Evening star., 1941-11-18

!
meet him, bomber for bomber, tank
for tank, soldier for soldier, work.
man for workman, patriots all.
| closing ranks as one wall of steel?
Would he have attempted to level
London and Rotterdam and Brussels
had he known that Berlin and Mu-
Mich and Hamburg would meet the
same fate forthwith?
Would he have moved, if he had
known that 400OO,00O Frenchmen
were united, ready, prepared-their
blast furnaces at white heat, their
coal mines in full production, their
workers modified to insure steady
| flow of modern war equipment. so
long as they would be required to
serve?
OF course not. No bully ever
attacked a well-prepared foe. But
Hitler knew that the defense of
/ France was an empty she'll -
France was vanquished before the
Poland-beaten not by Hitler. but
/ by the unpreparedness of them
selves. For he knew that where
strikes and lockoutS are prevalent,
/ national defense cannot exist.
Amused Hitler.
Indeed, he had watched for six
or seven years with cynical amuse-
ment one strike follow upon another
in France. He saw the "blackout'
of industry from Friday evening
until Monday morning - two-sev-
enthS of the weekly industrial pro-
duction thrown out the window. ."
He saw noble old nation-the
founder of liberty, equality and
fraternity-France, with the tricolor
draped about her, hiding body
polite. emaciated. bled white with
internal diSsension and industrial
strife. ready TO fall to ashes at the
first impact Of modern mechanical
warfare.
Truly. house divided against
itself could not. and did not. stand !
France, with its overzealous. blinded
+ labor leaders, brought new method
OF labor warfare into industry. Hitler
smiled and countered with new
method of industry in warfare
French "Sit- down strikes were fol-
+ lowed by German "sit-down' tanks
/ Thus. the pathetic. miSerably
equipped and proverbially brave
French soldiers. pressed by labor
abuses and long week ends Of un-
productive idleness into impotency,
at a time when their very existence
hung in the balance. saw their
nations homes and industries
turned into bloody shambles By
/ thousands Of dive bombers and
heavy tanks.
French labor leaders had ignored
the suppliant appeals to enable
| Frenchmen to arm and meet the
certain menace of Hitler's arsenal
OF war
His dive bombers and tanks oper-
ated without let or hindrance AS
result that nation has been crushed
and her liberty has been bound in
chains Take good look at the
French nation today. regardless of
your pity, for the lesson it holds for
ourselves now-in November of
l94l.
The foregoing is cold factual his
tory. 1t is not a forecast of what
might happen; it has happened. and
to brilliant and noble nation
whose tolerance and love of hui
manity was unexecelled. even by
ourselves. For not only did it send
us a Lafayette it, TOO. stretched out
its arms as haven for all seeking
refuge from persecution and oppres-
sion. and proudly boasted of liberty,
fraternity and equality. Unfortu-
nately. all that is left of French
liberty today is the noble statue at
the entrance to our great New York
Harbor.
L. S. Stands There Now.
II we ignore the value of this
tragic lesson, We will have no Just
cause for complaint. We stand to-
day where brave but vanquished
France stood yesterday.
ouL lul ul ICStS clllllClN AL Jul
own hands. But that may not be
true tomorrow if We refuse to adopt
sound and adequate provision in the
law and otherwise to escape the
tragedies which have overtaken
France and her neighbors.
Fortunately for all Americans and
free men everywhere, majority Of
the Congress has willingly supported
the Presidents program in order
that this country may remain safe
from foreign agereSSionS and actual
war may be kept from these shores.
If the minority view in the Con-
gress had prevailed. the United
States Of America would today be
without a land, air or naval force
sufficient to our present needs, and
we would still be floundering in a
sea of doubt and fear as to what this
Governments policy should be with
respect to adequate preparedness.
The view of the majority is that
the United States, Canada and the
nations of Central and South Amer