Evening star., 1941-05-09
Killers Big Problem
In Spain Held 10 Be
Keeping Army There
Starving Natives Won't
Enjoy Seeing Nozis
Eat, Whitaker Soys
(Fitth of a SerieS.)
BY JOHN T. WHITAKER,
yereisn Correspondent of The Star and

small army isn't powerful enough
and a big army would starve to
death"
One of the ablest diplomats in
Madrid thus explained why Hitler
has delayed in the past to occupy
Spain. Gibraltar is vital to Hitler
If he is to close the Mediterranean
take over French Africa and extend
his submarine and air bases against
America. Faced with military neces-
sity. Hitler probably will feel that
he has no choice and Spain's re-
fusal heretofore to come into the
war will be brushed aside. But
Napoleon spoke of the Spanish
ulcer" as the cause of his down.
fall and Hitler may we'll find that in
Spain history repeats itself.
Starvation in Spain Is a reality
Even with money 1t is hard now to
procure food. One of the best hotels
IN Madrid gets meat only about
every three weeks and, according to
the head waiter, that is generally
horse meat or dog" A workman
would rather receive bread than
pesetas. An American motoring
through Spain gave some stale bread
to the garage mechanics who had
repaired, his car. One actually burst
into tears and the other said, I'VE
haven't seen bread like this since
los rojos-since the Reds
French Conditions Better.
An expert who studied conditions
in France and Spain said that while
the French are in dire want the
Spaniards are starving. He said
the average person in unoccupied
France gets $500 calories of food
daily, whereas in Spain. according
to his studies, the average con-
sumption is only 300 calories. Many,
of course, have less than that. They
are the ones found dead in the
streets.
When whole people suffers mall
nutrition, plague becomes inevitable.
Nearly 1000 cases Of typhus already
have been reported in Spain. The
government is making heroic efforts
to stop it. Beggars are being
rounded up because typhus is car
ried by the louise, which is a very
class-conscious vermin almost never
found on clean bodies. If the gov
ernment's efforts are inadequate,
typhus may sweep northward, where
the French are vulnerable, and
thence into the prison and concen-
tration camps of Hitlers New Eu-
rope" 1t would then become a
problem even for Hieler's sleek and
well-fed troopers.
Such conditions cannot be ex-
planned by the Spanish civil war
alone. For three years Spaniards
slaughtered each other, laid towns
low, destroyed the fields and neg
lected the crops. But to this the
Spaniards have added three years
of reconstruction under the Falan-
gista CFascist) party. To these
Spanish Nazis the peasants who till
the soil and tend the vineyards and
olive groves are Reds" and so are
the men who fish the seas and work
In the factories. Jobs go to the
Falangistas, and party regularity,
not competence, is the qualification
for administrative positions in
cooperative state which glorifles
bureaucracy.
Officer Expresses Alarm.
The situation was summarized to
me by Spanish general who, while
a Falangista himself, feels alarmed
In the face of the power of the
party machine.
1T must have been the same" he
said, after the American Revolu-
ton and again after your Civil War.
The country and the people haven't
chance until every damned hero
in the war is dead. An officer who
fought bravely at the front or
Falangista organizer who murdered
behind the lines with vast zeal Is
not necessarily good administra-
tor. Well, these heroes are in all
the key posts"
The bitter hatreds of civil war are
not healed, moreover. Franco lost
an opportunity to show himself
magnanimous. Even year ago he
could have ended the weekly execu-
tions and turned out the imprisoned |
"Reds." Some 100000 Reds" still !
could be freed but the Falangistas
know now that after the horrors
they have suffered nothing will win
their peaceable support of the
Fascist regime. There seems to be
no program but to keep them Jailed |
until they slowly die.
Hitler's Problem.
Marching into Spain consequently !
Is going to be easy for Hitler's mag
niflcently equipped army Staying
in Spain is going to be hard Starv-
Ing Spaniards are not going to enjoy
watching Hitler's soldiers eat. The
men at the top may be thrilled with
the thought of regaining Gibraltar
and Morocco and they may look
forward hopefully to the day when
they can win back the former
Spanish colonies in America. But
the simple Spaniards are tired of
war and the modern Goya horrors
The strength of Franco heretofore
has been his comprehension of the
national revulsion to further fight
ing. That more than anything else
has given him national prestige.
Spaniards have decided that Franco
Is an honest man in a moment
when there is much corruption in
Falangista circles and they have
decided that he will not be a cats
paw for foreigners in moment
when many Falangista leaders are
on the German pay rolls.
Can Franco maintain this posi-
tion2