Detroit evening times., 1945-06-20
PAUL
NIALLON
Behind
The News

WASHINGTON, June 49,
w Those senators hack from
Europe had far more 10 say
than they offered IN interviews.
Their private reports on their
quick-study of the western end
of the continent would make
your ears curl. Here are some
of the things they did not make
public;
DeGaulle is staving of an
election IN France because he
fears the Communists will
sweep him and all Democrats
into the discard. The impend-
ing election in the British Isles
may do much TO determine how
she will stand against the
sweeping surge, as defeat OF
Churchill would mean appease-
ment of Communist expansion.
He, himself, is afraid of il. Yet
Churchill and DeGaulle are
fighting each other.
DeGaulle ordered the Syrian
shooting by his French forces
because he saw Britain going
back into the Middle East in
the old way and thought he
could do the same thing.
Churchill diSlikeS him and is
suspicious of him, although the
French general is probably the
only remaining roadblock to
communism in France.
THE French people are not as
L fully filled with admiration
of us as the cheering movie
newSreels sometimes suggest.
They see American soldiers not
always as their liberators but
as highly paid strangers (etran-
gers who travel in jeeps while
others walk, and are well-fed,
while they are not.
The French powers likewise
resent the presence of American
forces in North Africa because
We tend TO give the Arabs ideas
of liberty which the French do
not consider healthful for their
coloniSts.
Their ruined industries, short
ages of materials and unbeliev-
ably extreme decay in morals
are combining 10 break the
stamina of the nation and make
il an easy prey for any oppoSi-
tion TO existing rule-and the
sole, present, powerful oppoSi-
tion is the political absurdity
known as communism. "a sem
sational incident involving
abuse Of German women is
toldD
THEIR heritage runs back into
I-a-great love of liberty as
deep as our own, but they are
10 considerable extent
peasant people, and therefore
easily subject TO harsh, disci-
plined leadership of dictators.
In Italy. communism is much
stronger than dispatches have
led us TO suspect. The revolu-
tionary movement Is kept down
mainly by the American mill
tary force Of occupation.
THE Belgians and Dutch seem
Il to have much more charac-
ter, more stamina. are more
insiStent upon liberty and Chris
tian principles. They are trying
harder TO revive. Their people
show less moral decay.
Whether the people in Anglo
French-American Germany can
be made democratic is yet un-
clear. They are not only de-
jected but sullen and all believe
they face years of dire existence
as their penalty for making
war The anti determination
policy of Gen. Eisenhower is
likely TO be changed 10 permit
our soldiers 10 mingle more
with them.
But these areas, all Of them,
are In our sphere of democratic
influence. and therefore the
most favorable sections Of the
continent. The Russians have
everything else in their lap
Except possibly Greece. which is
held on one knee, so-to-speak0
NOTHING valid or penetrat-
~ ing is known by us Of Yugo-
slavia. Romania, Bulgaria, Aus
tria or CZecho-slovakia, except
that Stain is there setting up
the kind of governments he
wants, and one other confirmed
facial anti-Communist oppo-
sition is being liquidated.
The Polish issue. which we
discuss so extensively, is a minor
matter as compared with this
whole of middle and southeast
ern Europe, which is already
operating on Russian axis. BY
trade treaty with Romania,
Russia has taken the full meas
ure of Romanian economy.
If conditions are as bad as
they are known TO be in our end
Of Europe. it would be unrea-
Sonable not TO suppose that
they are twice as bad in the
unknown poorer end.
So when one of the senators
said he feared from his trip all
Europe was sweeping toward
communism or state socialism.
he was speaking from the
aforementioned facts.