Evening star., 1949-12-13
Continued From First Page)

whack at us. This we did by SELL
ing gasoline. oil. scrap metal and
other war materials to Japan.
Our thinking people knew there
could be but one ultimate an
swer: Japan would finally take
over such Pacific islands as she
wanted.
Now the question that arises is:
Did we sell Japan those war ma
terials because we wanted dollars
more than we wanted peace? We
received the dollars all right. but
each day that passed we built up
the prestige of the Japanese and
increased her military strength
until she felt strong enough to
lick the United States. We didn't
have to sell her those war ma
terials. Hence. aren't we, no mat
ter how much it hurts to admit it.
to some extent responsible for the
Japanese campaigns against Pearl
Harbor and the Philippines? Why
did we have to continue selling her
oil and scrap metal?
Let's take q look at Hitler, a
fanatic. but a very well-informed
one. He understood people, and
capitalized upon his knowledge of
the psychology Of the masses. It
did not take long for him to have
most of the people of Germany
believing they were a superior
race. His rabble-rousing speeches
convinced his audiences they
could conquer the world. He
studied his antagonists and knew
they would do anything short of
war to try to stop him. Hence,
until he was ready for war. at a
time of his choosing, he took
what he could get without fight
ing.
Could this war have been pre-
vented? In my opinion, 1t might
have been, for there was a period
when Hitler's strength lay in his
ability to bluff, his knowledge of
the weakness of his adversaries
and his ability to throw out prop
aganda to confuse every one as to
the strength Of his army and air
force. There was a time when
two, and certainly not more than
three, divisions Of French, or
French and British troops might
have gone into Munich, for in
stance, and captured Hitler and
his whole staff of fanatics and
thrown the bunch into the Gala
boose with the loss Of but very
few men.
Wars Have Long Buildup.
Wars just don't start" There
is usually buildup of months, or,
maybe. years, behind them. One
individual. or group Of individuals.
may SOW the seed for a war; but.
in the end, it must have the sup
port of millions. Compromise has
never stopped a war yet. Since
the Spanish-American War the
United States has had to be almost
dragged into every war we have
fought.
Where are we today? Well, in
my opinion. we are just at the
threshold Of a period when Russia
is spreading her ideals and doc
.trines. She is making long-range
plans to take advantage Of the
weaknesses of the democratic ma
tions. She will follow the pattern
and will continue to grab while
the grabbing is good. and will
loosen up a bit only when the
going gets too tough. A long "cold
war" is right down her alley.
In the meantime, the cold
war" is costing the United States
billions Of dollars and other demo-
cratic nations billions, also. On
the other hand. this policy costs
Russia only slave labor and man
hours. Perhaps she is waiting for
a financially embarrassed United
States as her signal for D day.
Meanwhile, she Is strengthen
ing her armed forces. It was
recently noted by most military
men that Russia had organized a
militarized police force of Ger
mans for Eastern Germany. Its
size, about 10000, will soon be
raised to 10000. The 10000 may
later become 100000 and part of
q Russian invasion force.
Air Force Ready to Fight.
In the two former World Wars
we had to rely upon the deter
mined stand of our Allies to per-
nit us to build up our armed
strength and productive capacity.
Now We no longer have to stand
by and wait. Our strategic Air
Force can get into the fight i'm
mediately the bell rings. The
equipment we are sending, and
will send, abroad to the Western
European nations will be Of in
estimable value to them in meet
ing any enemy onslaught.
The distance of the United
States from Europe does not i'm
pose an impossible barrier for air
planes crossing to devastate and
destroy industrial or other critical
centerS. The cushion built up by