Evening star., 1941-01-26

Hulls testimony would be in closec
session.
Compares L. :. With France.
AS Mr. Bullitt stood up to leave
the stand. with Chairman Bloom
thanking him and the crowd ap-
plauding his testimony. the out
spoken former diplomat paused anC
made this final plea for the bill:
I do feel this is terribly, terribly
urgent, The skipper has set the
course of our ship. You gentlemen
are the officers. Those of us who
are out of public office are the crew
and the cargo is America"
Early in his testimony, Mr.. Bullitt
compared the viewpoint of some in
America today with that which pre-
vailed in France a year before it
collapsed. The French people. he
said, put the same faith in the Mag
mot Line that some Americans place
In the width OF the oceans. Later,
he said, the French did not get TO
work at full strength until the Mag
mot Line had been broken.
AS IN all democraCies." he told
Representative Eberharter, there
was a passionate desire in France
to stay at peace"
1t was the desire of Frenchmen.
he continued, to see a generation
OF children born who could live TO
the age. of 70 without having 10
off
Must Buy Time to Prepare.
Mr. BulLtt stressed the fact that
the United States needs time TO
prepare and can buy that time by
helping England with its material
needs. Repeatedly he told commit
tee members that as long as the
British fleet is on guard in the At
lantlc, the United States can pro-
teCt itself with the American Navy
In the Pacific.
The former Ambassador took the
view that the danger of invasion
following defeat of England would
come through South America. He
summed it up in these words:
The elimination Of the British
Nav and control of either the At
lantlc or the Pacific by totahtarlan
navy would be the signal for
totaIltarlan government to be in
stalled IN one or more states of
Latin America. The movement of
totalltarlan control toward the Pan
ANA Canal would be rapid.
The experience of cities in Eng
land has shown that it is impossible
to prevent bombardment of the
Panama Canal by planes based on
the northern portion Of South Amer
lea. or on Central America. or on
aircraft carriers.
Pathway for Invasion"
If the Panama Canal should be
closed by bombardment from the air
or sabotage our one-ocean NAVY
would be fixed in one ocean and
the other ocean would become a
pathway for invasion"
Answering questions later, he said
that If the axis powers controlled
the African coast and the British
Navy was gone they could transport
planes to South America, and the
number of planes we have to ston
them is negligible.
When Representative Mundt Re-
publican, OF North Dakota. asked if
any military experts agreed with
ms views about these invasion pos
slollltles. Mr.. Bullitt said he thought
there as a great many" who do,
and suggested the Army and NAVY
chle1S be asked about it when they
appear.
Mr.. Mundt pointed out that the
majority OF the committee had
voted to hear the military men in
closed session. Mr.. Bullitt said he
trusted that such portions of their
testimony as can be disclosed with
proprlety be made public.
No Way of Spreading Alarm.
Mrs. Hartman described how
German businessmen" filtered into
Norway before the invasion, mingled
with the people socially and made
them feel that their trade relations
were improving.
"On the morning of the invasion. .
she added, all these men came out
OF their hotel rooms dressed either
in the uniforms of the army or the
Gastapo."
Representative Eaton, Republican
OF New Jersey, recalled the sturdy
background of the NorWegians in
earlier eras, and asked Mrs. Harri-
man how she could account for the
fact they were taken like sheep in
one day"
Because they were a peace-lov-
Ing people and the Germans kept
telling them they were their best
friends"
Mrs. Hartman said miSappre-
henslon has gone forth that the
NorWeglans did not stand up to the
Germans when the invasion occur
red. They were taken by surprise
she said, and with communication
lines taken over as the first step
there was no way of spreading the
alarm to the people.
Neutrality Not Enough.
She recounted how on the morn
ing of the invasion, she received the
word from the British Minister at
6 o'clock and when she went about
in her automobile telling civilians
on the street the shrapnel made it
dangerous to be outdoors, they said
they thought it was only maneu-
verS going on.
When Mr.. Mundt asked her if
she was willing to leave it to Con-
gress to work out the best program
for extending aid to Britain, the
quiet-spoken woman diplomat re-
piled. IF it does not take too long"
My recent experience in Europe
has left me with the profound con-
viction that merely a desire for
peace will not keep a nation out of
war. and that the most Scrupulous
observance of neutrality in the full
est sense of the word is not. under
existing world conditions, protec-
ton against invasion by nations