Evening star., 1943-03-28
Spain Under Franco Still Holds
Threat to i. S. Flank in Africa
Observer Warns That Dictator Realizes Hope
For Empire Rests on Victory of Axis
Over Forces of United Nations
By Marquis ". ChiIds.

others there is more than sufficient food.
One reason is the failing transportation
system which suffered heavy losses dur
ing the war. But another equally i'm
portant reason is the lack of organization
within the country.
Evidences of starvation are on every
hand, according to Hamilton He tells
OF seeing a boy of or g. whose
physical development is that of child
OF 4, walking blindly down the highway
weeping from hunger and oblivious to tn,
Hamiltons car. He told them he had
not had food for 36 hours and was on
his way to town several miles away
where he thought sister might give
him something to eat When Hamilton
and his wife gave the boy the remnants
OF their picnic lunch, he sat down by the
road and began to wolf it with both
hands. The author says that this
pathetic, bewildered child will always
remain for him symbol of Franco Spain.
In Madrid the few scraps in the gar
bage cans of the relatively WELT to-do
are fought over by the hungry Yet the
very rich are able to buy superlative
meals IN de luxe restaurants that ignore
all the rationing and other restrictions.
A dinner of seven or eight courses with
wines and brandy can be obtained in any
one of dozen hrst-class restaurants
that compare with the very best in this
country
Bread Turns Ersatz.
The bread which forms so large a part
OF Spalns diet is becoming more and
more ersatz. A considerable amount of
sawdust goes into it. Hamilton tells of
lunching at the Ritz in Madrid and get
ting silver of wood in his gum from
piece Of bread. An American woman who
tried to smuggle a piece of this half saw
dust bread out of Spain to show the out
side world what Spaniards were trying
to exist on was thrown into Jail. Mrs.
Weddell, wife of the American Ambas-
sador, and Therese Bonney, the Ameri-
can photographer were abused with
obscenity in Madrid papers because they
tried to take pictures of children in
bread line.
Hamilton declares the only time Franco
and the Fascists have shown respect for
our Government is when we have taken a
mildly independent stand rejecting the
insults and the scorn poured out by
Franco and his henchmen. The author
urges that Spanish republicans govern
ment in exile be set up in the United
States or Mexico composed ofahe distin-
eulshed eXiles now in this hemisphere
This is STEP" he says, that should
ketaken at once, for the Gernans may
invade Spain at any time and2it will be
much easier to convince the Spanish
stople of our desire I'd help them 1--we
setsup such governments BERN, I'D tas(t,
than after, the Nazis Ntake nssr The
Spanish republic, like the democratic
governments of Czechoslovakia, Norway,
the Netherlands and other European
countries. was overthrown by interna-
tional Fascism; a Spanish government
in-exile has the same right to speak for
its people as the other governments that
will be restored after the war"
His proposal is, of course, directly con-
trary to State Department policy.
Printed by special arrangement with the St.
Louis PoSt-DiSpa tch.