Imperial Valley press., 1942-11-18
CAPITAL TALKS
by
Peter
Edison

French possessions III tIle west
ern Hemisphere are again in the
! limelight as a result of the North
| African occupation by us. troops.
The strategic possessions are st.
Pierre and Miquelon, islands just
south of Newfoundland Martinique
! and Guadaloupe in the eastern
Caribbean. and French Guinea on
the northern coast Of South Ameri-
ca. While all have been the cause
of trouble and diplomatic dicker-
ing, the official position of the
United States today is that this
government will continue to deal
with the local French officials, ig-
noring anything that the Laval
government in France may have to
say. us. policy is first to safe
guard American interests near
these possessions: second, to pro-
tect them for the French people
and to see that they are not turn
ed over to any puppet govern
mentS or individuals seeking to
exploit them for private gain.
Most valuable of The posses
sions is Martinique. In the har-
Dor of its capital, Fort de France.
are French naval aircraft car
rier, 100 American made planes.
two cruisers and 100000 tons of
merchant ships. Back in the hills
is buried stock of French gold
bullion, rushed there by the
French republican government
Just before the fall of Paris.
The planes, hct stuff in 1910, are
now probably obsolete. The bat
tleships have been immobilized and
their ammunition removed. The
ships have only enough crews, fuel
and equipment to keep them from
deteriorating Their escape is i'm
possible, but there has been con-
siderable pressure on the United
States tc move in on the island
and seize it. The Free French in
particular would like to see the
gold stocks turned over to them.
AN AGREEMENT
The United States, however has
been content to make sure that the
island was not used by the Vichy
French or indirectly By the Ger
mans. One agreement, negotiated
last December, permits the Carlb-
bean French possessions to con-
tinue their trade to keep the in
nabitants from starvation, in re-
turn for pledges that the planes
and ships would not be used !
against the United States.
A second agreement made in
May provided for full disarma-
ment of the warships, immobili-
zation of the freighters and re-
turn of the colonies to the
French after the war.
In spite of d constant watch, I
there have been charges that the
islands were being used by the
Nazis. One us. destroyer, the
Blake ley, was twice torpedoed near
martinique. though it escaped
sinking. That was last May 25
and %. On May 80 a us. naval
patrol plane was credited with sink
ing submarine off Martinique.
Most sensational event in the !
Islands war record followed the
sinking of a tanker off Martinique
on February 20. Next day Nazi sub !
rose in the harbor at Fort de
France to send ashore an officer
who had developed a gangrenout
leg. The sub was in the harbor
only half an hour, but QUE of that
incident grew charges that the |
U-boat had taken on fresh water
supplies.
A BAUXITE SOURCE
Of real Importance strategically !
is French Guiana, just east of
Dutch Guiana, source of much OF !
the bauxite which comes to the
United States for reduction into |
aluminium. There are both U. S. !
Army and Navy installations at |
Surinam, capital of Dutch Guiana,
10 safeguard this southern ternial
of the vital bauxite supply line.
st. Pierre and Miquelon, COM |
manding the st. Lawrence Bay
and the mouth of the river,
leaped into the headlines the
day before last Christmas when
a Free French force liberated
the two little islands from
Vichy rule, ordering plebiscite
for Christmas day. The vote
was $50 m favor of the Free
French to 10 i'm favor of cOllab-
Grafton with Vichy. There was
big howl from Vichy, and the
us. government had to admit
that the occupation had been
made without its knowledge or
consent.
But the de Gaulle people are