Evening Star Newspaper, July 25, 1937, Page 25

Editorial Page Special Articles - EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday Stae Part Two Travel — Resorts Part 2—10 Pages POPULAR GO IS HELD DISAPPEARING| VERNMENT Observer Cites Battl to Illustrate Method by Which Diec- 55 tators Gai BY MARK SULLIVAN. TO SPEAK of what is happening in America in terms of “Demo. crat” and “Republ 1s utterly inadequate. It is some thing broader and deeper than t something that can only be expressed correctly in a terminology which most | of America does not know. But we must be patient with this condition, 1t will take time for America to learn. It is not easy for our people to understand that they are face to face with deciding whether they shall keep their old form of government and kociety or accept the “authoritarian” conception which attempt is made to impose upon them. Gradually our people are learning it. Most of the better informed writers, especially those familiar with what has gone on in Europe during the last several years. know what the situation is in America and write about it accurately. In Congress the more thoughtful men are beginning to learn. Representative Hatton W. Sumners, of Texas, chair- man of the House Judiciary Com- mittee, in his speech against the President’s court measure, a remarkable for its breadth and calm- ness, showed that he knows what the real question is. Government Disappointing. “When we look about us at the nations of the earth today, we know that free government, popular gov- ernment on earth, relatively speak- ing. is disappearing. For anybody Wwith our governmental traditions to face that situation and know that the very identical things which are sfflicting the other nations are also | afflicting this nation, must be serious Do not let anybody fool himself about that. Peo) do mot have dictators « merely because they choose to have dictators. They have dictators when their problems exceed e govern- mental capacity of their people. * * * We thi these th cannot come to us. We are deceived by a perfectly fidiculous egotism. * * * We hold the ey position in the world today Iree government as agait tocracy Gradually we shall all learn this— but I hope we learn it soon enough. It would be tragic if we found ourselves with an alien form of gove ment and an alien form of society imposed upon us merely because we failed to realize what is being done. While that is the real for question— Whether we shall pass into a “totali- | tarian” form of government or keep | the form we have—nevertheless, the merchanism through which we shall fizht the question out will probably be the familiar American party organ- izations. Democrat and Republican, together with probably one or two additional parties in 1940. We will hardly be given the opportunity to Vote directly and with clear knowledge upon the specific question, *Shall America keep its present form of Rovernment or adopt a totalitarian one?” If it were put before us that way there could be little doubt what the answer of the American people would be. But dictators do not announce their coming. They do not run for election as dictators. They creep up on the peoples; they take advantage of .conditions and create conditions to which dic tatorship is adapted, and then they seize control Party Names to Stand. Not only for this reason, but for another, will the question, in opening phase at le: Wwithin the mechanisms familiar American party names, Dem- ocrat and Republican, with perhaps one or two new parties arising later. The terms “Democratic” and ‘Re- publican” are so deeply embedded in American tradition, and even in the statutes in some States, that it is difficult to change party names. It difficult, of course, to organize new parties on a Nation-wide scale. In many the same statutes which tend to give Permanence to the terms “Democratic” end. “Republican” tend also to make the starting of new parties difficult. In the statutes of many States it is only for the two eld parties that primaries are provided and only for them that election officials and elec- tion machinery are set up. To organize a new party on Nation-wide basis is an almost super- human task. It can be done and has been done—the elder Senator La- Follette had a fairly formidable third party in 1924, and Theodore Roosevelt had ene in 1912, The latter was the most ambitious and thorough going Attempt to organize a new party in one year that -has taken place in American history. But Theodore Roosevelt got 27 per cent of the total vote and might have felt justified in preserving his new party, the fa after the election that his new party WAas not permanent, but was really &n irregular “rump” movement of one campaigh. While Theodore Roosevelt as the presidential candidate of the new party received a much larger vote than the Republican party, and while his party seemed therefore to stand with the Democratic party as the Nation's two great parties, he knew that his new party was doomed, He knew it because he observed that his new party had elected hardly any Governors, hardly any Senators, hardly any Representives to the House and hardly any officials to local minor offices. It is these that compose the flesh and bones of every party; and it is the little local county and precinct organizations—there are probably 15.000 of them throughout the country —that keep the party a living organ ration from year to year. A pres dential candidate alone cannot make a party. Even a great new cause can- not make a party except in time—there must be time for the little local organi- s zations which are the livinz cells of a | party to crystallize, take root and gro up. = New Parties Possible. The beginnings of one or two new parties are possible in 1940. In the national election that is next ahead of us the election of a whole House and one-third of the Senate in 1938, no new party is likely to emerge. ) ] being | specch | they | its | . be fought out | bearing the | also, though not impossible, | States | a although | therefore | ct is he knew the day | eOver Court ( ‘hange n Control. | There will be, however, in all likeli- | hood, a considerable coalition between he Republicans and a portion of the Democratic party. What has been happening in Con- gress, especially in the Senate, for several weeks past is a struggle for control of the Democratic party. About the struggle, if we are to think accurately, we must think carefully. It is not a struggle between the traditional Jeffersonian Democrats on one side and the New Deal on the other, The traditional Democrats are not set against the whole of the New Deal: to picture them as if they were is not fair to them. Much of the New Deal they were willing to accept, and did accept Much of the New Deal was con- | sistent with Democratic principles. To bring about many of the reforms that the Ngew Deal brought has been | the traditional function of the Demo- | cratic party. Many abuses had grown up in the country; the country was {duo seven or eight years ago, as it | was due just a hundred years before. in the early 1830s, for a period of Jacksonian reform. Had Mr. Roose- velt and his advisers confined them- selves to this, to reform which were i drastic and Jacksonian but still within the framework of thc American Con- stitution and the American theory of government and society—had Mr. | Roosevelt confined himself to that, | his party would have supported him | loy and the country, after the | | reforms were made, would have gone | forward comfortably. ‘ i Court Bilj Brought Split. It was the President’s court measure that brought the split. After he sent it to Congress on February 5, and after many of the Democrats in Congress | had become concerned about it, they | observed that some of the other New Deal measures now pending seemed to dovetail with the court measure, in a design of which the whole would muke, if enacted. a new form of gov- . a form which would be, as ernment Gen. Hugh Johnson put it, “The most dangerous on earth’ | Thereupon arose the struggle for control of the Democratic part This struggle, recently going on in the | Senate, will come to an advanced stage in the elections to Senate and House next year. Quite certainly Mr. (vaR[‘\ML and his faction will under- | take to discriminate against those Democratic Senators who oppose the | court measure. The President and | Mr. Farley, now controlling the party | | organization practically everywhere, | will try to deny renomination, in the | !Domnrram party primaries, to the | Democratic Senators who oppose the | court measure. week, at the very moment of s in the fight, the day follow-. ing the death of Senator Robinson, the Democratic Governor of Indiana, called at the White House and on emerging declared quite frankly that the Democratic organization in Indi- ana would not. in his judgment, rev Senator Van Nuys, who the court measure. This program of proscription no doubt will be followed in every State where Democratic Senators opposed to the court measure come up next year for | Fenomination; and in every district | where there are Democratic members | of the House opposed to the court measure (assuming that the House | goes on record in a roll call on the measure). If Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Farley and the Democratic organization suc- ceed generally in preventing renomi- nation of Democratic Senators oppesed to the court measure, they will have taken a long step toward preserving | control of the party and making a new party under the old Democratic label. If Mr. Roosevelt and Mr. Farley do not succeed, if all or a large number | | of the Democratic Senators and members opposed to the court measure are renominated in Democratic pri- | maries, then they will have lost con- trol of the party; the faction opposed to the court measure will have posses- sion of the party. (Copyrizht, 1937.) o | World Bell Ringers Observing Tercentary LONDON —This year marks the tercentenary of the foundatiorf of the premier body of bell ringers in the world. The Ancient Society of Col- lege Youths was formed in London by noblemen and city aldermen in 1637. Bells have played their part in English history. having been used | in early days to call or rouse the burghers to arms. In early times the Seeding Bell told the farmer when to plant, and the | Ha t Bell to make ready for thresh- | ing, and every week the Oven Bell, | when the church warders had pre- pared the spacious communal facili- | ties of the parish oven, sent each | housewife with ber daughters and | small sons scurrying with pans of dough. There also was the Gleaning Bell which told the poor to begin gathering corn in the fields and the Mote Bell that summoned those quali- fied to attend court. The Curfew Bell | still survives in many places, but the Waking Bell has lately fallen into disuse. 2 Open-Air Drama Draws Throngs to Switzerland | ZURICH, July 24 —Switzérland has become Europe’s open-air hostess. At Interlaken the season for the annual | outdoor presentation of Schiller’s im- | mortal “William Tell” drama will | continue until September 12. The stage is entirely in the open, although the auditorium is covered. Other outstanding open-air offer- ings will be a religious production at | Einsiedeln, Switzerland’s historic pil- grim resort, which will continue until September 11. For twilight lighting effects the production is staged from 9 to 11 pm. Bern is floral city with window sills, all %&mws and oriels facing streecs is a 7hss of dis- play of blossoms. Many festivals in other cities are to be held. [} | paigned for the Progressive La Follette | cratic candidates. Still'later he went WASHINGTON . -G UNDAY MORNING, JUI 25 1937. Nation-Wide T. V. A.’s Nearer Quiet “Get Ready” Signal 'Civ(*n on Hill for Plan for Seven Great Regional Boards for Power, Conservation Work. " | NoRTH saxora | o & 13 V! Linony | woiaA N O \ ¢ wansrn C |y e A oo G G BY JOHN C. HENRY. LTHOUGH developments of the past few days indicate a re- | stricted legislative program | for the remaining weeks of Congress, proponents are quietly whip- ping into shape one of the most far- | reaching programs of the so-called social category yet sponsored by the New Deal That their action is | not being taken without encourage- ment of the White House is known, the “get ready” signal having circu- lated through the Capitol during the past two weeks of great confusion. Although this development may not forecast exertion of material pressure | jitle publicity or attention, the Senate | and th for enactment of the program in ques- | tiof during the present gession, it is interpreted to mean that it is high up on the list of desired legislation. | Springing from a presidential theory | expounded as long ago as April, 1933, | when the creation of the Tennessee | Proposed division of Nation into areas is shown above. to blanket guide the preservation and develop- thorities the Nation and ment of natural resources. That such preservation and development would go far beyond natural resources seems | inevitable. “Factory” Product? As now before gram is embraced in one duced in the Senate by Norris of Nebraska and anott in the House by Mansfield of Texas | Somewhat spasmodically and with Committee on Agriculture has been holding hearings over a period of weeks on the Norris bill. With the session Al the same time, here were vagu hearings proba in the Summ. it was decided and the ttee beg wring the last In view of the fact that the Mans- field version, d 12 In several re- spects from that sponsored by Senator is, 1s generally believed to be another of the many products of the downstream legislative “factory,” bears administrative backing, the unexpected decision to speed House hearings and get the bill in shape for consideration on the floor may be on the House side declarations would be held later Suddenly. however, them right and Harbors king testimony few days, | pending program contemplates estab- | the Senate floor during the present | | lishment of seven great regional au- that | upper branch of Congress in a dither | indication that an effort is to be made | over the court reorganization bill, | there was neithér need for haste nor | any real optimism that the natural to effect its passage. Introduction of the companion bills, | some six weeks ago, followed a special | & Valley Authority was requesied, the | resolirces legislation ever would reach | message from the White House in | which the President advocated estab- | lishment of the regional agencies for the purpose of “developing integrated plans 1o conserve and safeguard the | prudent use of water, soil forests, and other waterpower, resources.” Such would be their chief function, | he qualified, “at least in their early years.” In his April, 1933, message, referring to the T. V. A, experiment, the Presi- dent said: “If we are successful here, | we can march on. step by step, in a like development of other great natur- al terrtorial units within our borders.” These “‘natural territorial units” are outlined in the pending bills as follows: First, the Atlantic seaboard; second, the Great Lakes and Ohio Valley; third, the drainage basins of the Tennesse and Cumberland Rivers; fourth, the basins of the Missouri River and the Red River of the North: (Continued on Page D-3.) La Guardia Fights Again New York’s Irrepressible Mayor Will Be Where the Battle Is, Politics or No Politic: By the Associzted Press. OME one called him “a sawed- off Mussolini.” Fiorello H. La Guardia—pro- nounced as though there were a “w" instead of a “u"—didn’t mind He had been called a great many things during a political career that began in the American consulate at Eudapest and went on, with a few | reverses now and then, to the New York mayoralty. Today he stands again for election as Mayor. In his day he has sought election as & Republican, as a Socialist, as a Progressive-Laborite and as a Fusionist. Some of his foemen have | called him a Communist. In the current Broadway musical show, “Babes in Arms.” one of the | most popular ®numbers has this couplet: “She thinks La Guardia is a champ; That's why the lady is a tramp.” It gets a laugh, for there is a feeling in New York that the - la-de-da element, the Park avenue, social, moneyed set, considers it very plebeian to approve the chunky, vigorous, desk- banging La Guardia. No Taste for Upper Crust. The Mayor has never taken much notice of the upper crust of any political pie set before him. He has been in politics most of his life; yet he never was one to vote the straight ticket if he happened to disagree with it. He got his first political post, in the consular service, from Republican “Teddy” Roosevelt. Later he cam- against both Republican- and Demo- to Congress on the Socialist ticket, | became Mayor as a Fusionist and campaigned last year for th¢ Demo- cratic President Roosevelt. Probably in all the party changing | the political creed of Fiorello—"Little Flower"—La Guardia has remained unchanged. His alignment has been consistently with Progressives. Always Bounces Back. He has taken political drubbings, and has come back from the floor to punch out a victory. The dapper Jimmy Walker trounced Rim thor- oughly in tHe race for Mayor in 1929, having nearly half a million votes to spare. Those were the opulent days when Broadway loved wisecracks. Three years later La Guardia was| beaten for Congress; yet in the follow- ing year, backed by every reform group in New York, he was elected Mayor. When he became Mayor he pledged himself to give up politics, and he dedicated himself to war upon “Tam- many Hall's patronage and plunder.” The gay Jimmy Walker had re- signed. There had been an interlude of Joseph McKee and John P. O'Brien as heads of the city government. La Guardia became the “depression Mayor,” charged with the unpopular chore of balancing budgets, paying debts, cutting costs. Only two other man since 1897 had A been able to win the mayoralty away | from Tammany Hall. They were Seth Low and John Purroy Mm‘hel.‘ La Guardia's political record, with its hopping about and its occasional tinges of what the conservatives liked to call radicalism, made the city's conservative element uneasy. It recalled that La Guardia had been an advocate of. recognition of Russia; that he had criticized the courts as playing into the hands of | public utilities; that he t%as militantly pro-union labor. Conservatives were fearful that the “Little Flower” might evolve into a cactus. = Yet La Guardia’s sponsor “in the mayoralty campaign was the conserv- ative Judge Samuel Seabury, among whose ancestors was the Puritan John Alden. Backing him were other con- servative forces of the city. It was a picture of a firebrand charging against Tammany Hall with the bless- ing of a large part of the population, which, like La Guardia no better, liked Tammany less. He’s Always Busy. Whatever impression next Novem- ber's election shows Fiorello La Guardia to have made upon the voters of his city, there are none who deny his industry and vigor. Before his first year as Mayor was up he said: “After nine months we are unpop- ular with the professional politicians of both parties, so I believe we are on the right track.” Faced locally with depression much as was Mr. Roosevelt at Washington, Mayor La Guardia demanded dictato- rial powers from the Legislature. They were necessary, he said, to get the ) | the cards he held. .head of the police force. World War aviator and the son of a | city out of the having found it in. ‘The Legislature turned down his appeal, and he had to fight it out with mess he reported man, Gen. John F. O'Ryan, at Himself a soldier, the Mayor found the sharp, disciplinafy methods of his military police commissioner not to his liking. He removed Gen. O'Rvan. In his place he put a policeman from the ranks, the present commissioner, Louis J. Valentine. All the time he kept his own eye on that department, and never hesitated to issue orders of his own, Waste Uncovered. He created the office of commissioner of accounts and put Paul Blanchard, a leading reformer, in charge. Blanch- ard has devoted most of his time to uncovering leaks and waste in various city departments, Labor troubles arose to irk him. One was the strike of taxicab drivers. Police Commissioner O'Ryan wanted to handle that strike firmly; to enforce order. The Mayor preferred a “policy of liberalism.” Later, in turning down a suggestion that he use “night sticks and three feet of rubber hose” on the heads of Communists, the Mayor said: “Thank God we have a Constitution.” A few months ago, at & meeting of anti-Communists, his name was booed. Once a foeman charged that La Guardia had “an ungovernable tem- per.” - temper,” he told the man, “than an ungovernable mind.” He put a military | the | | firearms by dumping them | ocean, the Mayor won't miss it. At a meeting of the Board of Alderman a man demanded to be heard, and when the Mayor refused, the man shouted: “Mayor Walker always let us talk” “That,” retorted the Mayor, “is why I am here and he isn't.” ‘Though politics *has been his life, it has not been his profi.. His friends say that Mayor La Guardia is & comparatively poor man. His salary as Mavor is $21.458 & year as compared with the $40,000 that Mayor Walker | drew, He loves to chase the fire wagons, | a jov his offiee has enabled him to indulge. A big accident will find the “Little Flower" there, climbing ladders, | poking into debris, shouting orders. When police dispose of confiscated in the fire a few of the guns. If there are | slot machine to be smashed, he's in | | witnesses there swinging the ax. the boy in Fiorello La Guardia the man, Leads Forces of Law. On occasion he sits on the bench as chief magistrate, and justice is swift | With him. Once he led the vice squad in a raid. His energy is his most noticeable characteristic. “Damn!” he will say, pounding the desk as though placing a period to an exclamation point, “damn!"” He loves music with a passion that his Italian blood. The opera, symphony and band concerts are his delight. Once in a while he mounts the podium himself. His squat, heavy-thatched person doesn't lend itself to particular grace as a maestro, but Creatore in his prime never showed more energy. Nothing gives him greater joy than to have some friends in at his modest apartment up Harlem way. He de- lights to. cook & great quantity of spaghetti. While steaming plates of the food are in front of his guests, the “Little Flower” takes his cornet from its case and fills the air with what he will insist is music. ‘What, No Organ Grinders? But he is opposed to organ grinding. Under his orders there is supposed to be none of it New York. “The institution of organ grinding,” he said, “has long outlived its purpose.” Surprising, too—for a cornet player —the Mayor is'a bitter warrior against noise. He launched “noiseless days,” then “noiseless weeks,” and finally won legislations providing punishment for unnecessary noisemaking. The city is far nearer quiet as a result. He has been an outspoken foe of Adolf Hitler and Nazi-ism, a position that has won him the friendship of many of New York's Jewish people. On two occasions his remarks about the head of the German government have been followed by regrets to ‘| Germany from the State Department; “I'd sooner have an ungovernable | but there has been no apology from Mayor Ls Guardis. His friendship for Iabor is active, { There's lots of | U. S. LEADERS FORSAKE ISOLATIONIST POLICIES 1 W BY CONSTANTINE BROWN. | HERE s only one chance to | save the world from ir- remediable calamity and that is the effective inter- vention of the United States in world | affairs.” | This is the refrain sung in varied tunes by statesmen of Europe and by American diplomats in key posts in | Europe. It was said to President Roosevelt by Premier van Zeeland in | long talks the two men had a few | weeks ago; it is the tenor of confi- | | dential dispatches and of long trans- oceanic telephone calls from Ambass- ador Bingham and Ambassador Bullitt. | They were the parting words of | Finance Minister Bonnet of France, before he left his Washington post. But these interventions have served | |only to show the President how | rapidly the world is approaching an irremediable eatastrophe. } The White House and State Depart- | ment believe our position in world | affairs is changed. Since the end |of the last war the United States has become a world power. An | endeavor has been made to maintain our isolationist, ideals but now our leaders have come to the conclusion that this country is an wheel in the world machinery, | The difficulty in maintaining an aloof pogition in any major conflict has been expressed by Secretary of State Cordell Hull who stated, when | he formulated the new American credo: | “There can be no serious hostilities | anywhere in the world which will |not in one way or another affect interests or rights or obligations of this country.” U. S. Interest Passive. Herelofore the official attitude of | the United States Government in reguard to international affairs was Lo observe happenings in other coun- tries closely, but to maintain the | attitude that their affairs are not | ours. The aggressive policies of | Henry Stimson in 1931 and 1932 in ! regard to the Far East were based on treaty obligations of this country and were abandoned when it became obvious that the other Western powers &« | had made up their minds to let us hold the bag. From that time on the position of the United States Government has been one of passive | interest. True enough, Mr. Roosevelt made several abortive endeavors to bring about a better co-operation ! amonk nations—at Geneva in 1933 when the limitation of arms confer- | ence was bankrupted:; in London, the same year, when the efforts for an economic understanding among | nations were killed by dissensions between the gold standard nations | and those which abandoned gold, and | in London in 1935, when the Japanese | | government abandoned the Washing- ton and London naval agreements | Secretary Hull evolved his own policy for a better understanding among men and nations—the policy of reciprgcal trade agreements. But | the world is not sufficiently ripe to understand and accept this method of returning to better conditions. It is very much like the Kellogg pact and the League of Nations. They all say: “Admirable ideas, splendid | thoughts, but ——* | It is because of this, and also in order to find out how sincere the European statesmen are when they | say. “The United States is the only | | power which can save us from a | catastrophe.” that the administration, | through the Secretary of State, has issued the new American credo. The | statements, *“We advocate national and | | international self-restraint; we ad- | vocate abstinence from use of force * * * and from interferrence in in- ternal affairs of other nations: we advocate adjustment of problems in international relations by processes | of peaceful negotiations and agree- ment; we advocate faithful observance of international agreements: we be- | lieve in limitations and reductions of armaments and * * *” are no longer | empty diplomatic expressions. They have a distinct meaning which no | world chancellery can overlook—that any serious disturbance of the peace anywhere in the world seriously affects our national interests. And the con- clusion is equally significant: *We are | prepared to reduce or to increase our own armed forces in proportion to the reductions or increases, made by other comntries.” The Hull credo includes also the foundation stone for an eventual peace conference. Trial Balloons Sent Up. A few -weeks after the outbreak of | the Spanish civil war last year trial balloons were issued from Washington to test the possibilities of an inter- national conference to settle the loom- ing economic and political problems. Because of internal political develop- ments, and especially because the situation in Europe appeared so hope- lessly complicated, the idea has never come to fruition; it was postponed | | | not vocal. He is ambitious for New York to become a “closed shop.” He has said he wants “a 100 per cent union city.” He’s a Fatalist. Weaving through his career there | has been a sense of fatalism. What | is to be, is to be. Thus in February, 1936, he told the New York State Mayor’'s Conference: o “I don't expect to be in office long.” He serves, his career shows, accord- ing to his light. Sometimes it may be | poor politics. He cannot help that. It is his creed. * It is so he goes into the mayoral campaign. Tammany, lean from years | that have not been full, will fight | him determinedly. Backing him, La | Guardia hopes, will be all the anti- Tammany forces, together with New Desl Democrats and the Labor vote. ‘The “Little Flower” is not giving it too much concern. There is work to do, he says. If his mayoral term has satisfled New York, then New York, he feels, will return him to office. If it hasn't— There will always be a good fight somewhere, and Fiorello La Guardia is apt to be where the fight is. 1 | ference more important | Br |to Dr | why should | hundreds of a White House and State Department A cept Changed Position of America orld. : but not abandoned. Instead of sum- moning an international powwow, the President received in Washington men like Walter Runciman, Lord Tweeds- muir, Mackenzie King and Premier von Zeeland. The latter, who was the emissary of France and Great Britain, returned to report to his colleagues, Anthony Eden and Yvon Delbos, that the President believed that the desper= ate situation in Europe and in Asia renders the prospects of a peace con favorable than ever Nations are scared, and because of the pessimistic feeling which taken hold of the populations every European country s might be th psychological moment to do someti Although there has been no official it can be said safely that the Belgium premier carried back with him some tangible - the British and the F: It was agreed in Washir ely economic nc doomed to failure k in ter of terr aggrandizement an ser to Secretary Hull's economic e the Bel whether gov ng to Ger colonies—wol these two ¢ agreed 1o a The Frenctk: repeate tarian accusat ton— port spirit positions f confe: are not e peace But asked ian _statesman was the French th e 1at hat the offers Schacht economic and financial co-operation were tied wi mar thev ask, money order to midable be poured into Germany strengthen the alread German mi mach Justice of Objections Seen. The Presid ment see objections a e also German claims for colonies taken away from the pretest that the Re o rule the African pop: There must be. some way, thinks Washingtor reconcile both points of view. And this leads the President and his adviser limitation of arms solut The arms conference definitel” failed in 1933 because the French 'nment took a lezalistic point of regarding Germany's right to “token armaments’ and a con- nt and the State Depart=- ice of t them under was view, In 1932, before Hitler eame into power, Field Marshal Werner von Blomberg, then a d Geneva conference, com Gen. Gamelin, the Fren expert, through American agreed to tank bat rons and a conscript arm than 60.000 men—ov an t if France having a few agreement accept th his, Blomberg warned, H come to power and there is no i < | saying how large the German army would become. The prophetic warn- Ings of Von Blomberg fell upon deaf ears. The French nati France's emissaries then said, is deeply a ed to the principles of the Versailles treaty and no gover vive popular indignat abdication to Germany's t demands. Well, the French continue o lull themselves with the thesis that the Versailles treaty is still in effe but Germany today has not 60,000 but 700.000 men: not a few tank bat- talions but thousands of tanks ar squadrons and thou- guns t heaviest caliber. In short, the German army today is superior to the Frenc And in th President Roosevel advisers believe that they can find a solution for a limitation of armaments with France less adamant as a result of the grim facts which confront her. Present Ratios Unacceptable. The recent unofficial and tentative conversations with Mussolini’s and S representatives have dis- covered that the totalitarian stat, are willing to agree to a limitation of arms on the basis of the present strength of their respective armies This i8 not acceptable either to Great Britain or to France. The former now is in the throes of building herself a fighting force superior to any other. and France does not want to be placed |in & position inferior to those of her neighbors across the Rhine and the Alps What our disarmamnet experts have in mind at the present moment—and undoubtedly van Zeeland has so told the French and the British govern- ments—is that Germany and Italy should be approached and offered im- portant economic concessions and the return of the colonies to the Reich in exchange for an agreement to scale down their land and air forces to the level of the French Washington feels that under certain conditions, and especially if the Gers man public can be informed as to the nature of these proposals—return of colonies by agreenfent, international economic co-cperation and an army equal to that of France—a solution to the present nightmarish situation in Europe could be found. It is up to Great Britain and Germany, more than any other two nations in Europe, to decide whether Europe is headed toward destruction or toward recoves . The sand in the hour glass is fas running out. The world has received the new credo of the United States and must now decide on peace by mutual concessions and restoration of eonfidence and goodwill, or on war with incalculable consequences; Mr. Roosevelt and his advisers firmly believe that this new credon, issued at an hour of need and dis- tress, will have the desired effect upon the nations of the world Whether it will remains to be seen, and soon. (Copyright. 1037 McClure Newspaper Syndicats.) )