Evening star., 1941-01-15

credit of Wen Jay Franklin.
dell L. Willkie that he has taken his
walk and made it perfectly clear
that he was not and is not de-
featist, an appeaser or little Amer
lean. 1t was a big thing for him
to come out in support of the aid-
to-England plan, when he could
have Joined Landon and Hoover on
the Republican fence or uttered
demagogic croakings about the war.
In recent trip to Chicago I cams
in contact with both Of these Ameri-
cas-: The little America of the ap-
peasers and the great America Of
the Americans. I shall not uss
names In this connection because
the identity of the individual all
legedly involved may be disputed
and I have no desire to discredit a
man who may be innocent.
Proposal to Pay Tribute.
However, one of the best-informed
men in Chicago-a man closely in
touch with high finance-told me
that recently a Wall Street specu-
lator had set out for Europe on a
business trip" but that it had been
disclosed that his real purpose was
TO 90 TO Hitler and offer the NaZi5
on behalf of him and his hackers
TO make America pay tribute to
Germany-s2 900 100000 a year for
10 years-if the Fuehrer would con-
descend to stop the war. Fortunate
ly, before this weird fellow could
reach German soil, the State De-
partment learned of his real mis-
sion, Cancelled his passport and or
dered him to return to the United
States Of America.
Here the point is not so much the
exact truth of the story as that, in
the case of the man and group al
legedly involved. it should be quite
unbelievable. For we have in fact
reached a stage where there are
some Americans who would rather
pay billions for tribute but not /
cent for total defense of social re-
form. In other words. there are still
some gullible and wealthy men who
believe that they can appease Hitler
if only they offer to make their
country pay an indemnity of s2o,-
600 100000 to the Nazis.
1 came in contact with the other
America, that composed of those
who believe in democracy, freedom
and decency. bumped into a Gov
ernment official in the smoking car.
He was returning from some depart.
mental business that had taken him
deep into Wisconsin, Iowa and Min
1esota. He told me that, wherever
he went, he found one attitude
about defense an unprecedented
willingness to pay taxes and make
sacrifices for the defense of America.
He said that this was equally true
Of farmers and businessmen, COR
portation officials and ordinary
workers. In his own business, which
involved some litigation and claims
against the Government, he said he
found a disposition by the claimants
not to try to wiring the last cent out
Of the Government but rather to
accept any reasonable compTomiss
in order not to embarrass the
Federal authorities.
Hope to Avoid War.
This is the America which Is
supporting the Roosevelt adminis-
tration, which is back of aid-to-
Britain and all other measures
which may be necessary to stop
Hitler and discredit the totalitarians.
These are the people who not only
pay the taxes but do the fighting. II
any. They hope that America can
avoid war but they know that If war
comes 1t will be because of what they
believe and want and demand Of
their Government in this time Of
crisis. They love America and they
trust Roosevelt to do his best to
save them and their free institutions.
They despise the men who seem to
cater to their love of peace in order
to secure little prominence or
little power for the small clique Of
ticker-addicts and professional DEM
agogues who populate the Little
America of the Appeasers.
In the present congressional con-
test between the two Americas, there
is only one possible outcome. Prob
ably the most that Hitler expects Of
his tools and dupes over here is that
they shall delay aid-for- England
until he starts his next blitz against
Great Britain
released BY Consolidated News
Feature. Incl