a masked fllibuster by
those who know the urgency Of the
situation. However, even the most
bitter opponents of aid to Britain
admitted that the bill would pass
without important changes.
Herr Hitler entered the contro-
versy in a speech designed to give
aid and comfort to the Senate iSOla-
tionists led by Wheeler of Montana.
The Nazi leader warned that he
would torpedo every ship bound for
England, said that the Germans had
no quarrel with the American peo-
pie but that they might change
their minds, and promised that the
Third Reich would win the war this
year 1t was not believed in WASH
ington that the American people
would recoil in the face of these
direct threats from Germany. In
fact it looked as though public
opinion would boomerang into more
positive resentment at this German
attempt to dictate our foreign policy
in this crisis.
War News Less Favorable.
The war news was less favorable
than at any time in the last three
months The Italians were counter
attacking in Albania and the Greek
Premier MetaXas had died with sus-
picious suddenness. The German air
force was operating from Sicily and
in North Africa. There were rumors
that Petain in France had at last
allowed the Germans to land in
force in Tunis, in order to estab-
lish air bases on both sides Of the
Sicilian Channel. In the meantime,
Derna fell TO the advancing British
and the Free French de Gaulle)
forces invaded Libya from the south.
More serious was the production
factor. Germany was still outbuild-
ing England and America combined
in the matter of aircraft. German
submarines had devised new tactics
for raiding conveys TO which there
was as yet no effective answer. The
American defense program was
making slow progress, due among
other things to the persistence Of
monopolistic bottlenecks in many
essential industries. For example,
the Department of Justice indicted
the Aluminium Corp, the Dow
Chemical Co. and others in connec-
ton with an alleged agreement with
the great German chemical trust
by which the production Of mag
nesium-a vital metal in aircraft
manufacture-had been discouraged
in the United States.
Ford Denied Contract.
The struggle in the Defense Com
mission continued with the admin
istration gaining one important
point. The Ford Motor Co., low
bidder on a S10000,000 contract, was
denied a contract because the COM
pany refused to agree to obey the
labor laws of the State of Michigan
and the Government Of the United
States. Henry Ford also denied re-
ports that he was prepared to lease
his plants to the Government. In
the meantime some of the Navy
admirals. in cahoots with Chairman
VinSon of the House Naval Affairs
Committee, were trying to write into
law provisions to enforce the open
shop against unions and to legislate
forced labor by prohibiting the rigli
to strike. This was in the face O.
evidence that strikes were at a nev-
low and that labor disputes were
being settled swiftly and efficiently
by Government mediation.
In the meantime there was evi-
dence of growing public dissatis-
faction with the politics of delay,
the economics of scarcity and ad-
lll4lllOOl dllOll lOlCI dllCc 1OI lIltIll
both. 1t was argued that the Ameri-
can people support both Government
and business institutions in belief
that these are capable of promoting
the general welfare and maintaining
the common defense. In return,
the public expo t swift and decisive
action from Government, great and
timely production from business.
Failure in either field will invite
drastic changes. imposed from below
and without regard to the niceties
Of constitutional government or the
institution Of private property in
industrial production.
Change in Sentiment.
SoundingS of public opinion
showed that there was sharp
change in sentiment toward the is
sues of war and of aid to Britain.
An almost fatalistic belief was
growing that America would be in
the war by April. while the sup
porters of the administration argued
that this could be avoided only by
swift passage of the bill and rapid
increases in production. Congress
sional mail was said to reflect this
change in sentiment and 1t was
noted that willy Senator Wheeler,
leader of the appeasement bloc. had
fallen strangely silent about the
time the hearings began.
There was general expectation
that Hitlers all-out blitz against
England would not be delayed, but
military and naval experts were
doubtful that he would attempt di-
rect invasion of the British Isles
while England held the seas. There
were, however, rUmors that the
German Navy, thanks to high-pres-
sure steam boilers scorned by the
American Navy, had developed
cruisers and battleships capable of
so knots speed and that Hitler's at
l. ~