The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1941-06-18

mad TO conquer forcibly, having
scared EN- into subjection-Yugo-
slavia, Rumania, Bulgaria. There's
France. too. Its Vichy govern
ment is turning more and more
pro-AXis, but the French rank and
file aren't, to a certainty. Even the
Vichy folk aren't sincere, Of course,
with the possible exception of a
few individuals, like Pierre Laval
and Admiral Darlan-and the ad-
mirals more anti-English than he
is pro-German.
The attitude Of General de
Gaulle's Free French, actually
fighting alongside the British
against the Axis. speaks for itself
Furthermore, news comes from
William D. Leahy. our diplomatic
envoy in Vichy, that he's simply
deluged with letters from ordinary
citizens Of both unoccupied and &C.
cupied France, denouncing the
Axis and the Vichy government for
collaborating with it. A lot Of 'em
are said to be form letters" in
dicating that this correspondence
campaign is regularly organized,
and it's obvious how strongly their
authors must feel, or they wouldn't
have the nerve to mail EN-.
And Italy appears to be ripe for
fifth columnizing. The fact is that,
evidently, the Italians are as much
conquered by the Nazis as the
French or the Dutch or the Poles
are, and it's becoming quite appar-
ent that they realize it. Some good
fifth columnists might stir EN- up
to turning mighty ugly.
Possibility In Russia
Russia, while of course anything
but democratic, shows signs Of in
creasing anti-Nazi-ism. Fifth col
umnists perhaps could do a bit Of
useful tinkering in Soviet-dom's
midst. 1t hardly could do anything
toward undermining Joe Stain,
but it could split him off from Herr
Hitler, and then the pair could be
attended to separately.
If Adolf isn't headed off in the
meantime, the chances are that,
before long, he'll annex Dictator
Franco Of Spain as a partner. Sc
nor Franco. though, is bitterly
hated by approximately half, at
least, of his fellow Spaniards.
Competent fifth columnizing ought
to succeed in stirring up a revolt
against him, forestalling a juno
ton between himself and the
Fuehrer.
And finally there are pretty de-
pendable rumors that there's con-
siderable discomfort with Adolf
right in Germany. IT'S frightfully
undercover necessarily, but tanning
il. II possible, would be extremely
advantageous.
It's hard to recall now, but IT'S
Of record that there were liberty
loving Germans who, long ago. re-
scented kaiserism, which wasn't
nearly as bad as Nazi-ism. and
came over here to the United
States to get away from it. I've
wondered if this spirit has entirely
evaporated and have consulted sew
eral very reliable sources on the
subject, with resultant assurances
that the old sentiment is still SIM
nering-only. today, there practi-
cally is no place for the malcon-
tents to emigrate to, as there was
when we welcomed our Carl
shurzes and General Sigels, back
in the 1s40s.
So why, right In the Fatherland,
wouldn't some intensive fifth COL
umnizing be beneficial Though
there's no denying that it would
be darned risky.
The adverse argument is that, at
this stage Of the world, about a
corporals guard Of machine gum
ners, faithful to a dictator, can
suppress a popular uprising against
him, no matter how stable the
would-be revolt.
Remember Russia?
Yet can remember when a
revolution In czarist Russia was
described as an equally hopeless
venture. II occurred, nevertheless.
To be sure, il didn't result in any
Improvement. 1t was pulled off