Evening star., 1941-09-28
Fascist Experiments
In America Have Failed
BIZ O1Cen L. Scott.


This effort 10 find out whether the
ground was fertile for an American
brand of Fascism had been rather care
fully worked out. 1t took the form OF
a series of testings of national sentiment
in an effort to strike e. spark of interest.
In every case the result is turning out
to be failure.
start in the process Of testing was
made several months ago. At that time
there was tossed out the idea that the
Roosevelt administration might be over
thrown and displaced. Inasmuch as this
administration had just entered upon
four-year term during which the out
come of the present war probably would
be determined, there could be no way
other than force to achieve the goal Of
an overturn in Government.
1t happens that the United States
fought civil war on e. variation of that
issue. In that war the equivalent of
100000 men were killed and 100000
wounded, on the basis of comparative
population then and now. Even to hint
at repetition of that sort of experience
seemed grotesque to any important group
in the Nation and this idea went glim-
mering.
Next wss trotted out the suggestion
of policy of rather naked imperialism.
The suggestion was made that the
United States should enter upon a cam
paign of aggression in this hemisphere
to take over and to develop the areas
to the south. This was put forward as
an alternative to the Presidents good
neighbor' policy, which was described
as policy of buying good will at the
expense of American taxpayers. The
| idea was that it might be less expensive
to impose good will or to make Latin
| Americans good neighbors by use of the
Army and Navy.
This is Hitler's method. 1t would call
either for surrender on the part of
Mexico and Brazil and Colombia and
other Latin American nations or for
| their conquest,
Again, however, the idea failed to
( spark and its senatorial sponsors are not
now reviving it. AS matter of fact,
! events are causing Latin American ma
| tions to turn voluntarily to the United
| States for guidance and leadership.
/ They are turning willingly because they
| have confidence in President Roosevelts
/ friendship for them. AS a result there
/ are being built up commercial ties and
political relationships that will be broken
/ only with great difficulty even if Hitler
/ should conquer Europe. To start out
now to substitute conquest as policy
| isn't something that commends itself to
the intelligence Of the people.
Having failed in their effort to dis
cover spark Of interest either in revo-
luton or imperialism. those who are
trying Fascist techniques trotted out the
racial and religious issue.
This time the thought was that
wave of anti-Semitism could be de-
veloped that would take the public mind
of of the world war. and that could be
used to undermine the Presidents policy
| of opposition to Hitler. If people could
be sold on the Hitler theme that the
Jews were the cause of the war, there
would be a decline of interest in the
issues of the war. There was great
! confidence among those who are trying
out Fascist techniques that the religious
and racial issues would spark and take
| hold
| But-several points were overlooked
| by the promoters
| One of the overlooked points is that
| Hitler's success in promoting anti-Sem-
itlsm was due in no small part to the
fact that he looted the property holdings
of the Jews and distributed them among
| his followers as means of maintaining
! their loyalty until he could start looting
| other nations to gain even greater booty.
| Without a successful prior revolution
there could be no such systematic pillage
| OF the property OF any group in the
United States.
Another of the overlooked points is
that whenever waves of religious and
racial intolerance have been generated in
the United States those waves have af-
fected the Catholic portion of the pop
ulation more than the Jewish. That was
! true in the days of the Know Nothing
party and it was true in the Ku KluX
|
now would be expected to follow the pat
tern of the past. Consequently, another
| of the Fascist techniques is running
against difficulty in this country.
So long as freedom of expression Is
permitted within the United States,
these various experiments in revolution
can be exposed and usually can be de-
stroyed merely by exposure. Hitler knew
that and as his first act struck at the
instruments of free expression on the
stage, in the press and in books.
In the United States and in Great
Britain, freedom of expression is so deep
seated that any attempt to tamper with
that freedom must be disguised in nom
recognizable form. That explains in
part the effort to start the attack in
this country by the backdoor of the mov-
ing picture industry and to disguise that
attack in a cloak of anti-Semitism.
Once again, however, the promoters
ran into trouble.
AS a result, as matters stand today,
there appears not to be so much as
spark Of national interest in any Of the
suggestions put forward by those who
have been experimenting with Fascist
teahniques. That isn't to say there will
not be interest If Hitler succeeds In win
ming the war or II there later Is vio-
lent reaction against the type of national
effort that may be called for If Hitler
is to be defeated.