The Waterbury Democrat., 1942-01-13

lne DlaCKlSt mas el1ectlVeIy tled the hands of the axis commercial firms and the agencies through which German and Italian propaganda and industrial espionage have been conducted. Thwarted in this manner,
 these anti-United States forces are turning to new tricks trying to work through every channel they can.
 FRANCO WATCHED
 One organization that has come increasingly under the attention of
 the United States in this regard is
 the Spanish Falange, the organiza-
 tion of the Franco FaScists in Latin
 America. Not too much is known about it's workings There have been
 sporadic drives for Spanish Amer
 ica for the Spaniards," but they never gained much ground. Spain it. self is technically a neutral in this
 war, and in the South American
 Spanish-Speaking countries there can be no legal grounds for action
 against the Spanish Fascist doctrin- aires, so long as they do not resort 10 promotion of sedition, treason
 and the overthrow of the exis. ing
 republics governments. But if this Spanish Fascist organization should become the vehicle behind which NaM propagandiSts work, that would be something else again.
 The Argentine Congress- censure of the German ambassador. reput- edly the No. 1 Nazi propagandis5 in South America before his recall. is one of the more hopeful signs of the southern hemisphere's sentiments Venezuela's closing of all German consulates is anc her. But if South American republics go beyond steps like these and the according to the United States of all the rights of non-belligerent in this war, then some touchy questions of interna- tional policy must be decided upon principally, how are these South American countries to treat the tens of thousands of Germans who make up a not inconSiderable portion of oAS Pcpui1Iioii! lIIC lllllucl.Cc Ol this German element ill South America generally has been over emphasized. Nevertheless, according to Lawrence Duggan of the State Department, it is fair to assume that the Rio conference will consid- CT strengthening and extending these controls, since axis alien ac- tivities are in reality part of vast military operation.
 LAPS ACTIVE
 Newest element in the South American alien problem is present. ed by the Japanese. Penetration of the Japs in South America has been minimizcd and pooh-poohed but that was the attitude in Hawaii, in Philippines and on the west coas. Of the United States, too, and what has happened there has been noth- ing to minimize.
 Brazil has the largest Japanese just as it has the larges.. German population. but these ele- ments are so scattered they present no real problem It is in Peru that the greatest Japanese menace is to be found, and under peculiar cir The 25 900 to 30,OO0 Japs in Peru are not concentrated in strategic areas. They are not in the interior, nor are they along the coast. Instead they are s,orekeeping and garden ing class, with perhaps the largest concentrations near the metropoli- tan centers of Lima and Callao.
 From our points of view, where the Japanese present the greatest hazards are as the promoters Of strikes, or as SaboteurS. Dynamiting of single track tunnel from one of the Peruvian or Bolivian mines could do more damage than the of a convoy of ships bear ing the ores of those mines toward the United States
 Thus far, it is believed, the Peru vian government has taken every step necessary to curb the Japs and to protect United States interests But If more drastic action is requir- ed and 1t should become necessary to confine these axis aliens in con- centration camps. the question might arise as to who is to foot the bill and for how long.