The Waterbury Democrat., 1941-05-28
Face Defeat

Face Defeat
 But If the Axis powers fail to gain control of the seas, they are certainly defeated. Their dreams of world domination will then go by the board; and the criminal lead- CTS who started this war will suf- fer inevitable disaster.
 Both they and their people know this-and they are afraid. That is why they are risking everything they have, conducting desperate attempts to break through to the command of the ocean. Once they are limited to @ continuing land war their cruel forces of occupa- ton will be unable to keep their heel on the necks of the millions of innocent, oppressed peoples on the continent of Europe; and in the end, their whole structure will break into little pieces. And the wider the Nazi land effort, the greater the danger.
 We do not forget the silenced peoples. The masters of Germany those, at least, who have not been assassinated or escaped to free soil - have marked these peoples and their children's children for slav- cry. But those people = spiritually unconquered: Au- trians, Czecfs, Poles, Norwegians, Dutch Belgians, Frenchmen, Greeks, Southern Slavs = yes, those Italians and Germans who themselves have been enslaved = will prove to be powerful force in disrupting the Nazi system. Yes, all freedom-meaning free. dom to live, and not freedom to conquer and subjugate other peo- ples-depends on freedom of the sears. All of American history North, Central and South Ameri- can history--has been inevitably tied up with those words, freedom of the seas"
 Since 1799, when our infant navy made the West Indies and the Ca- ribbean and the Gulf of Mexico safe for American ships, since 1894 and 1905 when we made all peace- ful commerce safe from the depre- dations of the Barbary pirates; since the War of 1872, which was fought for the preservation of sail- ors' rights; since 1867, when our sea power made 1t possible for the Mexicans to expel the French army of Louis Napoleon, we have striven and fought in defense of freedom of the seas--for our own shipping, for the commerce of our shipping, for the commerce of our sister re- publics, for the right of all nations to use the highways of world trade and for our own safety.
 Battle Of Atlantic
 During the first World war we were able to escort merchant ships by the use of small cruisers gum boats and destroyers; and this type of convoy was effective against sub- marines. In this second World war, however, the problem is greater, because the attack on the freedom of the seas IS now fourfold: First the improved submarine; second-- the much greater use of the heavi- ly armed raiding cruiser or hit- and-run battleship; third - the bombing airplane, which is capa- ble of destroying merchant ships TOO or 800 miles from its nearest base; and fourth-the destruction of merchant ships in those ports of the world which are accessible to the bombing attack.
 The battle of the Atlantic now extends from the icy waters of the North Pole to the frozen continent of the Antarctic. Throughout this huge area, there have been sink. ings of merchant ships in alarming and increasing numbers by NaM raiders or submarines. There have been sinkings even of ships carry- ing neutral flags. There have been sinkings in the South Atlantic, oil West Africa and the Cape Verde Islands; between the Azores and the islands Qff the American coast; and between Greenland and Iceland. Great numbers of these sinkings have been actually within the wa ters of the Western Hemisphere. The blunt truth Is. this-and I reveal this with the full knowledge of the British government: The present rate of Nazi sinkings of merchant ships is more than three times as high as the capacity Of British shipyards to replace them; 1t is more than twice the combined British and American output of merchant ships today.
 We can answer this peril by two simultaneous measures: First, by speeding up and increasing our great shipbuilding program; and second, by helping to cut down the losses on the high seas.
 Military Danger
 Attacks on shipping of the very shores of land which we are deter. mined to protect, present an actual military danger to the Americas, And that danger has recently been heavily underlined by the presence in Western Hemisphere waters os Nazi battleships of great striking power.