The Ypsilanti daily press. (Ypsilanti, Mich.) 1928-1962, 1942-03-17

need watching,
but quite a lot Of thoroughly Amer
canized Germans and Italians un-
luesuonab.y are outright anti-Nazi
and anti Fascist. and know a few
fully assimilated Japs VINO are as
ANXIOUS as anybody 10 serve against
the Nikado Il seems an injustice
not TO discriminate between a prob
ably smalhsh proportion OF sure
enough enemy agents and a much
larger proportion Of good citizens.
who merely happen to be OF Axis
ancestry. through no fault of their
own In fact, If we don't antagonize
them. this latter kind should be es-
peclally helpful 10 us, in spotting
hostile alien operations in our
midst and tipping us off
A dyed-in-the-wool American.
though. with a skinny exception.
here and there. like Representative
Hamilton Fishs clerk. George Hill.
doesn't sense that hes being
watched more closely than in nor
NAL times.
Nevertheless. I've noticed that
mail | receive from Latin America
Is beginning 10 be overhauled by
our censorship.
Watching Foreign Mail
Examined by 1920" is the hint I
discover on my last communication
from Venezuela. The envelope was
neatly slit open and that little tag
was nicely pasted on to reseal it. 1t
was Just a perfectly harmless OFF,
cial press release from the Caracas
government. such as those our own
government issues daily, by the
ream. and the censor passed it all
right. Still. the circumstances that
it was tapped signifies that we
finally have started 10 keep an eye
on our foreign mail.
Considering how friendly we are
with Latin America, II may not be
obvious. at first thought. why COM
munication between our new world
countries requires particularly
close scrutiny
Yet there is sound reason
for II.
Swapping Of news between here
and Venezuela or Brazil or Argen-
tina should be as unrestricted as
swapping between Washington and
New York or Chicago. provided the
swap really is between the Amer
teas. But may not the stuff actually
be dope that the AXIS powers are
trying to snoop into the United
States BY WAY Of the Latin re.
publics7
Our censorship wants to peek
into II and see.
Spain regarded as the clearing
house for such a service.
Director Archibald MacLeish's
Once of Facts and Figures went
into the subject in detail in a re-
cent report
Man from Germany. Japan, Italy
or any Of the countries that a :
forces have overrun naturally is
suspect as soon as IT arrives in one
OF Uncle Sans postoffices. Mail di-
rectly from Spain is looked at
askance. too. for Spanish Dictator
Frances VIGOROUSLY pro-Axis. The
Spanish people generally aren't so
considered. but he Is. and he's the
boss right now IN Madrid.
The out-and-out Axis isn't popu-
lar in TIE western hemisphere. but
SPANS too cit,-- a ~-iative OF theirs
not to be moderately so. languages
and traditions being so much alike.
Latin America Pro-Spanish
Oh. our western hemispherical
Latins have had their revolutions
against Spain and Portugal. but
we had one Of ours. against Eng
land. though we're pro-English to-
day Similarly. our bunch south Of
the Rio Grande remain pro-Iberian
10 this day
AXIS propaganda access 10 the
United States via Latin America
VIA Spain therefore Is the total.
tarisn objective Apparently the
route was more accurately figured
out by the Japs than by either the
Germans or Italians. the Japs'
Madrid embassy Is described by
OFF Director MacLeishs report as
headquarters Of the campaign.
Its aim, Of course. primarily Is
70 convert the Latins TO the AXIS
philosophy but. Incidentally. its
barrage Is directed all the way up
our longitude.
It's unfortunate. perhaps. that
our anti-immigration legislation of
the middle 20s so strongly dis
eliminated against Orientals. The