America at war! (1941– ) (Part 1)

[NormanStewart]

Oriental says he exposed attack plan on U.S. Pacific possessions last year

December thrust by Japs predicted by Sino-Korean league – Second-rate men and equipment used in China, leader says
By Helen Buchalter, Scripps-Howard staff writer

This map, taken from a Japanese naval textbook, shows the triple route of attack in the Pacific. The symbols at the right read, ‘Imperial Japanese Naval Attack.’

WASHINGTON (SHS) – A map, extracted from a Japanese naval textbook and showing the plan of attack almost exactly as it occurred Sunday, was turned over to the American Naval Intelligence a year ago last October.

Information gathered from secret sources, suggesting that Japan would attack our Pacific possessions either in December 1941 or February 1942 was sent to the State Department more than a month ago.

The warnings were sent by an underground information-gathering organization known as the Sino-Korean People’s League, which set up a Washington office in 1939.

The most frustrated man in Washington today is Kilsoo K. Haan, 40-year-old Korean representative of the league, whose scrapbook is a tragic memento of warnings aimed desperately at putting the United States on the alert for just such an attack as shocked the nation December 7.

Letter to Hull

The letter, sent to Secretary Hull October 28, 1941, reads in part as follows:

“Hirota, former foreign minister, now the ‘big stick’ of the Black Dragon Society, in their August 26 meeting, told of the news that War Minister Tojo has ordered a total war preparation to meet the armed forces of the United States in this Pacific emergency. Tojo is said to have told him of the Navy’s full support of his policy against America.

“He also spoke of Tojo giving orders to complete the mounting of guns and rush supplies of munitions to the Marshall and Carolina group [mandated islands] by November 1941. Hirota and others present in the meeting freely discussed and expressed opinions as to the advantages and consequences of a war with America. Many expressed the most suitable time to wage war with America as December 1941 or February 1942. Many said:

“‘Tojo [now Premier] will start the war with America and after 60 days Tojo will reshuffle the cabinet and become virtually a great dictator.’ ”

In line with Axis

“NOTE: Based on this information dated August 16, 1941, Japan’s recent and sudden change of cabinet was a planned one, stalling for time for closer collaboration and more effective cooperation in the interest of the Axis powers.

“Mounting of guns and rushing of munition supplies to the mandated islands is a significant sign.”

The letter was withheld from the public by Mr. Haan pending the State Department’s permission for its release.

“For eight years our organization has been gathering this information,” said Mr. Haan, “We have sent truckloads of it to officials here. Always we received official acknowledgments. But what happened to our reports? Were they filed away and forgotten? I have been called a fool. They have asked me, ‘How do you get information our men can’t?’ But I can’t reveal my sources, obviously.”

Map shows plan

The Japanese map shows a three-arched naval attack stretching from the Aleutian Islands to the south coast of Australia.

Mr. Haan said the Japanese war plan aims at splitting up the American Navy by diverting it to widely scattered spots, so as to leave Japan a free hand with British and Dutch possessions. Once they are taken, the major attack on the American West Coast will come.

He said the attack was originally scheduled for last spring but was postponed because of the Nazi attack on Russia, Japanese warlords deciding to await developments in that war theater before striking at the United States.

Use inferior offense

He said Japanese officials had said two years ago that the oil tanks in Hawaii could be blown up “easily” and that Japanese war games in the Pacific had long ago theoretically captured the islands of Kauai and Hawaii and damaged Oahu.

“I have heard American Navy men say the Japanese can’t shoot, that their torpedoes are no good,” said Mr. Haan. “But the Japanese did not show them their best forces. Japan used second-line en and material on China. These best she saved for the United States.”

He said several hundred German technicians were aiding the Japanese War Office.

The Sino-Korean League was formed in 1933 with the goal of preserving democracy in the Pacific in the belief that only American supremacy would guarantee democracy for the Korean and Chinese people. Its chief function, he said, is to counteract Japanese propaganda and supply the United States with inside information.

Mr. Haan joined the Japanese consular service in Hawaii in 1935 specifically to get information. He resigned in June 1937 to turn over the information to American congressmen conferring in Hawaii.

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Jap treachery adds Thailand to Axis camp

Nation, sincere in hope to remain neutral, bows to reassure
By David S. Waite, Singapore Free Press editor

SINGAPORE – Japanese treachery enmeshed ill-fated Thailand like a blanket while bland-faced Nipponese envoys carried on their “peace negotiations” in Washington.

When Japan was amassing great concentrations of troops on the Thailand-Indochina border, power politics were going full blast behind the scenes.

At the very moment when Kurusu was talking peace in the United States capital, Thailand was taking the brunt of diplomatic pressure, economic pressure, propaganda pressure, and even military pressure on her frontier.

Forced to succumb

So great was this pressure, according to a British Foreign Office statement, that Thailand was forced to succumb to Japanese demands even before open warfare broke out in the Pacific, putting up only “token” resistance when Japan finally blew the lid off the Pacific war pot.

From here, it seemed obvious that Japan’s “peace negotiations” in the United States were a sham, while she continued a Thailand policy that, at its logical conclusion, could only mean war in the Far East on a very big scale.

The Japanese first turned on the heat by increasing their garrisons on the Thai-Indochina frontier. There were “exercises” designed to impress the Thais with the unwisdom of resisting Japanese demands. Then followed the demands which, according to well-informed opinion, amounted to suggestions that Japan should take over entire responsibility for the defense of Thailand.

Buy up everything

Concurrently, the Japanese increased economic pressure on Thailand. They continued to buy up everything they could put their hands on in Bangkok, offering inflated prices to impress the Thais. They sent to Thailand Japanese-manufactured goods, which by rights, should go to Indochina.

They increased their propaganda blitz by circulating imaginary stories of the Anglo-U.S. “threat” to Thailand, and by spreading foul slanders about prominent Thai statesmen who did not appear sufficiently pro-Japanese.

In the Japanese Embassy in Bangkok, with over 40 officials, special sections were formed to deal with diplomatic affairs, economic, problems and propaganda. Mr. Koh Ishii, the former spokesman of the Japanese Foreign Office, was sent to Bangkok as chancellor of the embassy to take care of the political propaganda.

Thais watch closely

Since Mr. Ishii was known to have pronounced pro-Axis feelings, he was regarded as a good man to work with the Italians and Germans in Bangkok, who were also doing their share of anti-British and anti-American work.

The Thais closely watched all that went on in their own country and all that happened on their frontiers; and they drew certain conclusions. Their interpretation of the duties of neutrality prevented their statesmen from saying openly that Japan was a potential – indeed, an actual – menace to the independence of their nation.

But that is what they meant when the Bangkok radio nightly warned its listeners to be on their guard against fifth columnists, foreign spies, saboteurs, and so on.

Not pro-Japanese

One sometimes heard stories about the Thais being pro-Japanese. They are nothing of the sort. The Thais were really sincere when they declared their intention to remain neutral.

Japan wants Thailand’s rubber, tin and rice, which she needs. She might hope to occupy the country and go on immediately to threaten the Burma Road, which she might think it would be easier to cut by advancing into Burma or through Northern Thailand. The Japs took the second alternative – advancing down the Thai peninsula toward Malaya and Singapore.

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Flashes on alarm boards warn of impending raids

WASHINGTON (UP) – A man in mufti watches the colored pawns on the big horizontal board.

The course is shaping up. Now a line of markers points the direction unmistakably.

The man in mufti barks into the telephone transmitter: “San Francisco yellow.”

It really happened in San Francisco. They thought it happened in New York. It may happen here.

On the day when a civilian air raid warden in an information center of the Air Defense Command says “Washington yellow” to the operator at her special switchboard, the capital will have 15 minutes to get set for the blow.

Meaning of ‘yellow’

For “yellow” in the lexicon of air defense means: “Enemy planes 15 minutes – or 60 miles – away.”

“Great Britain’s experience,” Lt. Allen Settle said at Bolling Field today, “has shown that a 15-minute warning is about right.”

Not until the raiders are 15 minutes from a possible objective is it safe to assume that they are headed for that objective.

A split second after the warden in the information center says “Washington yellow,” yellow lights gleam on alarm boards in the city.

At the district fire alarm headquarters a crew of four men awaits the signal that may come. Two watch the board. Two handle the alarm system.

Causes lights to flash

One plug by the operator at the information center – which may be in Norfolk, Virginia – causes the alarm lights to flash in the threatened city.

Five minutes after “Washington yellow” the warden may signal, “Washington blue” – the enemy is now 10 minutes away.

The final warning, after which the issue is in the lap of the gods, is “Washington red.”

“Red” means “five minutes away – or less.”

Or the light that flashes may be white, for all-clear. Raider flights frequently change course abruptly, to confuse the spotters.

Many on duty

The Air Defense Command’s First Interceptor Area, from Maine to North Carolina, has 40,000 observers on duty. What they report from their advanced posts determines how the pawns at the information centers are placed on the big horizontal board.

In the Washington metropolitan area alone, there are 13,000 volunteer civilian air raid wardens. In New York, San Francisco, Los Angeles, there are more.

For alarm purposes the warning is 15 minutes. But the local office of civilian defense may receive word that an enemy fleet is hours off the coast.

By the time the public alarm was sounded, an organization would be in action, getting ready for the bombs – demolition, fragmentation, gas, or incendiary.

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Japan denies warship loss at Philippines

Americans flee in North Luzon, Tokyo says, claiming 238 planes
By the United Press

Japan denied today that it had lost two battleships off the Philippine Islands and asserted that in a combined naval and military operation it had landed a new force of invasion troops in Southern Luzon.

It said, in an Imperial Headquarters communique, that since the start of the Philippines action, one Japanese light cruiser had been slightly damaged off Luzon, that one minesweeper had been sunk and that another had been severely damaged.

Apparently, the communique said, the light cruiser was mistaken for the battleship Haruna, which the U.S. reported sunk.

Claim Americans flee

The minesweeper which was damaged, it said, was struck by a bomb after capturing an American merchant ship in a Luzon harbor.

Tokyo asserted that in Northern Luzon, U.S. forces were fleeing southward, destroying roads behind them.

It asserted that the Vichy government had assured Japan of its “strict neutrality” in the Pacific war.

Shanghai dispatches asserted that the people of Rangoon, capital of Burma, had started to evacuate the city.

Claim Singapore damage

Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo was quoted as saving of the German-Italian war declaration on the United States: “This event, following the outstanding success of the Japanese forces, opens up a shining perspective for the Japanese empire, which will definitely further the building up of a new order in the world.”

The United Press listening post in London heard the Japanese Domei News Agency broadcast from Tokyo that a Japanese air raid on Singapore had caused extremely heavy damage to an airfield.

Make threat against Reds

Domei said Japanese aircraft attacked a British convoy near Penang off the west coast of Malaya Tuesday. It claimed that one vessel was sunk and four were damaged seriously and that harbor installations were attacked.

Japanese newspapers at Shanghai quoted Tokyo circles as showing “a certain amount of skepticism regarding the sincerity of Russia in its neutral attitude toward Japan.”

Tokyo radio, in a broadcast heard by the United Press in San Francisco, asserted that 167 U.S. planes had been shot down in the Philippines Wednesday and that “of a total of 250 American planes known to be in the Philippines 238 have been destroyed, including Boeing B-17 Flying Fortresses and Consolidated long-range bombers.”

Japanese shipping companies announced that they would continue their activities despite the Pacific war because ‘the Japanese Navy has absolute control of Chinese waters.”

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British happy as war issues are clarified

‘All in same boat,’ they say, see greater Allied unity and power
By Helen Kirkpatrick

LONDON – “We’re all in the same boat now and nothing in the world can keep us from beating them.” That was one Englishman’s comment on news of the Axis declaration of war against the United States.

Few people here have doubted the imminence of war or questioned the final outcome but, like ourselves, the British prefer to see things signed, sealed and delivered. The fact that everyone’s relations with everyone else are clarified brings relief, greater confidence and a feeling of oneness such as has not existed since the last war.

There is no one in Europe, and certainly no one in Britain, who has not a tremendous admiration for American fighting ability. American industry is regarded here as the height of efficiency and American manpower is believed almost inexhaustible.

Sure of Allied victory

These factors, linked with the fighting spirit of the British and the productive capacity they have reached, plus the tremendous resources of Russia and China, are seen to be absolute guarantees of Allied victory.

As one cartoonist expressed it yesterday in cricket language, it is now “the gentlemen versus the others.” In other words, the British see all the peoples in the world who stand for law, order and decency ranged against all the gangsters and thugs.

In the initial stages, the decent people suffer from the handicap of their decency which has prevented them from stealing a march on the others. Thugs and gangsters suddenly attacking an innocent passerby are bound to have the advantage. But when the law-abiding citizens band together, the downfall of the thugs is certain.

Relieve British of blame

The British have for long totaled the numbers of anti-Axis citizens in the world and the resources they control and decided that when all those citizens mobilized to meet the Axis menace, the Axis would be doomed. Today the begin to see an end to the long night which began to draw in on the world 10 years ago when the Japanese invaded Manchuria.

While the clash between the United States and the Axis has been inescapable, a majority of the British are delighted that the issues have been so presented to the United States. Never, they feel can Americans accuse the British or having dragged them into war. Hitler and his satellite, Mussolini, have taken care of that and have guaranteed that the unity of the United States, achieved through the Japanese attack, will be sustained and, in fact, probably increased.

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Fort Shafter guns speak quickly during Jap raid

By Francis McCarthy, United Press staff writer

HONOLULU (UP) – Fort Shafter, one of the Army’s oldest posts on the Island of Oahu, got its baptism of fire Sunday, it can now be revealed.

Raiders dumped loads of bombs apparently at random and climbed rapidly as they were greeted by a torrential hail of anti-aircraft and machine-gun fire.

Despite the suddenness of the assault, the Army functioned magnificently in this first test of Pacific warfare.

The “Rising Sun” – balls of fire – on the wingtips of the raiding planes, signifying their nationality, were clearly discernible in the brilliant sun.

From the floor on which I was ordered to sprawl at the first menacing roar, I watched the approaching raiders.

The building in which we huddled rocked to the roar of explosions. Glass windows trembled. The noise was deafening. Not only the crash of the bombs outside, but the incessant rumble of anti-aircraft guns and the chatter of machine guns almost obliterated the sporadic crack of rifles.

Individual soldiers had grabbed their weapons and, crouching behind every conceivable shelter, took potshots at the diving bombers in true Kentucky mountain style.

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Lopez has war tips via stars

Maestro’s preview startling in accuracy
By Si Steinhauser

We’ve pooh-poohed Vincent Lopez’s astrological predictions but seen many of them – made months in advance – come true. We have reported his predictions and they worked out and here we are to recount some more.

In the November issue of American Astrology, Lopez wrote under a paragraph headed “Japan”:

“Japan finds herself in a very ticklish position as she can hardly withdraw her demands for greater influence in Far Eastern affairs. She is unwilling to withdraw to her own island kingdom and remain an important nation, therefore the hot heads who have been agitating for war at any price will become unmanageable, with December highly explosive and a great possibility of them having their own way.”

Of the United States, he wrote in the December issue of the same magazine:

“December 13 through the 20th may see grave disasters and losses at sea and dissatisfaction in Army and Navy circles, especially where our new island bases and colonies are concerned, which are in some danger of attack.”

He predicts peace proposals around the end of December, to be rejected by the United States and England and a most critical period for America around March 16, 1942.

For Russia he promises the Soviet will not be beaten. But he says Stalin will be less active as new leaders come forward.

In the same December issue, he predicts:

“The Philippines and Singapore are points of renewed activity with a possibility of new outbreaks in this corner of the world.”

For Italy, he sees possibility of bombing and actual invasion, sabotage, discontent and grumbling and finally overtures for separate peace by way of Switzerland.

He promises that in France a new leader will arise and lead the nation through revolution back to freedom.

In November, Vincent wrote that Boston and Los Angeles would be much in the news as the center of vast espionage activities and property damage by the hand of man and also by natural forces.

Other writers in the Astrology magazine also see December as a fateful month for all nations but they put Hitler right behind the eight ball predicting his inevitable downfall.

Church leaders and laymen are loud in their praise of Arthur Harlan Ware of radio’s “The Bartons” script.

Every time the “Bartons” are seated at the table the grandmother portrayed by Kathryn Card says grace in this manner: “Our Heavenly Father, we thank Thee for all our blessings and we ask Thy mercy for less fortunate people the whole world over.”

Ware explains: “The custom was observed by my parents and has been continued in my own home. It was natural that I would have ‘The Bartons’ do the same. If they were real people, I feel sure they would insist upon it.”

Everyone who admires Fritzie Zivic – and who doesn’t – will want to listen to his scrap with Kid McCoy on WCAE at 10 o’clock tonight.

Kay Kyser promised to double the number of Christmas seals on any letter sent him. A Desmoines fan sent him a letter bearing 200 seals. Kay replied with three envelopes bearing 600.

Naturalist Walter Sewell, who can “talk like a dog”, will headline tomorrow night’s (WJAS at 8:30) “Hobby Lobby.”

The America First Committee has canceled a scheduled talk by Charles Lindbergh set for 10:30 tonight over the Columbia network.

Rev. Warren W. Wiant, pastor of Emory Methodist Church, will speak on KDKA’s Religious Message period, Sunday at 9:30.

George Damerel, son of Myrtle Vail of Myrt and Marge, is portraying the part of Ralph Peters, a soldier, on his mother’s program.

Kenny Baker will make a return visit to the Kostelanetz program on Sunday, December 28, at guest soloist.

Edmund Gwenn, starred on Broadway in “The Wookey,” will headline the Mutual network Christmas Carol series. Jack Smart will be the Mutual Santa Claus.

Phil Spitalny’s girl musicians have organized their own Red Cross sewing-knitting unit.

Nat Cantor, the radio stooge, once fired his partner, Archie Leech, to make a place for his brother, Charlie. Leech isn’t very angry about the affair since he went from there to the screen. You know him as Cary Grant.

Congress having proclaimed Monday as Bill of Rights Day, radio will join in celebrating the 150th anniversary of the signing of the historical document. Special features beginning tonight are scheduled as follows:

FRIDAY

8:00: KQV – Mayor Scully, Civilian Defense Director E. C. Stone and Judge Ralph H. Smith, chairman of Bill of Rights Celebration, in forum.

8:30: KQV – Charles Laughton reads “Bill of Rights.”

9:00: WJAS – Franchot Tone and Rita Johnson in “Petrified Forest,” the story about a man who stands up for his rights.

SUNDAY

12:00 noon: WCAE – Bill of Rights birthday observance.

1:30: KDKA – University of Chicago Roundtable discusses civil rights.

5:00: WJAS – Baritone Ross Graham sings song, “The Bill of Rights,” composed by Jay Gorney and Henry Myers.

10:00: WCAE – Sen. Joseph Guffey speaks.

10:30: WJAS – Columbia Workshop presents drama, “In Abraham’s Bosom,” revolving around old Negro preacher who explains Bill of Rights to his flock.

Midnight: KDKA – Mayor Scully’s proclamation of Bill of Rights Day, document is read and national anthem will be sung.

MONDAY

3:00: WJAS – Attorney General Biddle speaks from exercises in Capital.

7:30: KDKA – Orson Welles in “Cavalcade of America” presentation, “The Great Man Votes.”

10:00: All network stations – President Roosevelt speaks and screen stars presents Norman Corwin dramatization of Bill of Rights. Cast will not be identified until end of broadcast, to carry out illusion that Washington and other early Americans are speaking. However, Lionel Barrymore, Edward G. Robinson and Walter Huston will definitely participate.

Former Chief Justice Charles Evans Hughes will speak and Helen Hayes will read the Bill of Rights.

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Pegler: A proposal for unions

By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK – Ray Clapper closed his column of Thursday with the postscript: “Planes cost money. Buy defense bonds and stamps” and soon after reading this I got a wire signed. “Vincent F. Callahan, Chief of Radio and Press Sections, Defense Savings,” asking me to spread the same message. This I am glad to do and at the same time I will offer a suggestion which, if agreeably received, should realize for the Treasury certainly as much as five million dollars not as a loan but as a free windfall. The amount could be much more. It might come to $10 million.

My proposal is that those unions, particularly the American Federation of Labor, which have been maintaining control stations at so many of the war projects all over the country and collecting initiation and transfer fees from all workers applying for jobs, should now do the handsome thing. I suggest that they donate to the Treasury as a gift all such fees collected at these jobs at the rate of from $19 to $300 per man. Or, if some expense has been involved in the collection of these fees, a certain discount could be agreed upon.

Unions profited from war program

Now this idea is advanced in no spirit of bitterness. The local unions which received the bulk of the money do not need it and some of them have grown so rich they don’t know what to do with it. I will avoid the question whether they deserved it of those many workers who paid complainingly and under compulsion, because I want to avoid raking a wound.

But the fact can be stated without arousing any justifiable anger that these union treasuries did skim a creamy profit off the war program of the nation as a special privilege. The hod-carriers, alone, claim to have enrolled 100,000 new members since President Roosevelt, with brave and farsighted wisdom, sounded the first national call to arms after the invasion of the Low Countries in 1940.

At an average rate of $20 per man, which would be scant, they would seem to have collected two million dollars in initiation fees alone, most of which was retained by the locals. These locals have negligible legitimate expenses and I am convinced that almost all those who paid these initiation fees would gladly vote that they be given to the national Treasury to pay for planes, inasmuch as it seems impossible for them to get back their own individual payments.

The carpenters and electricians also have collected tremendous revenues from men who had no choice but to pay or stay idle and this money, too, was pure gravy, minus some problematical but very small discount for administration expenses.

Of course, some of the unioneers and some really sincere citizens outside the union movement will instinctively point to the war profits of the big industrialists and ask why I don’t propose that they, too, kick back their gains. The answer, as I see it, is that they are kicking back much of this money in taxes of various kinds and that their profits are limited at the outset. At least, I think their profits are limited but, even if they are not, the higher the profit the higher the tax to a point at which the incentive to profit is almost extinguished and replaced by the incentive to get the vital job done well and fast.

CIO advertised modesty of fees

If I am in error on this point, you can put it down to sheer ignorance of business big and little. But I claim to be an authority on the initiation and transfer fees that have been collected on the war jobs and I am most sure-footed when I know what I am talking about. Union income, from whatever source derived, is subject to no tax at all.

I hope you will notice that I have not once mentioned goons, gorillas or extortioners in this piece, the reason being that I want to advance this proposal in a spirit of sweet and appealing reasonableness. Perhaps it would have a better chance of success if it came from someone who would be less likely to be suspected of attempting to put the affected unions on a spot, but if it is a good idea, it needn’t necessarily be denounced just because it comes from me.

A basic policy of all the CIO unions supports my contention that the unions mentioned here do not need all this money, for the CIO has advertised widely as one of its most attractive virtues the modesty of its initiation fees and condemned the fees of the AFL unions as unreasonable and a cause of hardship to the workers. And you can just imagine the delightful effect on public opinion of a sudden, gratuitous and patriotic decision by all these locals and the internationals to donate, outright, this unexpected war profit which will not be worth anything anyway unless the war is won.

[NormanStewart]

Clapper: Congress acts

By Raymond Clapper

WASHINGTON – When Congress was put to the test this week, it came through. Congress has been calm and efficient. It has been businesslike and has not wasted time in idle words. To everyone it was obvious what had to be done, and it was done in the simplest, quickest way.

During this week at least, we have shown that democratic government can meet an emergency without lost motion and without grandstanding. It has been a most heartening experience and it will do much to revive public confidence in the legislative branch.

The war resolutions against Germany and Italy were put through without debate. In the Senate, not a single word, aside from the routine mechanical formalities, was uttered. The whole business was finished in less than half an hour. The House was equally prompt. Without anything more than a clarifying question, the Senate voted unanimously to permit the president to send American troops of any kind anywhere,

Debate unnecessary, out of place

The fact that there was no debate only gave more force to the action. For it was the silent action of free men. No one was shut off from debate. Senators could have talked by the hour. But they knew that words were unnecessary and out of place in the presence of such compelling events. Both Houses have set a high example. They won’t be able to live up to it, and in time will fall back into floundering, wandering, irrelevant talk. But by acting without needless words now, Congress will be in better standing when the time comes, as it surely will, that calls for frank and hard-hitting criticism.

Somewhat lost in the rush of bigger actions was the unprecedented political truce, declared Just before we declared war on Germany and Italy. This truce was declared in an exchange of telegrams between Chairman Flynn of the Democratic National Committee and Chairman Martin of the Republican National Committee. The truce also was registered in the resolution unanimously adopted at a conference of Senate Republicans. They pledged their full support to the prosecution of the war. The resolution was offered by Sen. Lodge of Massachusetts.

This means, it is hoped, an end of the bickering which has hampered the administration during the last two years in dealing with the dangers created by the war. It will not end criticism and should not. But hereafter criticism presumably will be devoted to making more effective the adopted policy of the government, whereas before much of the criticism was intended to obstruct and reverse the government’s policy,

The only unfortunate incident that has occurred since Japan’s attack is Sen. Tobey’s attempt to force disclosure of military secrets about the damage at Pearl Harbor. Around Congress they know Tobey. He is cantankerous but is not taken seriously. He embarrasses his own fellow Republicans more than he does the administration.

Commons doing good job in England

Eventually details of Pearl Harbor will be exposed and the blame fixed. Congress is determined to do that. But the responsible Republicans know there is risk of giving information to Japan by going into this now. They are ready to wait until the affair can be hauled out into the open and discussed freely.

In these times there is little for Congress to do but to vote appropriations and scrutinize the conduct of the war. Commons does a good job of it in England. On one occasion, Churchill spent a whole evening with an American official being coached to meet questions expected in Commons the next day about the lease of bases to the United States. I found in England that after two years of war there was still free criticism of the government. It was regarded as healthy and stimulating and one of the prerogatives of a free country.

American solidarity behind the war does not mean blind, unquestioning resignation to everything that is done. Our unanimity means that we are all participating in the effort. We are sharing the decision, not merely accepting it. We have a right to know what happens and to pass judgment on it. but we must use better judgment in timing than Sen. Tobey is showing. Fortunately, most members in both houses of Congress, by waiting until a safe time before demanding military information, are showing a patriotic sense of time.

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Maj. Williams: Effective signs!

By Maj. Al Williams

I guess I flew 18.000 miles to do the research on this one. We are using mules traveled instead of the orthodox reference method for research nowadays, you know. It was over a cup of hot “java” on a cold morning at a well-known airport. A personable chap sidled down on the perch alongside me. “Java,” he said to the short-order man behind the counter. I looked up. The guy must have been around, “java” being the tipoff to being around. Mutual nods accompanied “hellos,” and then we recognized one another. “Say,” I began…

“Oh, I know what you’re goin’ to ask me,” he interrupted. “You see it was like this. You know my business – photographic work for a magazine.” I nodded. “Well, here’s how it happened:

“I had disembarked from a taxi at the airport intending to take the next airliner west I checked my bags and telephoned my home office. The office ordered me to come back right away. Well, ‘right away’ in our business means anything. This time it meant two days in a city tar east of where I had checked my bags and farther east than where I had intended to go.” I chucked in a couple of nods to indicate interest. “Well,” he continued, “when I returned to the airport they told me that the airport manager wanted to see me. I found him sitting broadly in the only chair in the office and with a mighty serious expression on his face.

“‘Are you an American citizen?’ he asked through his lips that cracked just far enough to let the air and the words out. ‘Am I an American citizen?’ I exploded. ‘Say, what’s the idea? Am I an American citizen – what’s goin…’

“‘Well, now don’t get all het up and boilin’ over,’ the Airport Manager replied coolly, But I continued with, ‘Say, what’s goin’ on here. Get it off your chest.’

Manager asks unusual question

“With that the A. M. pursed his lips and looked at the floor before answering. ‘Where’s your baggage?’ he finally asked.

“‘Where’s my baggage?’ I answered questionably. ‘Why it’s downstairs in the baggage checking room.’

“‘That’s what you think, feller,’ he replied. By this time, I was getting short on patience.

“‘Oh, it ain’t, hey? Well, where the devil is it, if it isn’t down in the baggage room?’

“‘Well, Smart Guy,’ said the Airport King, ‘it’s out in the middle of the airport and it’s been there the last two days.’

“With this I settled down into my shirt collar and the top rim of my coat. Out in the middle of the airport and it’s been there the past two days… and it’s been rainin’ here harder than buckshot, too.

“‘Bud,’ says the Airport Manager, ‘when those bags of yours were checked in the baggage room, nothing happened until someone took the time to examine them. And then there was a near-panic. All hands streaked out of the baggage room and didn’t stop until they got outside the building, and by that time they were going fast enough to ‘takeoff.’ There was a helluva commotion, with a lot of talk about sabotage, spies, and fifth columnists and all. 1 finally got into the baggage room and started looking around. I saw nothing worth bothering about until an extremely brave fellow yelled from around the most distant corner and suggested that I look at them bags in the bin. I did and there were four, square, leather cases – all with red tags marked ‘EXPLOSIVE – DYNAMITE – Don’t Drop.’

A. M. decides on his action

“‘I sneaked up alongside those bags,’ the A. M. continued, ‘and put my ears to them to see if there was any ticking inside. But there wasn’t a sound.

“‘Then I thought, well, I’m the airport manager, and if I don’t do something the police may come in and blow up the whole place with some fast and fancy bungling and blow my job along with the dust. So I lifted one bag and tiptoed out of the door and kept going until I reached the absolute center of the field. I put the bag down softly – gentle enough to keep from bending the grass – on account we spent $22,000 seeding that field. I got the other bags and the tiptoe business was repeated until the whole bunch of bags were right where you can see them now. Here, look out the window,’ he concluded.

“There in the distance, in the very center of the soggy field, were my bags, with expensive cameras in them, plastered with the dynamite signs which, in turn, were plastered with mud.

“That, my friend,” said the Java lad, “is just why I didn’t bother sending you those explosive and dynamite signs for your luggage. It’s a good idea, except it works too well.”

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German official predicts: ‘We’ll probably meet soon’

**WASHINGTON (UP) – “We will probably meet again in a few months.”

With those words, Baron Ulrich E. von Gienanth, second secretary of the German Embassy, left a group of reporters gathered around the entrance to the embassy.

He let the reporters draw their own conclusions as to where and how he would meet them. But he had just told them that he was a reserve officer in Adolf Hitler’s Elite Guard, SS (Schutzstaffel – crack German troops), and that he was going to the front when he gets back to Germany.

Since the declaration of war by Germany against the United States, all has been quiet at the old red brick buildings which house what was a German diplomatic staff.

A girl in her teens walked along the sidewalk carrying a sack of groceries late yesterday.

“There’s your mob,” said an FBI man to a disappointed newspaper photographer who had expected “action.”

The only unusual outward signs were the special guards. Two policemen, one a Jew and the other the same man who guarded the building in 1917, and two FBI agents passed their time during most of the first day of war between the United States and Germany by chatting with reporters.

Once during the afternoon Charge d’Affaires Hans Thomsen came out of the Chancery and climbed into his shiny limousine. The chauffeur who had driven him to the State Department in the morning to deliver Germany’s official notification of war was missing.

“Are you leaving Washington?” he was asked.

“Oh, no,” he said. “We have to pack first.”

“Are you going to the State Department?”

“No, not anymore,” he said, smiling.

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Editorial: ‘Too little and too late’

Hitler’s all-out war against us did not start yesterday with his declaration. It began in the Hawaiian dawn last Sunday. At Pearl Harbor and Manila, he struck with the only major force available for direct attack against us – the treacherous Japanese. So his belated declaration is anticlimax.

President Roosevelt made this clear in his Monday message to Congress and in his public address: That we were attacked by Hitler’s Axis, that we are defending ourselves in a world war.

The Berlin-Rome declarations help us more than hurt us. The Axis will do all it can to sink our Atlantic and Near East shipping and naval forces; but that has bee its effort for many weeks.

Germany and Italy have been losing the Battle of the Atlantic, against us as well as against Britain, not because of restraints imposed by their “peaceful” relations with Washington but because of their relative shortage of naval and air forces for the Atlantic. That unfavorable Atlantic balance now is shifted, not by the Berlin declaration but by the Battle of the Pacific, requiring transfer of some U.S.-British strength to the Far East.

The Berlin-Rome declarations help us by simplifying and formalizing a state of war which has existed in fact since Sunday morning. They enable us to handle the Axis fifth-column problem in this country as a unit, instead of ineffectively piecemeal. They unable us to bring all of our war laws, including use of troops abroad, up to the requirements in a stroke. They force us now to increase all our production and defense plans to global size, which might have been disastrously delayed.

No less important, Hitler’s declaration strengthens the Pan-American solidarity stimulated by his Japanese attack on Hawaii. The extraordinary Latin American response to our defense of the Pacific will now be reinforced by the direct self-interest and danger of large South American countries on the Atlantic, who were not directly menaced by Japan.

Now that Hitler and Mussolini in alliance with Japan have formally started war against the United States, it will not be so easy for the large Nazi and Fascist movements of Latin America to find followers or to receive aid from fifth-column plants within some of the governments. The significance of Latin American cooperation with Washington’s defense plans for the Atlantic cannot be exaggerated.

This cooperation enables us to move against certain Atlantic bases which, if taken first by the Axis, would threaten South America even more than North America.

No American is fool enough to underrate the peril to our nation of the Axis attack. Never since Valley Forge have we been in such danger. Never have we suffered such defeat as at Pearl Harbor. The virtual unanimity of the Congressional votes and the public response witness that fact.

Yet we can be thankful that our peril is not graver. However narrow may be our margin in the Pacific and elsewhere today, it was worse – much worse – a short time ago.

If Hitler had succeeded in forcing Japan to attack four months ago, as he tried to do, there would have been little chance of defending Singapore and Manila. Indeed, the most important British and American reinforcements arrived in the Far East only last week.

Four months ago, one month ago, Hitler was on top in Russia and Libya. Every ounce of Russian strength was going out at home, while Britain was rushing all available land, sea and air reserves to the Middle East. And we were sending everything we could get our hands on.

What would have happened to us and to the world if Hitler could have used his Japanese arm then, as he used it Sunday, is terrible to contemplate.

Since then, the Russians and British have held Hitler in Russia, Africa and the North Atlantic, sufficiently to allow important American and British diversions to the Far East.

Now in the very moment of Pacific attack the Axis forces actually are retreating in Russia and Libya – at least temporarily. And now we have hundreds of new planes, intended for the Middle East, which we can – and are – putting into the air over the Pacific.

Hitler’s timetable is not working. It failed to work in Russia – by his own confession. It is failing to work against the United States, because we and our Allies are immeasurably better placed than we were a year ago, a month ago, a week ago.

“Too little and too late” is Hitler’s jibe at his victims. We believe history will record that he and all his hordes were too little and too late to defeat the United States alliance.

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Ferguson: The best discipline

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

Some people say that if the Selective Service System lasts 10 years the new generation will have absorbed enough discipline and respect for constituted authority to prove the law a genuine blessing.

Decidedly, discipline of the proper sort is an essential need of our time. Self-control is sadly lacking. And insofar as Army discipline tends to turn out men who know how to command as well as obey, the argument may be sound.

Even so, the greatest lack in the world today is not a dearth of obedient people – it is the lack of those who know how to led with sanity, intelligence and honor. And let’s not forget that our chief criticism of the Germans is that they were so willing to follow Hitler. It seems stupid of us to overlook that fact.

Since 1929, we’ve advised the young on how o get and hold obs. But that date is significant because it marks the beginning of an era of depression. Something was wrong with political and business leadership before 1929, or some of the worst phases of what has followed would have been foreseen and avoided.

A new concept of the relationship between the boss and his worker is forming. It is based on cooperation and confidence, instead of authority and subservience.

But no matter how far those changes may go, the nation will always need more men and women who know when to obey and when not to obey. If our idealism endures if what we are arming to save is saved, there must emerge from this democracy more intelligent cooperation between men of high and humble rank. The people do not govern themselves by learning to be disciplined and obedient; they manage their affairs well only when they know how to discriminate between good and bad leadership. Then they are their own bosses in every sense of the word.

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Background of news –
Wartime state labor legislation

By Editorial Research Reports

Sixteen states this year have adopted the Model Sabotage Prevention Act recommended by the Federal-State Conference on Law Enforcement Problems of National Defense, and others are expected to do so as soon as their legislatures meet. This measure was strongly opposed by organized labor in most of the industrial states.

The model act provides penalties ranging up to $10,000 fine and 10 years’ imprisonment for willful damage to real or personal property “with reasonable grounds to believe that such action would impede the nation’s preparations for defense or prosecution of a war.” The same penalties apply to intentionally defective workmanship, or conspiracy toward either of the above ends.

The act also provides: Penalties of not more than 10 days and $50 fine for unauthorized entry onto premises engaged in defense work; for detention and questioning of all persons on such premises by watchmen, peace officers and supervisory employees to determine their right to be there; for closing or restricting the use of highways adjacent to such premises.

The model act specifically provides that none of its provisions shall be construed to curtail the rights of employees and their representatives to self-organization, to form, join, or assist labor organizations, or to bargain collectively.

The sixteen states which have enacted anti-sabotage legislation patterned on the model act are: Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, New Hampshire, New Mexico, New York, Oklahoma, South Carolina, Tennessee, Utah, Vermont and Wisconsin.

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Chinese will wear buttons to bar mistaken identity

Many may mark them as Japs, Tong leader here declares
By Douglas Taylor

William Yot, Tong leader in Pittsburgh’s miniature Chinatown on Third Avenue, looked puzzled.

He had been asked a question that is puzzling all Americans today: How to tell the difference between the Chinese and the Japanese.

The puzzle is becoming a serious matter. Yesterday, a Chinese tea merchant took a package of Chinese tea into the City-County Bldg. He planned to present it as a gift to friends in the Welfare Department. A frightened policeman mistook the friendly Chinese for a Japanese with a bomb, and dashed toward the suspected saboteur. who was more scared than the cop.

People stare at him

Although Mr. Yot hasn’t taken any chances by carrying packages into public buildings, he said that people are beginning to stare at him, and wonder on which side of the picture he fits.

Just imagine how embarrassing that must be to Mr. Yot, long-time and much respected leader among Pittsburgh’s Chinese residents, and secretary of the On Leong Tong, a business organization that has been compared to a chamber of commerce.

“When I was going home the other night on No. 42 streetcar,” he said, “the passengers took me for a Jap.”

Willing to forgive

But he readily admitted the mistake should be forgiven, for he said: “In a mixed group of Chinese and Japanese, if they were all strangers to me, it would be awful hard to pick them out, to tell which is which.”

When asked to itemize any differences that may exist, Mr. Yot said: “There isn’t much difference in appearance. We both belong to the same race.

“Most of the Japanese are a little bit smaller. The average Japanese are around five feet or a little over, and the Chinese maybe one or two inches taller.

“Most important difference are the eyes. The Japanese have an upper eyelid that is what you call puffed out more than the Chinese people.

“The Japanese are more round in the face. The Chinese have a longer face.”

To wear buttons

Since it really is impossible to be sure which is which, the Chinese are going to start wearing buttons stamped with the Chinese flag. They planned to order the buttons today, about 500 for the Pittsburgh district. They were to be ordered by the Chinese National Defense Association, of 518 Third Ave., of which Yee Tong is chairman. Chicago Chinese have ordered 6000 buttons, said Mr. Tong.

One Pittsburgh Chinese did not wait for a button. He is Dock Hing Wong. who sent to California for a tiny metal Chinese flag for his lapel. He claims to be the first Chinese in Pittsburgh to wear the Chinese flag.

Flag is red

The modern Chinese flag is red. In the upper, inside corner is a white sun with rays, on a background of black.

Mr. Yot explained how the buttons would save trouble for the Federal Bureau of Investigation.

“We are not wearing the buttons for the benefit of the public,” he said. “The public won’t bother us. The buttons are to be worn so the FBI and local police can tell us.”

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British troops fight off Japs in Malaya area

Air raids by enemy are called highly ineffectual
By Harold Guard, United Press staff writer

SINGAPORE (UP) – British forces defending northern Malaya fought off the Japanese attackers today and optimism rose as naval and air reinforcements from the Dutch East Indies and other points arrived.

Japanese air raiders appeared less active although Penang, the key point off the western shores of the Isthmus of Kra, was emerging from the worst air attack suffered by any point in Malaya, delivered yesterday.

Singapore, itself, the hub of Far Eastern defense hardly has felt the war thus far except for the activity of the military forces for which the island is the main base of operations in progress hundreds of miles away.

Attack ineffective

The first surprise Japanese air attack on Singapore was highly ineffective. Debris has been removed and the streets appear normal.

In Singapore, there was a feeling that the democratic powers have begun to hit back. News of the sinking of several Japanese warships by U.S. bombers cheered this base as did news that the fighting is going well in the north.

“There has been no change in the general situation in Malaya and at Hongkong during the past 12 hours,” said a communique. “Considerable damage was done to civilian property in yesterday’s raid on Penang, but no military objective was hit.”

Four quiet nights

Singapore has had four nights in a row without air raids.

The impression prevailed here that there had been a slowing up of Japanese blitz tactics. Singapore hardly has been touched since the first surprise raid of the war.

The situation on the peninsula was regarded as in hand with the repulse of Japanese landing attempts at Kuantan. The imperials fighting near the Thailand border, south of Kota Bharu, were reported resisting the Japanese fiercely after having received reinforcements.

Chinese troops aiding British

By the United Press

HONG KONG – Chinese troops, developing a powerful offensive, are striking at the flank and rear of Japanese forces attacking Hongkong and have caused a temporary weakening, at least, of the Japanese drive, it was said officially today.

The Chinese offensive, directed personally by Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek with the aid of British advisers, according to wireless and other reports from China, has assumed big proportions already.

Not only are the Chinese attacking throughout the canton some 90 miles west of Hong Kong, according to reports, but are moving masses of men toward the coast to attack the Japanese north of the colony.

The Chungking radio asserted that the drive was aimed directly at aiding the Canadian and British forces defending Hongkong against overwhelmingly more numerous Japanese forces.

The Chungking radio, in a broadcast today, quoted reliable information that the Japanese had started to evacuate their troops and civilians from all central China east of Nanking because Japanese forces were needed “elsewhere.”

British withdraw in Hong Kong area

LONDON – News of tactical British withdrawals in the Hong Kong area reached London today.

Owing to Japanese pressure some of the British advanced positions in Hong Kong were abandoned. The troops withdrew in the direction of Kowloon. There are known to be Chinese troops “in the vicinity” of Hong Kong.

In northwestern Malaya and in the Kedan frontier area, the Japanese are pressing forward and have infiltrated in several places.

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French desire to keep peace with the U.S.

Majority wants to stay ‘neutral’ as conflict spreads
By Paul Ghali

VICHY – “The game is clear now… at last. America is in it and in {t to the hilt.” This is what your correspondent heard here this morning as the people of Unoccupied France learned for the first time of the latest expansion of the conflict.

Many Frenchmen whose sympathies for America can hardly be shaken by the latest expansion of the war, remember the days when France still sided with the democracies.

The question at stake from the French point of view as everybody here realizes is what will be France’s attitude now. Hungary broke off diplomatic relations with America yesterday afternoon less than two hours after the Reichstag meeting. A visit to various French officials this morning leaves your correspondent with the clear feeling that above all the French want to remain neutral and to maintain with America the status quo and the centuries-old friendship.

Speeches edited

An indication of France’s desire to be objective and fair to both sides was seen in today’s papers in which the Hitler and Mussolini speeches were published, deprived of some of their disagreeable comments on President Roosevelt.

Soon after yesterday’s Reichstag meeting, United States Ambassador Adm. William D. Leahy was received by Chief of State Petain. Adm. Jean Darlan was present at the interview in his capacity of minister of foreign affairs.

After the interview a rumor circulated hereabouts that Adm. Leahy had been recalled to take over a command in the United States and that this was “audience de conge.” This rumor was strongly denied in both French and American authoritative circles.

Indochina discussed

It was stated that the meeting had been devoted to a survey of the new situation especially the position of Indochina. After the meeting Adm. Leahy went straight back to the embassy and sent a long dispatch to Washington. The official spokesman of the information office described Germany’s war declaration as recognition of a state of affairs already existing.

At the same time rumors spread among the American correspondents here to the effect that it was in Germany’s interest to break off press and diplomatic connections between the two continents and that France was the most important country on the list of “European neutrals.” This increased the feeling that France was above all determined not to alter Franco-American relations.

From now on Vichy will undoubtedly be even more between the anvil and the hammer. The collaboration with the Axis policy was once more apparent in the enthusiastic communique issued after Adm. Darlan’s return from Turin, where on Monday and Tuesday he met with Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano.

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One killed, five lost in Navy plane crash

WASHINGTON (UP) – The Navy announced last night that an officer was killed, two officers and three enlisted men are missing, and five other enlisted men injured in the crash of an Atlantic Ocean patrol bomber.

The crash occurred during the takeoff for a routine patrol flight.

Ens. Paul H. Alter of Fort Plain, New York, was killed.

Listed as missing were:

Lt. (jg.) Richard B. Hughes of Long Beach, California; Ens. Robert W. Dereamer, of Griffith, Indiana; Cleo Wells, aviation machinist mate first class and naval aviation pilot, of Norfolk, Virginia; Harry H. Sheep, radioman third class, of Elizabeth City, North Carolina; Carl W. Pierce, aviation machinist mate third class and aviation pilot, of Wilkesboro, North Carolina.

Listed as injured were:

John R. McIntyre, aviation machinist mate first class, of Columbus, Ohio; Robert E. Dearen of New York City: Robert M. Smith, 20, aviation machinist third class, of Chicago; Oliver L. Lawhead, radioman third class, of Indianapolis, Indiana; George J. Brown Jr., radioman first class, of Portsmouth, Virginia.

[NormanStewart]

Anti-Axis allies to have common strategy plans

British mistakes of early war days will serve as help to United States in arriving at mutual understanding for operations
By William H. Stoneman

LONDON – A common and carefully conceived grand strategy for the fighting forces in all parts of the world, the complete utilization of all human and material resources, and a really basic understanding between all of the Allies, with an absolute minimum of recrimination and suspicion, will form the basis for the world alliance against the Axis.

Bitter experience during the first 27 months of the war has demonstrated that a smashing victory over the combined power of Germany, Japan and Italy will require all these things. To a great extent they were impossible to achieve as long as the United States remained neutral, for no country could make definite planes as long as it could not count on our assistance.

Now for the first time a common grand strategy is conceivable – a really businesslike plan involving effective cooperation. Experience has shown that such a plan can work only if it is worked out in full harmony and involves full employment of all the bast resources which are not yet being exploited.

Must forget pride

If there is any pride left in the United States, Britain or Russia, it will either have to be forgotten or it may wreck the whole setup. That was the lesson of France.

Only a flimsy framework now exists for this kind of cooperation and the Allied governments will start practically from scratch. American naval activity in the Atlantic has required some of joint consultation and it is assumed that the threatening position in the Far East resulted in some advanced planning.

In view of the extensive use of American aircraft by the Royal Air Force, it is also assumable that the officers of the two air forces exchanged information and advice.

American observers have been watching the performance of American tanks in Libya. American Army, Navy and Air Force observers have been visiting London in a steady stream and a high official has been stationed here fairly permanently.

Mistakes will help

British mistakes, beyond the absence of intimate understandings with France and Russia in the past, will come to the joint assistance of the Americans and all the other allies.

The Americans must be prepared to assist the British in modernizing their production methods and the British must be prepared to accept their assistance.

While it is recognized that there is bound to be disagreement regarding the higher conduct of the war, regarding who shall do the bossing and regarding technical details, it seems reasonable to think that these questions can be ironed out by frank discussion.

Japan’s early smashing successes against both the United States and Great Britain have served to clip recrimination in the bud and to make the British, at least, realize that this is no time for poking fingers at anybody.

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Four Jap attacks on Hawaii imperil all of island

By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

HONOLULU (UP) – Joseph P. Poindexter, governor of the Territory of Hawaii, sat at his desk Sunday morning hastily scribbling an emergency proclamation when two Japanese bombs narrowly missed his residence and another blasted a hole in the capitol grounds.

None was spared from the dangers of the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor and the Island of Oahu Sunday, details of which it is now possible, with government sanction, to disclose.

The Navy Department in Washington announced that Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox has arrived in Honolulu.

There were four attacks in all – three Sunday and a fourth, lighter one, Monday morning – which claimed 1,500 American lives, wounded at least 1,500, and caused heavy damage. There has been no sign of an invading force since then.

Forty-nine civilians, including many Japanese-Americans, were killed and more than 100 wounded.

Twenty-four dive-bombers, their red “Rising Sun” insignia clearly visible, swung out of a clear sky in the early, quiet hours Sunday to open the attack. They swept in at low altitude over Ford Island in the middle of the naval base.

Within seconds, defending anti-aircraft batteries were sending a heavy barrage after them and puffs from the exploding shells filled the sky. Minutes later, heavy clouds of smoke billowed up from Pearl Harbor, 14 miles from Honolulu and from Hickam Field, in the interior of Oahu, northwest of the city.

The dive bombers were followed by a group of four-motored bombers which swung over the city to a warm reception of anti-aircraft fire. Torpedo planes skipped in at low altitudes and splashed their deadly loads into the water.

Navy vessels and ground establishments were the principal targets. Not a single military or naval establishment was overlooked by the raiders.

Wheeler Field and Schofield Barracks, also inland from Honolulu, were raided simultaneously. Witnesses said “bombs dropped like hail.”

Another attack was launched from the east side of the island at Bellows Field and the naval air station at Kaneohe.

Skim tops of waves

The dive bombers came in single file, at times just skimming the tops of the waves. Hidden as they were behind Ford Island, their approach was virtually undetected until they zoomed over the hill.

The first attack came a few minutes before 8 a.m. (1:30 p.m. Sunday ET). Within a few hours the U.S. battle fleet steamed out of the harbor to the west and soon the sound of heavy gunfire was heard.

There were unconfirmed reports that a Japanese aircraft carrier and four submarines had been sunk.

Delegate Samuel W. King of Hawaii announced in Washington that Gov. Poindexter had told him 20 Japanese planes were shot down during the attacks.

15 bombs hit city itself

An hour after the first attack and while bombs still exploded, anti-aircraft shells burst overhead and sirens wailed, all emergency precautions had been put into effect.

The residents, some still in night-clothing, took the raids with almost the same calm they had shown during the recent months of maneuvers. They gathered on hilltops to watch the grim battle.

Radio stations sounded the alarm and went off the air. Army, Navy, police, firemen and civilian defense wardens were called to their posts. Civilians were ordered off the streets.

At least 15 bombs hit the city itself. They left great raw marks. Several large downtown buildings were damaged. William Tyree, night manager of the United Press, who was at the bureau in the Honolulu Advertiser Building, said a bomb landed within 20 feet of the structure.

Lone Jap swoops down

Immediately after the first alarm, I drove out to the Army’s Hawaii Department Headquarters at Fort Shafter and the Army confirmed that the attacking planes were Japanese.

I reached Hickman Field within an hour and a half after the first raid and witnesses there told me the Japanese attacked in two distinct waves, totaling as many as 100 planes. While inspecting Hickam, a lone Japanese plane swooped down and machine-gunned the group of soldiers guiding me about the post.

We dived into a storage room and escaped injury but nearby autos were set afire by the bullets.

Hawaii is calm now

Hawaii is calm now. It pulled itself together. with rapidity. A veteran of Berlin’s first air raids said Honolulu citizens took theirs better than did the Germans despite the complete surprise of the Hawaiian attack.

So far as has been possible women and children have been evacuated from danger areas. All non-essential civilians have been removed from military establishments.

The Army warned against a waste of food or gasoline. Food stores were closed Tuesday for inventory but reopened Wednesday under orders to sell only their regular customers and in normal amounts. Gasoline was rationed a half tank at a time to a customer.

Had been storing food

“There is no immediate cause for alarm,” Gov. Poindexter announced, “and if everyone exercises good judgment the food situation can be worked out without causing anyone to suffer.”

For months Hawaii has been storing food in preparation for just such an attack. Residents have been encouraged to grow their own vegetables. Meat must be imported.

Most business houses are operating as usual, but closing at 4:30 p.m. to permit employees to reach their homes before the blackout begins.

The Federal Bureau of Investigation has taken a number of enemy agents and sympathizers into custody. Of the approximately 160,000 Japanese that number almost half Hawaii’s total population, less than a quarter are aliens. The rest are deeply loyal American citizens.

Praise Honolulu residents

The aliens are under scrutiny and may not possess firearms, explosives, cameras or any form of signal devices.

Praise for their conduct has been heaped on Honolulu’s residents by all civilian and military authorities. Gov. Poindexter praised them for “the splendid example they are setting for the mainland in calm, determined conduct.”

“Instances of valor are so great in number they are too many to enumerate,” Adm. Husband Kimmel said. “The same sort of selfless courage was displayed then (during the bombings) that will win this war.”

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Monahan: ‘Two-Faced Woman’ played by Garbo

She fools her amorous hubby by masquerading as twins
By Kaspar Monahan

Ah, Garbo! She dances, she skiis, she swims, she loves. And that isn’t all. Garbo lays an egg.

In “Two-Faced Woman” the Divine Lady of the Cinema has to strike a pose of amorous imbecility and hold it for far too many reels for comfort. Even her most ardent idolators, I think, will weary of the monotony of it all.

“Two-Faced Woman” depends entirely on one gag. A slap-happy farce, flirting around the theme of marital infidelity, “Two-Faced Woman,” after a fairly amusing start, keeps hanging desperately to its single peg and the result is repetitious silliness to an embarrassing degree.

The gag is this:

Garbo as a ski instructress named Karin meets Melvyn Douglas as a wealthy magazine publisher named Larry in an Idaho winter resort. She’s idealistic, a lover of the simple life and the outdoors – and he marries her. He returns to New York without her and she, after a period, follows him there – only to discover that he’s carrying on an affair with a sophisticated woman.

So Karin masquerades as her nonexistent twin sister, Katharine – pretends to be an international adventuress of scandalous past. Larry, the dope, falls for the ruse – also falls for the bogus Katharine.

Seems that a few fancy clothes, including a diaphanous pajama getup, are enough to convince dumb Larry that the woman he married and this fraudulent siren are two different women.

Now, “Two-Faced Woman” might work up a fair amount of humor – if it didn’t continue with the hoax throughout its length. Miss Garbo is forced to go about with a banal expression of a light lady, simply ga-ga over every male’s attention for reel after reel. And when she gets Larry into her hotel room the antics of both become incredibly foolish. All the time, you see, she is hoping that Larry will remember his Karin of the Idaho mountains, and repulse the advances of this Jezebel. He doesn’t – and Karin is heartbroken.

From then on, the plot doesn’t improve, nor the acting either, Miss Garbo’s method of depicting passion is a combination of husky, honey-dripped sounds, wide open adenoidal mouth and a soul-hungry look in her eyes. A little bit of this goes a long ways – too long, Mr. Douglas has to become more than slightly idiotic himself.

Frankly, Constance Bennett steals the movie, if that’s a compliment, by playing to the hilt a hard-bitten, fierce-tempered woman, who wants Larry for herself. Ruth Gordon and Roland Young also outshine the two principals; although the two principals shouldn’t be censored too severely. Nobody could play their roles and make them anything but what they are: inexcusably silly roles.

The Penn is showing “Two-Faced Woman,” which next Thursday will be succeeded by “The Chocolate Soldier,” with Nelson Eddy and Rise Stevens, the soprano who became a top-notcher with the Metropolitan Opera Company. By rare coincidence, the plot of this is somewhat similar, only in “Chocolate Soldier” the husband tests his wife’s fidelity by impersonating another man. He does that by wearing whiskers, lending some credence to the hoax. Unfortunately, Garbo doesn’t wear whiskers. Only the plot does that. But “Chocolate Soldier” has music – and an operetta isn’t supposed to have a believable plot.

Yesterday I listed “Louisiana Purchase” as the holiday film for the Penn. But the movie people slipped up. There’s an agreement that the movie cannot show in any town until eight weeks after the stage original plays that city. So the filmusical won’t appear at the Penn until the stage show has played the Nixon. And the date for that has been set back again.

“Soldier” will show for six days and will be followed on Wednesday, December 24, by “H. M. Pulham, Esquire.” A musical, “Babes in Arms,” will open New Year’s Eve.

Opening today: “International Lady,” with Ilona Massey and George Brent at the Stanley. On stage – Earl Carroll’s “Vanities.”

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Giants get Johnny Mize

By Steve Snider, United Press writer

CHICAGO (UP) – After 11 days of dealing in which the New York Giants poured out an estimated $90,000 in cash and players, the old defensive era of the Bill Terry regime gave way today to the fence-busting ideals of little Mel Ott mightiest home run hitter in National League history.

Big Johnny Mize of the St. Louis Cardinals, dangled as trading bait over at least two other clubs, finally wound up with the Giants in a third major deal which has cleaned house to such an extent that four of the eight everyday starters will be new to the Polo Grounds in 1942.

Already General Manager Terry and Field Manager Ott had acquired Third Baseman Bill Werber from Cincinnati and Hank Leiber, a former Giant outfielder, from the Chicago Cubs. Sale of Second Baseman Burgess Whitehead to Toronto leaves that spot open for Young Connie Ryan from Atlanta.

And they’re not through yet.

“We’re after another pitcher,” Terry said as he departed for Memphis. “We had to give up Bob Bowman in the Leiber deal and Bill Lohrman in the Mize deal. Maybe we’ll even try for two more pitchers.”

The Giants-Cardinals swap sent the belting first baseman to New York for Lohrman, a 9-10 pitcher last season, Catcher Ken O’Dea and cash estimated at between $40,000 and $50,000. Mize’s style is ideal for the short right field fence in the Polo Grounds.

He hit .316 for the Cards last season, including 16 homers, 38 doubles and eight triples, driving in an even 100 runs. In his six major league seasons at St. Louis, he belted 158 home runs. Ott, himself, hit 27 home runs last year, bringing his record total to 415.

For Werber, the Giants gave up an estimated $15,000 and for Leiber paid $20,000 in cash plus Bowman.

As the winter major league session drew to a close yesterday, the magnates decided on a “business as usual” plan until an unforeseen wartime emergency arises.

All-Star gate to armed forces

The only mention of the war in the joint meeting of Landis and the two leagues was a proposal to turn over all proceeds of the All-Star Game at Brooklyn July 7 to a fund for baseball equipment for men training in American armed forces.

Larry MacPhail, president of the Brooklyn Dodgers, pledged the game will produce at least $100,000. The commissioner, with a gift of $20,000 from baseball, the two leagues with $2,000 each and Baseball Writers Association of America with $1,000 started the fund.

A proposal to raise the limit on night games from seven to 14 was defeated despite a plea by Griffith that government employees and defense workers in the nation’s capital would have no time for afternoon baseball. Griffith urged unlimited night baseball, indicating he hoped to play five nights a week.

Major-minor pact extended

In extending the major-minor league agreement for one more year, the majors declined action on the controversial amendment to simplify player options among affiliated clubs and will retain the present code. Thus settlement of differences between the commissioner and chain store baseball was postponed until 1942 when a new agreement must be made.

A $20,000 appropriation for American Legion baseball was continued. An exhibition was scheduled between a National and American league club at Doubleday Field, Cooperstown, New York, date unannounced. Net receipts will be split between the field and baseball museum.

Only daylight deals sent Pitcher Verne Kennedy from Washington to Cleveland as the first installment on replacing Bob Feller, and Burgess Whitehead from the New York Giants to Toronto of the International League. Both were cash transactions.

Tigers, Nats in trade

DETROIT (UP) – The Detroit Tigers today traded Outfielder Bruce Campbell and Infielder Frank Croucher to Washington for Outfielder Roger Cramer and Infielder Jimmy Bloodworth.

It was a straight player deal and no cash was involved, according to owner Walter O. Briggs Jr. of the Tigers.

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California-Georgia Tech game canceled

BERKELEY, California – The University of California-Georgia Tech post-season football game was called off today because of war conditions. It was to have been played here December 27.

Kenneth Priestley, California graduate manager, said the game was canceled at request of the Georgia Tech authorities because a number of the Southern players expected to be called into national service immediately.

Priestly said that the University of California intended to operate its athletics schedules this winer as fully as conditions permitted. Games will be played as scheduled unless canceled on request of the other schools.

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Report shows U.S. buys own bond issues

Reserve makes purchases at first sign of weakness

WASHINGTON – Official confirmation that Federal Reserve authorities threw their organized support behind the U.S. government security market in the first period of weakness that followed the country’s entry into the war was forthcoming today in the system’s weekly condition statement for the period ended December 10.

The bank report disclosed that the system’s open-market account bought more than $12,000,000 of Treasury bills while member banks in New York bought substantial amounts of government bonds, bills and guaranteed securities.

No data were given on the market support contributed by other member banks across the country but the volume of buying reported by the system and the New York banks indicated that the total operation was extensive.

It was the first time since the invasion of the low countries in May 1940 that official support for the government bond market had been required.

Outstanding loans rise

New York member banks in the December 10 week, it was disclosed, increased their outstanding loans and investments by $88,000,000 to $12,220,000,000. The banks’ investment holdings were up $61,000,000 on the week while their loan volume rose $27,000,000.

Holdings of U.S. government bonds by the New York banks were up $38,000,000 to a new all-time high of $3,378,000,000, while their holdings of Treasury bills rose $4,000,000 and investments in Treasury notes declined $1,000,000. The banks’ holdings of government-guaranteed securities increased $20,000,000.

The banks’ loans to commerce and industry were reported at a new 10-year high of $2,566,000,000, up $24,000,000 for the week, while their other loan classifications showed only small changes.

Excess reserves drop

The statement covering operations of the 12 regional banks of the Federal Reserve System disclosed their holdings of federal obligations at $2,196,470,000 on December 10, up $12,370,000 for the week.

The bank statement also showed that excess reserves of all member banks, after increasing for four successive weeks, turned down in the latest period, although actual reserve balances continued upward.

Excess reserves were placed at $3,840,000,000 as of December 10, a decline of $20,000,000 for the week, while actual reserves were up $41,000,000 at $13,219,000,000.

The expansion in actual reserves was offset partially by an increase of $117,000,000 in monetary circulation to a record high at $10,834,000,000.

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Trading is suspended in Axis powers bonds

By the United Press

NEW YORK – The New York Stock and Curb Exchanges today officially suspended from trading all Japanese, German and Italian dollar bonds listed on those markets.

Earlier in the week both exchanges had announced that they were “holding up” dealings in those securities pending clarification of their status from Washington.

The Italian and German issues had been in complete default prior to the declaration of war and their securities on the Stock Exchange had been selling at 6.7 and 14 cents on the dollar, respectively, but full debt service had been maintained on the Japanese loans up to the outbreak of fighting and their market value averaged about 40 percent.

The Stock Exchange listings comprised 54 German bond issues with a combined face value of $537,039,840 and a market value of $36,235,940 as of November 29; nine Italian issues with face value of $119,745,000 and market value of $16,652,674, and 13 Japanese issues with face value of $296,663,455 and market value of $119,136,801.

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Navy showdown may come soon in East Pacific

By Leland Stowe

CHUNGKING – Singapore’s defense appears likely to become more critical as a result of the successful Japanese landings and seizure of airfields within the northern boundary Malay states, the loss of the HMS Prince of Wales and the HMS Repulse, and the invaders’ threatened superiority in manpower and airplanes.

It is reported that the Nipponese also have landed tanks. If this is true and they are in any numbers, they are a menace to Singapore.

The battle for sea power in the Pacific may be fought within four to eight weeks.

With the Japanese holding the airfields at Patani and Kota Bharu, they may be able to dispatch bombers within 500 miles of Singapore. The invaders also are reported at Kuantan which, if held, would give the land forces a grip on s main highway less than 25 miles from Singapore.

The swift accumulation of two or more Japanese divisions on the upper Malaya Peninsula now seems assumed, while the transfer of large air forces from Indochina must be feared.

All the reinforcements the Dutch East Indies can spare, including tanks and planes, probably will have to be rushed to Malaya as soon as possible. It is also believed that American planes and warships will be needed if the Philippine situation permits their release.

Singapore is the chief and most important objective of the Axis powers.

One officer said: “If we lose Singapore, the war will be prolonged three to five years.”

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Australia tightens air raid precautions

MELBOURNE, Australia (UP) – Australia was under government by decree today, its cabinet ministers granted unlimited spending powers in urgent matters, and the public accepted further war restrictions cheerfully.

Air raid precautions were strengthened. It was announced that no further test raids would be held and that the next blast of the raid sirens would herald the approach of enemy planes. Gasoline, already rationed, will be restricted 20 percent additionally in February for business and pleasure vehicles and 10 percent for non-essential industries.

Foreign Secretary Herbert Evatt messaged President Roosevelt “profound appreciation” of his and Secretary of State Cordell Hull’s efforts to maintain peace in the Pacific.

Mr. Roosevelt replied: “We did our utmost to keep peace in the Pacific, but our enemies decided upon aggression beforehand. This now is a world war in a true sense. We are in it with you and you will not find us wanting. I need not tell Australians to keep a stout heart. I know you will and we will win.”

Air Minister Arthur S. Drakeford said the Royal Australian Air Force had suffered losses against the Japanese in Malaya.

[NormanStewart]

EXECUTIVE ORDER 8972
Authorizing the Secretary of War and the Secretary of the Navy To Establish and Maintain Military Guard and Patrols, and To Take Other Appropriate Measures to Protect Certain National-Defense Material, Premises, and Utilities From Injury or Destruction

WHEREAS the United States is now at war; and WHEREAS there exists a serious and immediate potential danger of sabotage to national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities which may menace our maximum productive effort; and

WHEREAS the Congress of the United States has in recent enactment recognized this danger by enjoining efforts to injure, interfere with, or obstruct the national defense, and providing severe penalties therefor; and

WHEREAS it is considered necessary in the interests of national defense that, in particular situations where hazardous, dangerous, or other unfavorable conditions may from time to time exist, special precautionary measures be taken by establishing and maintaining military guards and patrols or other appropriate means to protect from injury or destruction national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me as President of the United States, and Commander-in-Chief of the Army and Navy of the United States, I hereby authorize and direct the Secretary of War, whenever he deems such action to be necessary or desirable, and the Secretary of the Navy, whenever he deems such action to be necessary or desirable, to establish and maintain military guards and patrols, and to take other appropriate measures, to protect from injury or destruction national-defense material, national-defense premises, and national-defense utilities, as defined in the Act of April 20, 1918 (40 Stat. 533), as amended by the Act of November 30, 1940 (54 Stat. 1220), and the Act of August 21, 1941 (55 Stat 655).

This order shall not be construed as limiting or modifying the duty and responsibility of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Department of Justice, with respect to the investigation of alleged acts of sabotage.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 12, 1941

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EXECUTIVE ORDER 8973
Transfer of Employees Possessing Qualifications for National-Defense Work

For Immediate Release
Office of the Press Secretary
December 12, 1941

WHEREAS there exists a critical shortage of persons qualified in certain occupations and professions essential to the successful prosecution of the national-defense program; and

WHEREAS there are in the executive branch of the Government employees possessing skills and qualifications in such occupations and professions who are employed in positions in which they can be replaced:

NOW, THEREFORE, by virtue of the authority vested in me by the Civil Service Act (22 Stat. 403) and by Section 1753 of the Revised Statutes of the United States (U.S.C., Title 5, Sec. 631), it is hereby ordered that whenever the Civil Service Commission shall find (a) that there is employed in the executive civil service of the United States any person who is qualified to perform work directly connected with the national-defense program for which there is a critical shortage of qualified persons, and (b) that the position occupied by such person can be filled, the head of the department or agency concerned shall be requested by the Commission to authorize the release of such person for transfer to a public or private agency to perform work directly connected with the national-defense program; but no transfer under this order shall be made without the consent of the head of the department and of the employee concerned.

Any person, except one holding a temporary position, transferred under this order whose services are subsequently terminated without prejudice shall be entitled to reemployment benefits as stated below provided that he is still qualified to perform the duties of his position and that he makes application for reinstatement within forty days after the termination of his services or forty days after the present national emergency shall have ceased to exist:

1. He shall be reinstated within thirty days of his application in the same department or agency, and in approximately the same locality, in his former position or in a position of like seniority, status, and pay, provided that such a position then exists.

2. If such a position does not exist, and such person is therefore not reinstated within thirty days of his application, his name shall be entered on the Reemployment List established pursuant to Executive Order 5924 of September 20, 1932, to be considered for certification to positions for which he is qualified elsewhere in the Government service.

3. No employee reinstated under this order shall be discharged from such position without cause within one year after his reinstatement.

FRANKLIN D. ROOSEVELT
THE WHITE HOUSE,
December 12, 1941

[NormanStewart]

Völkischer Beobachter (December 13, 1941)

Gleichzeitig mit dem Kampf der Waffen:
Weltkampf gegen die Lüge

‚Union nationaler Journalistenverbände‘ gegründet – Dr. Dietrich eröffnet das ‚Institut zur Erforschung des internationalen Pressewesens‘

vb. Wien, 12. Dezember - Fast in dem gleichen weltgeschichtlichen Augenblick, da der Führer und der Duce mit ihren Völkern an die Seite Japans traten, um dem Kriegsbrandstifter Roosevelt und der jüdischen Weltverschwörung die einzig mögliche Antwort, die Antwort mit der Waffe zu erteilen, versammelten sich in Wien Vertreter der Presse des neuen Europas zu einer bedeutsamen Kundgebung. Während der Weltkampf der Waffen entbrannt ist, hat auch der Weltkampf gegen die Lüge seinen entscheidenden Höhepunkt erreicht. Dieses Wissen erfüllte alle die Männer der Presse aus dem Reich, Italien, Ungarn, Rumänien, Bulgarien, Slowakei und Kroatien, die in einem feierlichen Akt ihren Willen bekundeten, den Kampf ihrer Völker in einer geschlossenen geistigen Einheitsfront zu unterstützen. So sind die beiden Gründungsakte, die in Anwesenheit des Reichspressechefs Dr. Dietrich durch den Leiter des Reichsverbandes der deutschen Presse, Hauptschriftleiter des „Völkischen Beobachters“, SA-Obergruppenführer Wilhelm Weiß vollzogen wurden, die Schaffung einer „Union nationaler Journalistenverbände“ und eines „Instituts zur Erforschung des internationalen Pressewesens“, Marksteine in der Geschichte der Presse.

Nach einer kurzen Begrüßungsansprache des Leiters des Reichsverbandes der Deutschen Presse, Wilhelm Weiß (die wir im Inneren des Blattes veröffentlichen), ergriff Reichspressechef Dr. Dietrich das Wort.

Die Rede des Reichspressechefs

Dr. Dietrich umriß in seiner Rede die Entwicklung der Presse, ihre Arbeit und ihre Zukunftsaufgaben im neuen Europa Seit Gutenberg den Druck mit beweglichen Lettern erfand und seit König die erste Rotationsmaschine erbaute, sei die Presse als geistig verbindende Macht in das Leben der Völker getreten, habe sie dem Reich der Gedanken die Weite der Welt erobert. Eine ungeheure Konzentration menschlicher Erfahrungen durch die Nachrichtenübermittlung der Presse habe Den Rhythmus der mensch1ichen Entwicklung in entscheidender Weise bestimmt. Die Presse als geistig verbindende Kraft sei zum Schrittmacher des menschlichen Fortschritts geworden. Das zweite aber, Was der Stellung der Presse im Zusammenleben der Völker ihre so einzigartige Bedeutung gebe, sei ihre meinungsbildende Macht. Die Presse sei heute das politische Gehirn von Hunderten von Millionen Menschen auf dem ganzen Erdball.

Wer aber, so fragte der Reichspressechef, sind die Lenker dieser geheimnisvollen Macht? Wer sind die Träger ihrer Verantwortung vor den Menschen und der Geschichte?

Das seien die Fragen, die beantwortet werden müßten, wenn man im neuen Europa zur Klarheit und Ordnung auf einem der entscheidenden Gebiete der geistigen und politischen Menschenführung kommen wolle.

Das Dogma der ‚Pressefreiheit‘

Der Reichspressechef setzte sich sodann mit dem Dogma der sogenannten „Pressefreiheit“ auseinander, das seit der Französischen Revolution der oberste Grundsatz in der internationalen Publizistik gewesen sei. Die Erfahrungen, die die Völker in eineinhalb Jahrhunderten mit dieser sogenannten „Pressefreiheit“ gemacht hätten, könne man nur als verheerend bezeichnen. Es stehe fest, daß unter der Herrschaft der liberalen Demokratie aus einer der Wichtigsten öffentlichen Einrichtungen, die ein Hort der allgemeinen Interessen sein sollte, ein Tummelplatz verbrecherischer politischer Elemente geworden sei.

Es sei nachgewiesen, daß durch ihre Ehe mit dem Gelde die Presse politischen Geschäften dienstbar und dadurch die sogenannte öffentliche Meinung käuflich gemacht wurde. Es sei erwiesen, daß durch den jüdischen Mißbrauch des Nachrichtenwesens die Presselüge in das Leben der Völker eingeführt worden sei, daß durch ein System organisierter Nachrichtenfälschung die internationalen Beziehungen vergiftet wurden, und daß sich die demokratische Presse unter dem Deckmantel der Freiheit zu gewissenlosester Kriegshetze mißbrauchen ließ.

Prophetische Worte

Der Reichspressechef erinnerte an seine öffentlichen Warnungen auf dem Kongreß des Reichsparteitages 1937, wo er die anonyme Macht der Presse als den größten und gefähr1ichsten Kriegstreiber gekennzeichnet habe. Er habe damals vorausgesagt: „Der nächste Krieg wird von der sogenannten ‚freien Presse‘ erklärt. Sie wird den Frieden Europas zertrümmern, wenn ihr nicht endlich Einhalt geboten wird.“

Heute, so fuhr er fort, ist das, was damals vielleicht noch mancher ungläubig belächelte, nicht mehr graue Theorie, sondern nackte und harte Wirklichkeit geworden.

Die sogenannte „Pressefreiheit“, die in Frankreich geboren wurde habe Frankreich als erste unter den demokratischen Großmächten ins Verderben gestürzt. Das französische Volk sei einer Verschwörung von Kriegshetzern, deren williges Werkzeug Besitzer und Chefredakteure führender Tageszeitungen wurden, zum Opfer gefallen.

Dr. Dietrich gab seinen Zuhörern einen interessanten Einblick in die schmutzige Pressearbeit der im Solde der Regierung Daladier, Reynaud und Mandel tätigen französischen Journaille, die es durch fortgesetzte Lügenverbreitung, Tatsachenentstellung, Verleumdung und Verhetzung fertiggebracht hat, Frankreich gegen Deutschland in den Krieg zu treiben.

Ohne diese Presselügen hätten die kriegsverantwortlichen Regierungen in England, Frankreich und Polen nicht die Atmosphäre schaffen können, die sie für die Entfesselung des Krieges brauchten.

Die zentrale der Kriegshetzer

Alexis Leger, der Vansittart Frankreichs, Generalsekretär im Außenministerium, war das Haupt der Kriegsverschwörer, der die Pressebeeinflussung zu einer Meisterschaft entwickelte. Er hatte entscheidenden Einfluß auf Daladier und Elie Bois, den Chefredakteur des „Petit Parisien“, der auf die Linie verpflichtet wurde; Keine Verständigung mit Deutschland, nur den Krieg und die Vernichtung des Nationalsozialismus! Im Hause Bois gingen die Oberkriegshetzer Mandel, Reynaud, Guy la Chambre und Herriot ein und aus. Seit München lancierte Bois stets im entscheidenden Augenblick eine Sensation zur Täuschung der Öffentlichkeit, um zum Kriege vorwärtszutreiben. Bois war es, der Hand in Hand mit Leger entscheidend mitgewirkt hat, daß das Friedensangebot des Führers vom 6. Oktober 1939 nach Beendigung des Polenfeldzuges erdolcht wurde. Er erfand die Idee, deutsche Städte luftzubombardieren, um so jeden deutschen Friedensschritt von vornherein unmöglich zu machen. Er torpedierte den Verständigungsgedanken nicht aus innerer Überzeugung, sondern weil, wie nachgewiesen worden ist, er die fetten Pfründen brauchte, die ihm aus den französischen und englischen Bestechungsfonds für die Proklamierung der Kriegspolitik zuflossen.

Die Judenlarve im Hintergrund

Ein typisches Beispiel für die Pressepraktiken dieser Kriegshetzer ist folgendes Vorkommnis, das einwandfrei belegt ist: Als der französische Außenminister Bonnet sich auf einen Protest des deutschen Botschafters wegen einer Beleidigung des deutschen Staatsoberhauptes an den Besitzer des „Petit Parisien“, Pierre Dupuy, Wandte, erklärte ihm dieses: „Ich stimme vollkommen mit Ihnen überein, aber was wol1en Sie? Moritz Rothschild hat versucht, meine Zeitung zu kaufen. Ich habe das verweigert – zweifellos ist es ihm aber gelungen, meinen Chefredakteur zu kaufen!“

Pertinax und Madame Tabouis waren die hauptsächlichsten Erfinder und Verbreiter der Lügenparolen und Schauermärchen gegen Deutschland. Pertinax war der berufsmäßige Lügenverbreiter und Kriegshetzer im Solde Englands. Er nahm hohe Geldsummen von der Bank Lazard, wofür er sich heftig für die jüdisch-englische Kriegstreiberei einsetzte. De Kerillis erhielt von der Bank Rothschild ständig sehr hohe Zuwendungen. Madame Tabouis war die Verkörperung dieser feilen Lügenpresse, die sich jedem anbot, der zu bezahlen wußte, und bereit war, jede Lüge in die Welt hinauszuposaunen, die den im Hintergrund bleibenden Auftraggebern gerade erwünscht war.

Kriegshysterie in der Presseretorte

90 Prozent aller Pariser Zeitungen standen unter jüdischem Einfluß. Über 70 Prozent betrug der Anteil der Juden als Direktoren, Redakteure und Mitarbeiter in der französischen Presse. Alle Nachrichtendienste der Agentur Havas waren in jüdischer Hand. Durch gekaufte Journalisten wurden die Völker der großen „freien“ Demokratien in eine Kriegshysterie versetzt, aus der heraus London und Paris die Kriegsfackel in Europa hineinzuwerfen wagten.

Dr. Dietrich zitierte zahlreiche Dokumente und Beweise für die ungeheure Schuld, die die französische Presse unter der Fahne der „Freiheit“ im Dienste der Kriegshetzer auf sich geladen habe. Wo eine Zeitung es gewagt habe, für den Frieden einzutreten, sei sie gezwungen worden, die Wahrheit zu verschweigen.

Vielleicht – so erklärte Dr. Dietrich abschließend zu diesem Kapitel – ist es ein Akt ausgleichender Gerechtigkeit, ein Urteil des Schicksals im Spiel der Vorsehung, daß Frankreich zuerst dem Wirken dieser verlogenen Pressefreiheit zum Opfer gefallen ist, die es selbst hervorgebracht und mit der es die Welt beglückt hat.

Seitdem seien zahlreiche andere europäische Länder auf dem „Altar der Pressefreiheit“ geopfert worden. Es seien jene „Neutralen“, die sich durch die angelsächsische Hetz- und Lügenpresse auf falsche Wege bringen ließen. Auf diesem Gebiet haben wir in den letzten Jahren auf dem europäischen Kontinent erstaunliche Beispiele einer politischen Selbstmordepidemie erlebt.

Die Presselüge – das Schlachtfeld der Juden

Die Presselüge sei das Schlachtfeld, auf dem der Jude kämpfe. Auf diesem Schlachtfeld sei England sein bester Bundesgenosse. Die überaus stark verjudete englische Presse habe es in ihrem seit Jahrhunderten entwickelten System der organisierten Lüge und der Volksverdummung so weit gebracht, daß das englische Volk, dessen nüchternen Wirklichkeitssinn man ehemals rühmte, heute in einem Wahn und einer Wolke von Illusionen lebe.

Eine eingehende Untersuchung der Nachrichtengebung der englischen Publikationsorgane in den letzten Jahren hat die ungeheuerliche Tatsache ergeben, daß 72 Prozent aller in England ausgegebenen Nachrichten auf politischem und militärischem Gebiet Falschmeldungen sind.

Die 28 Prozent damit vermischten wahren Nachrichten dienen nur dazu, die 72 Prozent Lügen dem Publikum glaubwürdig erscheinen zu lassen.

Was die Churchillschen Agitationsjuden ihrem gedankenlosen Publikum an „Kriegsberichterstattung“ zumuten, ist das Tollste und militärisch Unsinnigste, was selbst von Hebräern jemals auf diese Gebiete fabriziert worden ist. Daß dieser Schwindel aber von den Engländern und ihren Trabanten geg1aubt wird, kann man nur als ein psychopathisches Phänomen bezeichnen.

Und trotzdem, so fuhr der Reichspressechef fort, gebe es eine Hemisphäre der Demokratie, in der das Volk fast in noch stärkerem Maße Von der Lügen- und Hetzpresse getäuscht werde. Es seien die Vereinigten Staaten, die seit fünf Tagen nun auch offen im Kriege stünden und jetzt die Rechnung für den Wahnsinn und die Bluthetze ihres Präsidenten bezahlen müßten.

Das jüngste Opfer der Hetzpresse

Das Volk der Vereinigten Staaten – so rief Dr. Dietrich aus – ist das jüngste Opfer auf der Schlachtbank der jüdischen Hetzpresse. Der Führer hat gestern im Deutschen Reichstag vor aller Welt eine vernichtende Abrechnung mit Roosevelt, dem größten Kriegsverbrecher aller Zeiten, gehalten. Es war eine geistige Hinrichtung.

Roosevelt hätte sein blutbeflecktes Werk der Völkerverhetzung nicht vollbringen können, wenn ihm nicht die sogenannte „freieste Presse“ der Welt ein allzu williges Werkzeug für seine Lügen, seine Fälschungen und Täuschungen gewesen wäre. Mit den unsaubersten Methoden und verderblichsten politischen Mitteln haben die Pressejuden Roosevelts die öffentliche Meinung in den USA fast bis zur Hysterie emporgepeitscht, politische Unwissenheit und Wahnvorstellungen erzeugt und die Vernunft des amerikanischen Volkes in einem Meer von Phrasen ertränkt, bis es gegen seinen Willen nun endlich auch im Kriege steht. In dieser Tragik des Volkes der Vereinigten Staaten findet das völkerverderbende Wirken der sogenannten „Pressefreiheit“ seinen beispielhaftesten Ausdruck. Die dokumentarischen Zeitungsunterlagen, die uns dafür vorliegen, sind Legionen.

Der ‚Pressefreiheitsfanatiker‘ einmal anders

Und nun – so betonte der Reichspressechef – erleben wir ein Schauspiel, das verdient, geschichtlich festgehalten zu werden. Roosevelt, der Freiheitsapostel der Welt, Roosevelt, der zu einer Zeit, als er selbst noch außerhalb des Krieges stand und die anderen mit seiner „sogenannten freien Presse“ hineinhetzte, uns unaufhörlich der Unterdrückung der Pressefreiheit beschuldigte, tritt jetzt, nachdem er selbst im Kriege steht, als Verkünder der schärfsten Pressezensur und Pressedisziplin im eigenen Lande auf.

Man höre und staune: Dieser „Fanatiker der Pressefreiheit“ erklärte in seiner letzten Rede:

„Häßliche kleine Andeutungen von einer vollständigen Katastrophe werden in Kriegszeiten oft und schnell verbreitet. Viele Gerüchte und Meldungen, die wir jetzt hören, stammen aus feindlicher Quelle. – In allem Ernst fordere ich meine Landsleute dazu auf, alle Gerüchte von sich zu weisen. – Die amerikanische Regierung wird der Öffentlichkeit die Tatsachen nur unter den Bedingungen mitteilen, daß die Meldungen endgültig amtlich bestätigt sind und sie sich dem Feind nicht direkt oder indirekt als nützlich erweisen. Auf der Presse und den Rundfunk lastet eine schwere Verantwortung. Sie haben nicht das Recht, unbestätigte Meldungen in einer Art zu verbreiten, daß das Volk daran wie an ein Evangelium glaubt.“

Nachdem also Roosevelt seine angeblich „freie jüdische Presse“ jahrelang in Freiheit dressiert hemmungslos auf die Völker losgelassen hat, um sie durch eine maßlose Lügenflut zu täuschen und in den Krieg zu hetzen, fängt dieser wilde Freiheitsapostel jetzt, wo ihm selbst das Wasser am Halse steht, damit an, seiner Presse den Maulkorb umzuhängen.

Das ist wohl die größte und schnellste Selbstentlarvung eines Heuchlers, die die Geschichte kennt!

Was ich Ihnen hier aufzeigte und schilderte – so schloß der Reichspressechef seine Beispiele ab – sind die Früchte am Baume der demokratischen Pressefreiheit! Wie lange wollen die Völker Europas diesem verderblichen Treiben noch zuschauen?, so fragte er.

Zum ersten Male hätten sich heute hier in Wien die Pressevertreter vieler Staaten Europas zusammengefunden zu diesem gemeinsamen Werk im Dienste einer großen Aufgabe.

Deutschland und Italien – so erklärte Dr. Dietrich – haben als die Pioniere einer neuen geistigen Haltung Europas auch der Presse die Grundelemente einer moralischen Erneuerung aufgezeigt. Das Wesen dieser Erneuerung besteht nicht darin, die Pressefreiheit zu beseitigen, sondern die wahre Freiheit der Presse wieder herzustellen und sie aus den verderblichen Fesseln zu lösen, in die sie geschlagen worden ist.

Freiheit ohne innere Bindung ist unmöglich, sie führt zur Anarchie. Pressefreiheit ohne moralische Hemmungen führt zum Verbrechen an der Menschheit!

In der Presse müssen Freiheit und Verantwortung wieder miteinander in Einklang gebracht werden. Das ist das entscheidende Problem, vor das sich eine Reform der Presse von innen herausgestellt sieht.

Die Journalisten stehen in ihrer nationalen Verantwortung unter den Gesetzen der Nationen, denen sie angehören. Die Verantwortung der Journalisten ihrem eigenen Volke gegenüber möchte ich in diese internationalen Kreise nicht erörtern. Das ist Sache der einzelnen Staaten, in deren innere Angelegenheiten wir uns nicht einzumischen beabsichtigen. Eine gesetzliche Verantwortlichkeit im internationalen Presseleben aber gibt es nicht.

Die Verantwortlichkeit der Journalisten im Zusammenleben der Völker kann nur eine innere, eine charakterliche und moralische sein. Sie muß von den Journalisten selbst ausgehen und auf dem inneren Gesetz der eigenen Ehre gegründet sein.

Dazu bedarf es keiner Eingriffe von außen in ihre Freiheit, sondern das Ziel kann erreicht werden durch Selbsterziehung und Selbstkontrolle des journalistischen Berufsstandes. Die Presse selbst muß ihrer Freiheit die Bindungen auferlegen, die sich aus den schmerzlichen Erfahrungen der Vergangenheit als notwendig erwiesen haben. Die nationalen Berufsverbände der Journalisten werden diese Erziehung und Kontrolle in ihren Ländern selbstverständlich ausüben nach Maßgabe der Bedürfnisse und Erfordernisse ihrer Nation.

Internationaler Ehrenkodex für Journalisten

Aber auch über die Grenzen der Länder hinaus sollte es im internationalen Presseverkehr einen journalistischen Ehrenkodex geben, der auf einige wenige, allgemein anerkannte Prinzipien der Pressemoral beschränkt ist, deren Verletzung im Interesse aller Völker nicht geduldet werden kann. Ein internationaler Zusammenschluß derjenigen nationalen Berufsverbände, die diese Grundsätze anerkennen, wird diesem Zweck dienen.

Er wird auf berufsständischer Basis der geistige Sammelpunkt für die Journalisten aller Länder sein, die den Willen haben, die Presse mit einem neuen Glauben, einem neuen Idealismus und einem neuen Ethos zu erfüllen.

Die heute hier in Wien gegründete berufsständische internationale Vereinigung nationaler Journalistenverbände wird – wenn sie ihre innere Erziehungsarbeit an der Presse verantwortungsbewußt aufnimmt und systematisch verfolgt – zu einer segensreichen Einrichtung nicht nur für den Journalismus, sondern für die ganze Menschheit werden. Durch sie wird die Presse zu fruchtbarer Entfaltung für das neue Europa kommen.

Wenn wir diesen Weg der Wiederherstellung der Würde des Journalismus durch eine höhere Auffassung von der Freiheit der Presse, den Sie, meine Herren, als die Vertreter der Journalisten ihrer Länder heute beschritten haben, unbeirrbar gehen, dann – das ist meine feste Überzeugung – wird die Presse, die sich durch Mißbrauch ihrer Freiheit so oft als ein Fluch der Menschen erwiesen hat, zu einem Segen für alle Völker werden.

Das Gesetz des neuen Europas ist Ordnung. Wenn sich die Presse, mitfühlend und mitgestaltend, dieser Aufgabe verpflichtet, dann wird sie die Fahne der neuen Zeit tragen und Pionierarbeit leisten am geistigen Neubau Europas!

Reichsverbandsleiter Wilhelm Weiß spricht

Vor der Rede des Reichspressechefs hatte der Leiter des Reichsverbandes der Deutschen Presse, Wilhelm Weiß, nach einer Begrüßung der versammelten Ehrengäste und der Männer der in- und ausländischen Presse unter anderem folgendes ausgeführt:**

„Auch die Presse hat in diesem Zweiweltenkampf ihre große Aufgabe zu erfüllen. Es gehört zum Arbeitsgebiet der Männer der Presse, den Kampf der Waffen immer wieder auf seine geistige Substanz hin zu prüfen und so den Völkern die geschichtliche Bedeutung der gegenwärtigen Ereignisse in ihrer ganzen Tragweite vor Augen zu führen. Freilich stellt daher die große Zeitenwende auch die Presse vor eine Verantwortung ganz besonderer Art.

Roosevelts treueste Helfershelfer

Wir können heute folgendes feststellen: Die sogenannte internationale Weltpresse hat das traurige Verdienst, die Kriegshetze des Weltbrandstifters Roosevelt mit den skrupellosesten Mitteln unterstützt und zum Teil überhaupt ermöglicht zu haben.

Seit Jahr und Tag war man diesseits und jenseits des Ozeans in den Propaganda- und Pressezentralen der Demokratien am Werk, um nicht nur den Sinn dieses Krieges mit allen Mitteln jüdischer Verdrehungskunst in sein Gegenteil zu verfälschen, sondern auch, um die eigenen Völker über die Tatsachen, die von den Waffen der Achsenmächte auf den Schlachtfeldern geschaffen wurden, zu belügen und darüber hinaus über unsere Kriegsziele die gröbsten Unwahrheiten zu verbreiten. Gegen diese maßlose Verhetzung, gegen diesen Mißbrauch der Presse haben der Nationalsozialismus und das faschistische Italien mit allen Mitteln gekämpft.“

„Als wir“, so fuhr Wilhelm Weiß fort, „mit diesen Zuständen radikal Schluß machten, wurden wir als die Totengräber der Presse und ihrer Freiheit in der ganzen Welt angeprangert. In Wirklichkeit taten wir weiter nichts, als daß wir den Journalisten aus der unwürdigen Abhängigkeit von jüdischen Generaldirektoren und anderen Profitjägern befreiten und ihn unmittelbar und ohne weitere Umschweife in den Dienst der Nation und ihres öffentlichen Wohles stellten.

Wenn zwei Welten aufeinanderprallen, wird eines Tages Farbe bekannt werden müssen. Dann wird sich zeigen, daß in diesem Kampf der Macht gegen die Macht diejenige siegen wird, die ihre wahren Kriegsziele nicht hinter einem scheinheiligen Phrasennebel verstecken braucht. In dieser Lage aber befindet sich heute die Presse unserer Feinde. Und an diesem inneren Widerspruch wird sie am Ende ebenso scheitern, wie die unehrliche Kriegführung ihrer Auftraggeber selbst.

Kampf um den Dämon Presse

Solche und ähnliche Gedanken beschäftigten uns, als wir erkannten, daß der gegenwärtige Kampf zugleich ein Kampf um den Dämon Presse geworden ist. Die Erfahrung, die wir im Krieg und Frieden gemacht haben, ist groß genug, um sie für die Weiterführung der notwendigen Auseinandersetzung um die Zukunft der Presse nutzbar zu machen, denn der Kampf geht weiter.

So haben sich heute in Wien die journalistischen Delegationen der verbündeten und befreundeten Mächte Deutschland, Italien, Ungarn, Rumänien, Bulgarien, Slowakei und Kroatien entschlossen, eine ‚Union nationaler Journalistenverbände‘ zu gründen. Wir erblicken, in dem Zeitpunkt ihrer Verwirklichung ein günstiges Vorzeichen für ihr Schicksal.

An dem gleichen Tage, an dem die Führer von Deutschland und Italien sich entschlossen haben, im Namen Europas an der Seite Japans den Kampf gegen die jüdische Weltdemokratie Roosevelts aufzunehmen, an dem gleichen Tag tritt auch die ‚Union‘ in den Krieg.

Ich glaube daher nicht zuvie1 zu sagen, wenn ich erkläre, daß mit dem heutigen Tage in den Geschichte der Presse ein neuer und entscheidender Abschnitt begonnen hat. Denn mit der Gründung der Journalisten-Union sind nunmehr unsere revolutionären Forderungen, die wir für die Neuordnung der Presse zur Richtschnur genommen haben, international angemeldet.“

Im Anschluß an diese Worte gab der Leiter des Reichsverbandes der deutschen Presse die Gründung des „Instituts zur Erforschung des internationalen Pressewesens“ bekannt. Er dankte besonders dem Reichsminister für Volksaufklärung und Propaganda, dem Reichspressechef und dem Reichsstatthalter in Wien, Baldur von Schirach, der durch sein Entgegenkommen dem Institut mit dem Barockpalais Fischer von Erlachs ein würdiges Heim gegeben hat, das der Leiter des RdP. Wilhelm Weiß aus den Händen des Gebietsführers Kaufmann in Obhut nahm.

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Schutz- und Trutzbündnis Tokio-Bangkok

tc. Tokio, 12. Dezember - Zwischen Japan und Thailand ist am Donnerstag ein „Angriffs- und Verteidigungspakt“ abgeschlossen worden. Die Mitteilung über diesen Bündnisvertrag wurde vom japanischen Informationsamt abgegeben. Der Vertrag, der in Bangkok geschlossen wurde, trägt die Unterschriften des thailändischen Premierministers Songram und des japanischen Botschafters in Thailand, Tsubokani.

[NormanStewart]

Stärkster Widerhall auf die Führer-Rede:
Judas Kriegsagent ist nicht mehr weiß zu waschen

Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“

vb. Wien, 12. Dezember - Die vernichtende Abrechnung des Führers mit dem Scharlatan Roosevelt, dem Treiber zum europäischen Krieg, dem Brandstifter auf dem ganzen Erdball, steht in allen Betrachtungen über die mitreißende Reichstagsrede im Vordergrund – auch beim Feind, denn gerade dort legt man den größten Wert darauf, den Kriegsagenten Judas weiß zu waschen. Im Übrigen zeigen diese Bemühungen ebenso wie die beispiellos verlogene Berichterstattung aus England und den USA über die Vorgänge im Pazifik und die Lage an den anderen Fronten an, daß auch die lautesten bisherigen Mauloffensiven noch beträchtlich überboten werden sollen.

Für Churchill sind die wohlüberlegte Erstickungsstrategie Roosevelts gegen Japan und die unverhüllte Kriegshetze seines Spießgesellen in Europa einfach nicht vorhanden. Er redete von „einem vorbedachten perfiden Angriff Japans,“ während sein Rundfunk es kurzweg ein „Märchen“ nannte daß Roosevelt den Krieg gesucht habe und es als „einzigartige Behauptung“ bezeichnete, daß der Führer den Kriegsplan Roosevelts für 1943 erwähnte, obwohl dieses Dokument in den USA überall veröffentlicht und besprochen worden ist.

Diese eifernde Verteidigung, die aus dem Infamsten Kriegstreiber aller Zeiten einen bewährten Friedensfreund zu machen sucht, beweist, daß man im feindlichen Lager vor allem die offenkundige Kriegsschuld Roosevelts als peinlich belastend empfindet und diese daher auf das rücksichtsloseste wegzulegen sucht.

Der entlarvte Heuchler

In den verbündeten und befreundeten Ländern vermitteln das Presseecho und die Äußerungen politischer Kreise der Öffentlichkeit mit größter Eindringlichkeit die Wahrheit über die Person Roosevelts, dem der Führer die heuchlerische Maske endgültig vorn Gesicht gerissen hat.

Die römische Morgenpresse legt in ihrer Bewertung der Reden des Duce und des Führers den größten Nachdruck auf die Eindeutigkeit, mit der von beiden Staatsmännern die Verantwortung des amerikanischen Präsidenten am Ausbruch des Krieges und an seiner Ausweitung über die ganze Erde hin betont wurde. Schreibt „Messaggero“: „In jeder Phase des allmählichen Zusammenbruches der Mächte einer veralteten Welt der Plutokratie, des Judentums und der Freimaurerei war die aufhetzende Tätigkeit Roosevelts unverkennbar.“

Es handle sich jetzt nicht mehr darum, ein auf Gerechtigkeit beruhendes neues „europäisches Gleichgewicht“ zu schaffen, sondern darum, Europa selbst zu verteidigen. Der Sieg werde auf der Seite der Völker sein, die für die höchsten Ziele der Menschheit kämpften.

Die einzig mögliche Antwort

In politischen Kreisen der Slowakei betont man, daß mit den Worten des Führers dem Kriegshetzer Roosevelt die einzig mögliche Antwort erteilt worden sei. Der „Slovak“ schreibt von einem „Meilenstein in der Geschichte des neuen Europas“. Der Dreimächtepakt sei ein Militärpakt geworden, der seinen Mitgliedern den Endsieg in diesem zweiten Weltkrieg garantieren werde.

Die weltgeschichtliche Entscheidung, die der Führer gestern verkündete, findet in Rumänien besondere Zustimmung, ebenso die scharfen Erklärungen des Führers über die ausschlaggebende Rolle, die Roosevelt beim Ausbruch und bei der Ausweitung des jetzigen Krieges gespielt habe. Besondere Hervorhebung findet die Erklärung des Führers, daß durch die Beteiligung der Völker Südosteuropas an diesem Kampf auch das Meerengenstatut von Montreux vor einer brutalen Revision gesichert wurde.

Die Schweizer Presse veröffentlicht die Reichstagskundgebung in einer über das in der schweizerischen Presse übliche Maß weit hinausgehenden Art und zeigt damit an, welche Bedeutung der Erklärung des Führers beigemessen wird.

In Finnland haben naturgemäß die Worte des Führers über diesen tapferen Verbündeten und der Beifall, mit dem der Reichstag gerade diese Ausführungen unterstrich, lebhafteste Genugtuung hervorgerufen. Die Erklärung des Führers von der Fortsetzung des Krieges im Osten bis zur endgültigen Vernichtung des Bolschewismus bezeichnet „Uusi Soomi“ als ein Versprechen, das für Finnland besonders wertvoll sei.“

Vom Achsensieg überzeugt

In Ungarn bezeichnet man den 11. Dezember als den „Geburtstag einer neuen Weltordnung“. Das Regierungsblatt „Függetlenseg“ spricht von der felsenfesten Überzeugung des ungarischen Volkes, daß dieser von Roosevelt entfesselte Weltkrieg nur mit dem Sieg der Achsenmächte enden könne, die für die Gerechtigkeit kämpfen. Das ungarische Volk, so schreibt der „Pester Lloyd“, fasse auch den jetzigen erweiterten Kampf Deutschlands, Italiens und Japans im Sinne der europäischen Pflicht auf, zu der es sich vorbehaltlos bekannt habe.

Extrablätter in den USA

Nach Kabeltelegrammen aus Neuyork wurden die großen nordamerikanischen Städte mit Extrablättern über die welthistorische Reichstagskundgebung geradezu überschwemmt, und die nordamerikanischen Rundfunkgesellschaften brachten von der Kundgebung, obwohl es zur Stunde der Reichstagssitzung in den Vereinigten Staaten erst Vormittag war, größere Sendungen, mit Rücksicht auf Washington allerdings ohne Kommentar.

Japans Wehrmacht

Von Generalmajor Okamoto

Der ehemalige Militärattaché an der kaiserlich japanischen Botschaft in Berlin, Generalmajor Okamoto, hatte die Freundlichkeit, uns den nachstehenden Aufsatz zur Verfügung zu stellen. Der Artikel aus der berufenen Feder des ehemaligen kaiserlich japanischen Militärattachés zeigt den stolzen Geist der traditionsreichen japanischen Wehrmacht.

Die Wehrhaftigkeit einer Nation ist stets von der Stärke des Nationalstolzes und von der Höhe des kulturellen Standes abhängig. Nur ein Volk, das einerseits seine geistigen Fähigkeiten auf das höchste zu entwickeln vermag und auf der, anderen Seite das Soldatische und Kämpferische im Herzen besitzt, kann insbesondere heute allen Waffenerfordernissen und Wirtschaftlich politischen Voraussetzungen entsprechend die stärkste Wehrmacht entwickeln. Trotz allen modernen Errungenschaften ist für die Wehrhaftigkeit doch das Entscheidende, ob ein Volk in seinem innersten Kern die soldatische Natur besitzt oder nicht. Deutschland mit seinem Germanentum, Italien mit seinem Römertum und Japan mit seinem Bushido (Ahnenkult und Ehrenkodex) sind in der Weltgeschichte drei kulturbringende Völker mit glänzenden Traditionen des Soldatentums.

Die heutige japanische Wehrhaftigkeit ist unmittelbar auf den Geist des Samurai (Ritter) zurückzuführen. Der Samuraistand, der seit dem 13. Jahrhundert die führende Schicht des japanischen Volkes bedeutete, zählte bei seiner Auflösung im Jahre 1868 drei Millionen Familien.

Die Grundsätze der Samurai

Die Grundprinzipien des Bushido waren das Führerprinzip, absolute Treue der Gefolgschaft mit Lebenseinsatz und spartanischer Wehrschulung. Die große Familie des Ritterstandes mit seiner sieben- bis achthundertjährigen Wehrtradition wurde im Jahre 1872 durch den Tenno Meiji (den Gründer des modernen Japans) mit dem Gesetz der allgemeinen Wehrpflicht erweitert. Im Jahre 1882 verkündete Tenno Meiji für die gesamte Wehrmacht Japans fünf Grundsätze des Soldatenethos: Untertanentreue, Sittlichkeit, Tapferkeit, Pflichttreue und Einfachheit nebst Ehrlichkeit bei allem. Diese waren auch Wesenszüge des japanischen Ritterideals, die durchsieben bis acht Jahrhunderte hindurch gepflegt und immer wieder gestärkt wurden.

Die Reorganisation des japanischen Wehrwesens, die die Staatsreform von 1868 mit sich brachte, blickt trotz der Einführung der europäischen Kriegstechnik zu dem ursprünglich japanischen Vorbild der Wehrorganisation zurück.

Der Oberbefehl des Tenno über das Volksheer (das Prinzip der allgemeinen Wehrmacht). Im 11. Artikel der japanischen Staatsverfassung heißt es „Heer und Kriegsmarine stehen unter dem Befehl des Tenno (Kaiser Japans)“ und der 12. Artikel besagt: „Die Organisation von Heer und Marine und ihre Friedensstärke wurde vom Tenno festgesetzt.“

Auf diesen beiden Grundsätzen basiert das japanischer Militärgesetz. Tenno ist an sich nicht eine durch die Verfassung als Oberhaupt des Landes und der Wehrmacht bestimmte Persönlichkeit, sondern er ist der Repräsentant des japanischen Herrscherhauses, das in dem japanischen Glauben mythologischen Ursprungs ist. Tenno ist für das japanische Volk die leibhaft gewordene Gottheit in der Reihe des Göttergeschlechts der Sonnengöttin. Tenno tritt dem Volke gegenüber im Auftrag seiner Urahne als Verkörperung der drei Tugenden „Tapferkeit, seelische Reinheit und Barmherzigkeit.“ Im Vollzug dieser Herrscherprinzipien vertreten Generationen des Tenno (bis jetzt 124 Dynastien) durch Wort und Tat jene Haupttugenden des japanischen Volkes: „Opferwilligkeit und Opferfähigkeit.“

Das erhabene Vorbild des Tenno

Solches bedeutet für einen jeden Japaner, nach dem erhabenen Vorbild des Tenno, nicht nur sich selbst, sondern auch die Seinigen freudig zu opfern, wenn es in Zeiten großer Not, wo Körper und Seele zu leiden haben, um die Wohlfahrt und das Glück des Ganzen geht. Diese sittliche Auffassung vom Sinn der Opferbereitschaft des einzelnen für das Wohl des Ganzen ist in Japan eine traditionelle Selbstverständlichkeit und somit Nationalcharakter des japanischen Volkes bis auf den heutigen Tag.

Die Wehrhaftigkeit und kulturelle Leistungsfähigkeit scheinen sich gegenseitig zu widersprechen. Wohl können diese beiden Kampf- und Friedensleistungen nicht gleichzeitig auf derselben, Höhe bleiben, jedoch ergänzen sie sich, und keines von beiden war und ist ohne das andere möglich, wenn man die Geschichte eines Volkes als Ganzes Versteht. Denn in dem Kern der japanischen Kulturleistung floß – seit über 2000 Jahren ein einziger Strom – das gefühlsmäßige Erbgut des japanischen Volkes: die Einheit des Kaisertums, des Volkes und des Landes. Diese innerste Überzeugung eines jeden Japaners bedeutet zugleich die sittliche Forderung, die im Geiste des Samurai zur höchsten Entfaltung gelangte und im heutigen Soldatentum Japans unvermindert fortlebt.

Nach deutschem Muster

Zu dieser soldatisch-patriotischen Tradition der japanischen Wehrhaftigkeit trat bei der Modernisierung der Waffenführung ein großer Beitrag der deutschen Wehrfähigkeit hinzu. Zur Schaffung der modernen Einrichtungen in der japanischen Wehrmacht war es zahlreichen japanischen Offizieren vergönnt, in Deutschland sich mit der modernen Waffenführung vertraut zu machen. Außerdem hatten sich viele deutsche Offiziere als Lehrer für das japanische Heerwesen betätigt. Japans Heer hat in diesem Sinne den deutschen militärischen Kräften und Errungenschaften außerordentlich viel zu verdanken.

Die japanische Wehrmacht hat sich seit ihrer Gründung von 1872 bei jeder Auseinandersetzung glänzend bewährt und jedesmal den Sieg davongetragen, was die erfolgreiche Entwicklung Japans zu einer der stärksten Weltmächte wesentlich förderte.

Japan schreitet, nunmehr seiner historischen Aufgabe bewußt, mit entschlossenem Einsatz der gesamten Volkskräfte zur Schaffung einer ostasiatischen Völkergemeinschaft, in der der Zusammenschluß zwischen Japan, Mandschukuo und China die tragende Rolle spielt.

Der Zweck der japanischen Bestrebungen ist, mit den japanischen Kräften, die von Gerechtigkeitssinn erfüllt sind, alle ostasiatischen Völker, die den unmenschlichen Machenschaften raumfremdermächte ausgesetzt sind, aus ihrem Sklavenleben zu befreien und ihnen mit dem Prinzip des friedlichen Zusammenlebens und geteilten Wohles ein neues Leben zu schenken.

In diesem Sinne war die Lösung des mandschurischen Problems (1931) das erste Stadium zur Schaffung der Neuordnung Ostasiens. Das zweite Stadium dieser Entwicklung begann mit dem Chinakonflikt (1937) und endet mit der Lösung dieses Problems.

Der Entschluß zur Neuordnung

Mit dem Abschluß des Dreimächtepaktes, der am 27. September 1940 unterzeichnet wurde, trat Japan mit Ostasien in das dritte Stadium seiner Neuordnung.

Japan stärkte nunmehr seinen Entschluß, allen Schwierigkeiten zum Trotz, mit Deutschland und Italien zusammen, die für die Neuordnung Europas in erfolgreichem Kampf auf dem Wege der Zielerreichung stehen, Schulter an Schulter einer totalen Neuordnung der Welt entgegenzumarschieren.

Es besteht kein Zweifel darüber, daß die Durchsetzung unseres Zieles eine große geeinte Volkskraft erfordert, die eine mächtige Wehrmacht zum Kern hat. Gegenwärtig verfügt die japanische Wehrmacht über mehrere Millionen Mann Heer, eine mehrere hundert Einheiten zählende Flotte und mehrere tausend Flugzeuge. Diese Streitkräfte Japans befinden sich bereits seit 1931 entweder im Krieg oder in Kampfbereitschaft und sammelten ihre Erfahrungen. Die japanische Wehrmacht zu Lande, zur See und in der Luft (die Luftwaffe ist in Japan nicht selbständig, sondern ist verteilt auf Armee und Marine) wird immer mehr Vervollständigt, um mit den bereits siegreich bewährten Wehrmächten Deutschlands und Italiens gemeinsam dem wirklichen Frieden der Welt zu dienen.

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Rumanian Declaration of War on the United States
December 12, 1941

Guvernul regal român are onoarea să comunice guvernului Statelor Unite ale Americii că în conformitate cu dispoziţiile Pactului Tripartit şi respectând obligaţiile solidare prevăzute prin acest Pact, ca urmare a stării de război ce a intervenit între Statele Unite, pe de o parte, şi Reichul german, Italia şi Japonia, pe de altă parte, România se află în stare de război cu Statele Unite ale Americii.

The Royal Rumanian Government has the honor to communicate to the Government of the United States of America that, in conformity with the dispositions of the Tripartite Pact and respecting the obligations of solidarity contained in this pact, as a result of the state of war which has arisen between the United States of America on the one hand, and the German Reich, Italy and Japan on the other, Rumania herself is in a state of war with the United States of America.

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Declaration from German and Italian Governments to their Ministers Plenipotentiary in Sofia
December 12, 1941

Вследствие общоизвестните нападателни действия на Съединените Щати Силите на Оста обявиха, че се намират в положение на война с казаната държава. С това се осъществяват предпоставките за приложението на чл. 3 от Тристранния пакт. Според схващането на германското и италианското правителства от горното произтича задължението на българското правителство да обяви също и от своя страна положение на война със Съединените щати. При това ние разбираме под влизане в положение на война не само прекъсване на дипломатическите отношения, но и формалното обявяване на настъпилото положение на война. Макар, че от това няма да произтекат за българското правителство никакви военни последствия, политически е от най-голямо значение, щото всички сили, принадлежащи към Тристранния пакт, да изявят без всякакво колебание и по без съмнение начин тяхната солидарност.

Същевременно Ви моля да подскажете на българското правителство да се обяви за намиращо се в положение на война също така и с Англия, тъй като, предвид развитието на общото положение, едно отделяне на войната срещу Англия от войната срещу Съединените Щати не изглежда вече възможно.

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Address by Bulgarian Foreign Minister Popov
December 13, 1941

Г-да народни представители! На 25 ноември 1936 г. бе сключена в Берлин една спогодба за борба против Комунистическия интернационал. Тази спогодба гласи: “Правителството на Германския Райх и японското императорско правителство, съзнавайки, че целта на Комунистическия интернационал, наречен Коминтерн, е да разложи и обезсили съществуващите държави с всички разполагаеми средства, убедени, че търпимостта спрямо вмешателството на Комунистическия интернационал във вътрешния живот на народите не само е опасна за техния вътрешен мир и социално благоденствие, но и заплашва световния мир, в желанието си да работят задружно за отбрана срещу комунистическото разложение, постигнаха следното споразумение:

Чл. 1. Високодоговарящите държави се съгласяват да се осведомяват взаимно върху дейността на Комунистическия интернационал, да се съвещават върху необходимите отбранителни мерки и да прилагат последните в тясно сътрудничество помежду си.

Чл. 2. Високите Договарящи държави ще поканват взаимно трети държави, чийто вътрешен мир е заплашен от разложителната дейност на Комунистическия интернационал, да вземат отбранителни мерки в духа на настоящата спогодба или да се присъединят към тази спогодба.”

Чл. 3 постановява, че спогодбата е за срок от 5 години.

На 6 ноември 1937 г. към тази спогодба се присъедини и Италия с отделен протокол, който изяснява техниката на това сътрудничество. Той гласи:

а) Компетентните власти на двете високодоговарящи страни ще работят задружно по отношение размяната на сведения върху дейността на Комунистическия интернационал, както и относно мерките за разузнаване и отбрана срещу Комунистическия интернационал.

б) Компетентните власти на на двете високо договарящи държави ще прибегнат в рамките на съществуващите закони до строги мерки срещу ония, които в страната или в чужбина работят пряко или косвено в услуга на Комунистическия интернационал или които подпомагат неговата разрушителна дейност.

в) за да се улесни установената в точка “а” задружна дейност на компетентните власти на двете високи договарящи държави, ще се учреди една постоянна комисия. В тази комисия ще се обмислят и посочват по-нататъшните необходими отбранителни мерки за борба срещу разрушителната дейност на Комунистическия интернационал”.

Този протокол е неразделна част от спогодбата.

Допълнително към същата спогодба се присъединиха Унгария и Манджукуо на 24 февруари 1939 г. и Испания на 27 март 1937 г.

На 25 ноември т. г изтичаше срока на тази спогодба и предстоеше нейното подновяване. По този повод правителствата на Германия, Италия и Япония в съзнанието, че опасността е обща, поканиха и други европейски държави да се присъединят към спогодбата. В това число беше и България.

Г-да народни представители! Пресни са в паметта на всички ни нещастията, които преживя българския народ в края на световната война. Наложеният на България преди 22 години мирен договор откъсна части от живото й тяло, разстрои стопанския й живот с непосилни финансови тежести, разоръжи я напълно, лиши я от всички средства за самоотбрана и я застави да прибере и да даде препитание в своята намалена и обедняла територия на стотици хиляди бежанци от откъснатите земи. Всичко това създаде настроения на дълбоко недоволство и горчиви разочарования всред народа; скъпите и напразни жертви, разбитите надежди, материалните лишения, жестокото и несправедливо третиране внесоха смут в душата на българина и създадоха условия, които най-разрушителната пропаганда на нашето време – комунистическата - се опита да използва за своите цели. България стана един от най-важните обекти на Третия интернационал, на Коминтерна и неговите тайни разклонения, чиято задача беше да разложат вътрешно всички народи, да разрушат тяхната държавна организация, да съборят техния социален строй и да унищожат тяхната вековна култура.

[NormanStewart]

Така българския народ и българската държава бяха принудени да се борят едновременно против договорите за мир и против комунизма, защото тия две злини бяха неразривно свързани. Жестокият Ньойски диктат раздруса българската държава, покруси и обезвери нашия народ, а комунизмът се опита да използва това наше нещастие, да събори държавата ни, върху развалините на която искаше да прави своите безумни опити. Борбата против комунизма беше за нас борба на българската държава и за бъдещето на народа ни.

Излишно е да ви описвам развоя на тази борба, в която и вие бяхте участници. Тя ни струва много усилия и много жертви, но за нас е важно, че тя завърши с успех. В нея българския народ можа още веднъж да прояви своите добродетели, да преодолее кризата на обезверяване, която бе настъпила след края на световната война, да се кали наново и да се яви сплотен пред историческите събития, които се развиват днес и които коват бъдещето на света и на България.

Ето защо ние приехме с готовност и благодарност поканата да се присъединим към Пакта за борба против Комунистическия интернационал. Натоварен от правителството, аз отидох в Берлин, където на 25 ноември в едно тържествено заседание под председателството на германския министър на външните работи г-н фон Рибентроп и при участие на представителите на Италия, Япония, Испания, Манджукуо, Унгария, Финландия, Дания, Хърватска, Ромъния и Словашко, аз предадох следното писмо от името на българското правителство:

“След като царското българско правителство бе поканено от правителството на Германския Райх, от кралското италианско правителство и от японското императорско правителство да се присъедини към спогодбата за борба срещу Комунистическия интернационал, съобщавам с настоящото присъединяването на България към тази спогодба, тъй като тя биде продължена чрез един протокол от 25 ноември 1941 г., подписан от гореспоменатите правителства, както и от кралското унгарско прравителство, от императорското правителство на Манджукуо и от испанското правителство.”

Спогодбата беше продължена с нови 5 години.

Същевременно в това тържествено заседание аз прочетох следната декларация:

Българското правителство благодари на правителството на Германския Райх, на кралското италианско правителство и на японското императорско правителство за поканата, която му отправиха да се присъедини към Пакта за борба против Комунистическия интернационал, така наречения Коминтерн. Създадена с единствената цел да работи с всички средства за вътрешното разложение на всички народи, за разрушаването на тяхната държавна организация, за събарянето на техния социален строй, за унищожаването на тяхната култура и тяхното благосъстояние, тази организация с нейните тайни разклонения, работи за тържеството на комунизма, на една идеология, която е отрицание на всички традиции и постижения на човечеството.

Пактът, към който днес ние се присъединяваме, бе подписан преди 5 години за една обща отбрана срещу това общо зло, за едно тясно съгласуване на усилията и мерките, които се налагаха за неговото отстраняване.

Като се радвам, че на България се дава сега възможност да приобщи своите усилия към общите усилия на всички други държави, които работят за премахване на общата опасност, която заплашва реда и спокойствието на народите от цял свят, бих искал да припомня, че България досега сама непрекъснато води една тежка, но успешна борба против тази опасност.

България беше един от най-важните обекти на Третия интернационал, тъй като последния искаше да използва нещастието, което преживя нашата страна в края на Европейската война с наложения й насилствено диктат за мир, който откъсна части от живото тяло на България. Едва що излязъл от една война, българският народ беше поставен на ново изпитание. Той, обаче, въпреки тежките условия, в които беше поставен не по негова вина и въпреки липсата на достатъчни средства, води сам, със свои сили и с рядка упоритост и смелост, тази борба, която завърши с успех и в която показа отново своята издържливост и своята вяра в напредъка на човечеството.

Напоследък бяха направени нови опити от страна на същия този център за смущаване реда в България чрез изпращането на няколко специални групи от парашутисти, които имаха за цел да предизвикат смутове и да извършат саботажи, но и този път тези домогвания бяха безмилостно смачкани, благодарение на бързото и ефикасно съдействие, което българският народ оказа на властите.

Становището на българският народ към комунизма бе най-добре изразено само преди няколко дни от министър-председателя г-н Филов в една негова реч пред Народното събрание - “Българският народ, заяви министър-председателят, се състои в своето огромно мнозинство от дребни собственици, у които чувството за частна собственост, отречена по принцип от комунизма, е дълбоко вкоренено и служи за главен стимул на тяхната стопанска дейност и на тяхното лично благосъстояние. Ето защо нашето население се отнася отрицателно към всяка комунистическа пропаганда и към всеки опит отвън да се предизвикат безредия в страната. И затова становището на българското правителство към комунизма въобще може да бъде само едно: ние се борим и ще се борим с комунизма и с всички комунистически прояви у нас. Особено днес, когато цяла Европа, под ръководството на силите на Оста, се е надигнала в борба срещу комунизма, ние не можем да останем настрана от тази борба. Ние сме убедени, че унищожаването на комунизма, който винаги е представлявал една заплаха за европейската цивилизация, е една от най-важните предпоставки за създаването на новия ред в Европа.

Г-да народни представители! Смятам, че с това ние изпълнихме своя дълг към българската държава и нашия народ, както и към нова Европа, която днес се твори за доброто на всички нейни народи.

Преди да свърша, държа да изкажа моето голямо задоволство, загдето в Берлин имах честта да бъда приет от великия водач на германския Райх както и от неговите най-близки сътрудници, на първо място от райхсмаршал Гьоринг, райхсминистърът фон Рибентроп и райхсминистърът д-р Гьобелс. В тия срещи бях щастлив да констатирам, че политиката на българското правителство намира пълното разбирателство и одобрение и че България продължава да се радва на техните симпатии и подкрепа, за което държа да изкажа тук моята признателност.

Г-да народни представители! След моето завръщане от Берлин последваха събития, които внесоха голяма промяна в международното положение. При съществуващата днес зависимост между разните държави не само в Европа, но и в целия свят, не може да има съмнение, че създаденото вследствие на тия събития ново международно положение ще окаже своето влияние и върху всички ония държави, които не са непосредствено засегнати.

Кризата съществуваше отдавна в латентно състояние още от началото на сегашната война. Тя се разрази, обаче, открито едва напоследък чрез въоръжения конфликт, избухнал между Япония и Североамериканските Съединени Щати. И тъй като тия две държави принадлежат на две различни групировки, избухналият между тях конфликт не можеше да не засегне най-чувствително останалите членове на същите групировки.

Ето защо ние виждаме вече много от тях да изясняват становищата си и да определят поведението си съгласно своите интереси и съществуващите между тях задължения.

От друга старна, успоредно с японо-американския конфликт избухна и войната между Германия и Италия от една страна, и Североамериканските Съединени Щати, от друга. Германия и Италия смятат, че Североамериканските Съединени Щати са извършили досега редица нападателни действия срещу тях, както това бе обстойно обяснено в речта на водача на Германия Адолф Хитлер пред Райхстага. Поради това те решиха да скъсат дипломатическите си отношения с Щатите и да обявят положение на война спрямо тях.

Г-да народни представители! Намесата на Германия и Италия при тия условия създаде едно ново положение, за което трябва да държат сметка и всички останали държави, присъединили се към Тристранния пакт. Това положение наложи и на българското правителство да определи своето становище и да вземе съответно решение. Това решени ще ви бъде съобщено от г-н министър-председателя.

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Address by Bulgarian Prime Minister Filov
December 13, 1941

Г-да народни представители! Както имахте вече случай да чуете и от изложението на министъра на външните работи, събитията се развиха напоследък по такъв начин, че войната между Япония и силите от Оста, от една страна, и Североамериканските Съединени Щати, от друга, а същевременно и между Япония и Англия, стана неизбежна. Това ново положение на нещата наложи и на българското правителство да определи своето становище спрямо него. В моята последна реч пред вас на 19 ноември т.г. аз заявих, че България, след като се присъедини към Тристранния пакт, стои днес здраво и непоколебимо на страната на силите в Оста и на техните съюзници, че тя ще остане докрай вярна на задълженията, които е поела спрямо тях, и че ще им оказва винаги, в кръга на своите възможности, най-искрено сътрудничество.

Настъпилите през последните няколко дни събития създадоха условия, при които нам се налага да изпълним поетите задължения.

Тия задължения произхождат от Тристранния пакт, към който България се присъедини с протокола, подписан във Виена на 1 март т. г., и който вие г-да народни представители одобрихте с акламации още на другия ден след неговото подписване.

Според чл. 3 на този пакт, държавите, които са го подписали, се задължават да си дават съдействие една на друга с всички политически, стопански и военни средства, в случай, че една от тях бъде нападната от една сила, която дотогава е участвала в Европейската война или в японо-китайския конфликт.

Г-да народни представители! На всички е извества голямата реч, която водачът на Германия Адолф Хитлер произнесе на 11 т. м. в Райхстага в Берлин. Известна е също така и речта на водача на фашистка Италия Бенито Мусолини, произнесена същия ден в Рим. В тези речи се установява, че през последните няколко месеци Североамериканските Съединени Щати са извършили редица нападателни действия срещу силите на Оста, вследствие на което Германия и Италия решиха да скъсат отношенията си с тази държава и да обявят положение на война спрямо нея.

При тези условия българското правителство, в изпълнение на задълженията си по чл. 3 от Тристранния пакт, реши вчера, на 12 т. м. също така да скъса дипломатическите отношения със Североамериканските Съединени Щати и да обяви положение на война с тази държава, както и с нейната съюзница Англия.

Г-да народни представители! По този начин България и този път, както винаги, дава доказателства, че тя остава вярна на дадената дума. В случая, обаче, не се касае само за едно договорно задължение, но така също и за една проява на оная солидарност, която трябва да бъде поставена в основата на отношенията между държавите в нова Европа.

Г-да народни представители! Правителството смята, че то изпълни своя дълг. То е убедено, че и вие ще одобрите взетото от него решение, проникнати от съзнанието, че то отговаря на интересите на страната и на нуждите на днешния момент. по такъв начин и ние, наред с останалите държави от Тристранния пакт, ще можем да допринесем за създаването на новия ред в Европа, на онази именно нова Европа, която се гради днес с толкова жертви, и която, убедени сме, ще се издигне на развалините на днешната война.

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София, 13 декември 1941 г.
Получено на 13. ХІІ. 1941 г.
Вх. № 10661

Чрез господин Председателя на Народното събрание

До господин министъра на външните работи.

Тук.

ПИТАНЕ
от народните представители Никола Мушанов и Петко Стайнов за отношенията на България със Съединените Щати поради Тристранния пакт

Господин Министре,

Макар и влизането на България в Тристранния пакт да не е формално одобрено и до сега от Народното събрание, поставя се въпросът, дали България е длъжна да обяви война на Сеевероамериканските Съединени Щати, като последствие от започването на война между Япония и Америка.

Според клаузите на нашето присъединяване към Тристранния пакт, ние бихме имали задължение да обявим война на Америка, само ако Япония е нападнатата страна. От досегашните сведения, дадени в българския печат от Българската телеграфна агенция, Япония първа е нападнала и е обявила война на Съединените Щати, и само впоследствие Америка, която се е счела за нападната, е обявила война чрез решение на Камарата на представителите и на Сената.

При едно такова положение не се налага, нито по силата на Тристранния пакт и анекса към него за нас, нито по други обстоятелства, нито поради някакво неприязнено поведение на Америка специално към нас да обявяваме война или да скъсваме дипломатическите сношения с тази далечна велика сила.

Молим, Господин Министър, да ни отговорите на следния въпрос: като се има пред вид, че и в миналата всесветска война, България не обяви война на Америка въпреки всичко, че договора за Тристранния пакт и анекса за нас към него не ни задължава да се намесваме в случай като сегашния в полза на Япония, има ли някакви други обстоятелства и други непознати на Народното събрание поети от правителството задължения, които да налагат било обявяване на война, било скъсване на дипломатическите сношения с тази държава?

С почитание:
Н. МУШАНОВ
П. СТАЙНОВ

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Bulgarian Declaration of War on the United States and Great Britain
December 13, 1941

След като Германия и Италия обявиха положение на война със Североамериканските Съединени щати поради извършени през последните месеци от тая държава нападателни действия, Българското правителство - за да изпълни задълженията си по чл.3 от Тристранния пакт - реши вчера, 12 декември 1941 год. също така да скъса дипломатическите отношения със Североамериканските Съединени Щати и да обяви положение на война, както с тях, така и с тяхната съюзница Англия.

After Germany and Italy declared that they are in a state of war with the United States of America, because they consider that the United States of America has committed in recent months a series of enemy acts, the Bulgarian Government, in order that it may fulfill its obligation in accordance with Article III of the Tripartite Pact, has decided also to break diplomatic relations with the United States of America and to declare the existence of a state of war therewith as well as with the United States’ ally, Great Britain.

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U.S. War Department (December 13, 1941)

Communiqué No. 6

PHILIPPINE THEATER – Japanese air activity continued throughout the day with raids on Manila and at Davao on the island of Mindanao. Attempted Japanese landings were repulsed south of Vigan and north of San Fernando as well as at Lingayen on the island of Luzon.

Operations of enemy parachutists were reported at Tuguegarao and Ilagan, in the extreme north and northeast in the island of Luzon. Some enemy troops landed in the vicinity of Legazpi in the extreme southern portion of the island of Luzon.

Previous reports of enemy naval concentrations west of Zambales Province on the western coast of Luzon were confirmed.

The Commanding General, Far Eastern Command, has notified the Commanding General, USAAF, of the brilliant performance of the U.S. Army and Navy fliers and the fliers of the Philippine Commonwealth in attacking enemy units with total disregard for their own safety.

One spectacular instance was the feat of Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr. of Madison, Florida, who successfully attacked the battleship HARUNA, putting that warship out of commission. In this destruction of this important unit of the Japanese fleet, Capt. Kelly lost his life. Another brilliant victory was scored by Lt. Boyd D. Wagner of Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, who shot down two enemy planes and wrecked several others that were on the ground in the vicinity of Aparri in northern Luzon.

HAWAII – There has been no renewal of Japanese attacks on Oahu since the initial operations on December 7, 1941.

WEST COAST, UNITED STATES – Rumors of landings of enemy parachute troops on the West Coast have been thoroughly investigated and completely discredited.

Communiqué No. 7

PHILIPPINE THEATER – Enemy aircraft in medium strength bombed Cebu and Clark Field. Japanese ground activity on the island of Luzon was sporadic and unimportant. The enemy plan is now clearly revealed as an attempt to secure improvised air bases outside of the area encompassed by our ground defenses.

On Wednesday the Secretary of War authorized the commanding general of the Far East Command to award the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross for gallantry in action beyond the call of duty. He also gave Gen. MacArthur the power to promote officers and enlisted men of the Far East Command for outstanding leadership in the present operations.

HAWAII – No further reports of enemy activity have been received.

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U.S. Navy Department (December 13, 1941)

Communiqué No. 5

The Navy Department announced that it is unable to communicate with Guam either by radio or cable. The capture of the island is probable. A small force of less than 400 naval personnel and 155 Marines were stationed in Guam. According to the last reports from Guam, the island had been bombed repeatedly and Japanese troops had landed at several points on the island.

Wake and Midway continue to resist.

The above is based on reports until 9 a.m. today.

Communiqué No. 6

U.S. airmen turned back the fishing vessel ALERT of U.S. registry in the Gulf of Nicoya, on the west coast of Costa Rica. The vessel was boarded on its return to port and was found to have seven Japanese in the crew. They were taken into custody. The ALERT was loaded with a cargo of 10,000 gallons of diesel oil.

No new developments have been reported from combat areas as of 3 p.m. EST today.

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The Pittsburgh Press (December 13, 1941)

DUTCH SUBS SINK 4 JAP TRANSPORTS
4,000 go down in sea attack off Thailand

British say lines hold except in one North Malay sector
By Joe Alex Morris, United Press war editor

A totally unconfirmed report that the battleship USS Arizona (32,600 tons) has been sunk was carried today by DNB, the German propaganda agency, based on a Tokyo report. The reported sinking was claimed during Sunday’s raid on Pearl Harbor.

This report is not confirmed from any responsible source; therefore it should be taken with reserve.

The Allies battered the Axis war machine today from the Far East to the Russia fighting front and the Central Mediterranean.

IN THE PACIFIC:

• Dutch submarines reported the sinking of four Japanese troop transports with loss of about 4,000 men.

• Dutch naval forces cleaned up a Japanese settlement on the east coast of Borneo.

• American armed forces still held their ground against Japanese attacks on Guam, Wake, Midway and Luzon Island in the Philippines.

IN THE MEDITERRANEAN:

• British and Dutch destroyers attacked an Italian naval force in the Central Mediterranean before dawn, sinking a cruiser, a torpedo boat and an E-boat and setting a second cruiser ablaze “from stem to stern.” All Italian ships in the squadron were knocked out.

• A renewed British tank drive west of Tobruk in Libya was reported encircling the remnants of Axis armored strength in an effort to deliver a knockout blow.

IN THE SOVIET UNION:

• Red Army attacks on the Moscow front and in the Donets Basin continued to drive back the Germans despite desperate Axis counterattacks in the Kalinin sector.

• A Berlin radio broadcast said the Axis forces on the Eastern Front had executed a “tactical move to the rear.”

On the other side of the picture, the Tokyo and Berlin propaganda broadcasts claimed that Japan had won mastery of the air over Malaya by destroying 129 British airplanes in a great air battle in which Japan lost 17.

The Axis also claimed that a new British destroyer, apparently the Matabele, had been sunk off the Spanish coast by submarine attack, and that the battleship USS Arizona had ben sunk off Hawaii.

In Malaya, the British defense forces fell back slightly in the northern Kedah sector, adjacent to Thailand, but held all other heads and rear lines.

Japs claim break

In Hongkong. the Japanese claimed to have broken the Kowloon defense lines on the mainland and to be striking across a narrow water gap against Victoria Island on which Hongkong is located. Three British merchant ships and a gunboat have been sunk in aerial bombing of Hongkong, Tokyo claimed.

Premier Hideki Tojo warned the Japanese people to expect a long, hard war.

Dispatches from Singapore said that both Dutch and Australian air and naval forces were going into action on an increasingly important scale to supplement the British defense of Singapore, key to control of the East Indies.

Netherlands submarines lurking off the coast of eastern Malaya and southeastern Thailand, where Japanese transports have been carrying reinforcements for the Malaya offensive, reported that they had sent four enemy ships loaded with soldiers to the bottom off Patani, in Thailand.

Chinese bomb Canton

Chinese forces also were attempting to divert the Japanese in South China and Radio Halifax broadcast a report that they had bombed Canton. About 500 American airmen had been reported ready for action along the Burma Road before the Pacific war started and it was believed that the Americans may have carried out the attack.

The fighting for the Philippines Islands as well as Guam, Wake and Midway still was in progress but a communique gave few new details.

On Luzon Island, under attack on three sides, the American and Filipino defenders were reported making progress toward eliminating Japanese landing forces on the west coast. Filipinos with bolo knives were said to be participating in the fighting in the far north, near Aparri, where the Japanese had attempted to establish a base for aerial bombing.

Rain balks attacks

Heavy rain interfered with air attacks last night but today Manila had another alarm and there was heavy bombing at nearby military targets.

Official sources had virtually no news as to progress of fighting on Guam, Midway or Wake but expressed confidence that the defenders were holding out. The Japanese claimed only that they had heavily attacked the islands and “controlled” them, which apparently meant they controlled the seas around them.

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Jap premier warns Tokyo about overconfidence

TOKYO (UP, Japanese Domei News Agency broadcast recorded in New York) – Premier War Minister Gen. Hideki Tojo warned today against “intoxication by initial victories” and said Japan should be prepared for a long, hard war necessitating sacrifices.

Addressing a large public rally in Hibiya Park, Tojo said that “in its history of 2,600 years the Japanese Empire never once has drawn the sword save in self-defense and in the cause of righteousness.”

He said that for months Japan sought to keep the peace in the Pacific “but our selfish enemy flatly refused to lend an ear.”

“I am convinced of the righteousness of our side and that in the end right will win.” Tojo said. “Japan’s triumph means triumph for common prosperity in the Far East and triumph for the New World Order.”

Tojo today received a congratulatory message on Japan’s “splendid achievements in the first few days of war” from Thailand’s premier, Luang Bipul Songram. Replying, Tojo said that “the spirit of Japanese officers and men as well as the people behind the guns is increasingly vigorous.”

Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo said in a luncheon speech celebrating conclusion of the German-Japanese-Italian agreement for a common front against Britain and America, that the Axis would be victorious.

Sayre asks for help before it’s too late

NEW YORK (UP) – Francis B. Sayre, high commissioner to the Philippines, appealed in a radio address to the United States last night for a united front in “getting effective help to us before it is too late.”

“We on the front line are fighting to the death, for we have abiding confidence in our cause and in our leader,” he said in Manila over an NBC hookup. “We know that you back home will send us help and that you will not permit divided councils or capital-labor disputes or red tape or anything else to delay your getting effective help to us before it is too late.

“We are in the fight to stay, War enjoins upon us all action, action, action! It is of the essence. Come on, America!”

Mr. Sayre, who spoke Saturday morning (Philippine Time) said residents of the islands had “come to grips with reality.”

“We have seen Japanese squadrons of planes shining in the sun, dropping swift death and destruction upon portions of Manila and upon Cavite across the bay,” he said. “War governs our lives every hour of the day and night. I wish you could see the high commissioner’s office. Economic experts piling sandbags; political advisers stacking water cans; stenographers and secretaries making improvised gas masks for our staff.

“Men are fighting and dying for America and American ideals. The American Army and Navy are on the job. Filipinos, side by side with Americans under the command of Gen. [Douglas] MacArthur, are proving with their lives the loyalty pledged to the United States by President [Manuel] Quezon.”

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WAKE AND MIDWAY REPULSE INVADERS
Tokyo admits attack failed on one island

AFL workers help to fight invaders in Pacific outposts

WASHINGTON (UP) – The Stars and Stripes still fly over Wake and Midway Islands, tiny Pacific outposts, a Navy communique disclosed today.

A Tokyo communique admitted that U.S. Marines were still holding Wake Island against Japanese attacks.

Simultaneously, the AFL claimed that “on the basis of new information from authoritative sources,” a group of American construction workers in Guam “seized whatever weapons were available on the island and engaged the invaders in hand-to-hand fighting in which the American workers gave a very good account of themselves.”

Advised of capture

The AFL previously said it had been advised by the Navy that about 1,100 workers in Guam and Midway were “captured and taken prisoner” by the Japanese.

The AFL said that on the basis of present information, “Guam remains in American hands.”

The Navy communique which announced continued American resistance at Wake and Midway said, “There is no confirmation of the alleged occupation of Guam by the Japanese.”

Marines hold Wake

If confirmed, the AFL report of hand-to-hand fighting between American workmen and Japanese invaders in Guam would write another glittering page in the annals of American heroism. The report came 24 hours after a Navy communique revealed another brilliant “last stand” – the gallantry of the beleaguered band of Marines defending Wake Island.

The AFL announcement telling of the hand-to-hand fighting in Guam also said that:

“In the Hawaiian island, the 10,000 AFL building trades workers, showing a contempt for Jap marksmanship, are staying on the job and have decided to work night and day to rush to completion American fortifications and other vital structures now being built there…

“Free American workers will never be slaves. We are giving and will continue to give our sweat, our skill and our blood to blast the military masters of Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, and Fascist Japan off the face of the globe.”

The heroic stand of the handful of Marines at Wake Island drew high praise today from President Roosevelt who said the “devil-dogs” were doing a perfectly magnificent job. The Marines were revealed Thursday to have sunk a Japanese light cruiser and a destroyer, and to have repulsed four aerial attacks and one naval thrust.

Wake, a coral reef about four miles long, is 2,000 miles west of Hawaii. Guam is 1,300 miles farther. Midway is 1,300 miles northwest of Hawaii.

[NormanStewart]

WAR BULLETINS!

Roosevelt summons aides

WASHINGTON – President Roosevelt today called in Secretary of State Cordell Hull, Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson and a group of Navy officials, presumably to discuss progress of the war and U.S. strategy.

Axis retreats in Libya

CAIRO – Axis forces are falling back steadily along a broad front west of Tobruk and about 40 miles inland from the coast in an effort to avoid encirclement and destruction, dispatches reported today.

Navy base blacked out

NEWPORT, Rhode Island – The Newport Naval Base was blacked out for a half-hour early today on receipt of “certain advices,” but officials later said the precautionary measures were the result of “mistaken identity” of airplanes.

Chinese airmen bomb Canton

NEW YORK – Radio Halifax, heard by the United Press, said today that Chinese planes had bombed Canton, and it was believed that the Chinese were preparing an offensive to retake the city, as part of their new drive to relieve pressure on Hong Kong.

Queen Wilhelmina pledges help

WASHINGTON – Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands has assured President Roosevelt of cooperation in this country’s war against Japan.

Poles declare war on Japan

WASHINGTON – The Polish Embassy announced today that Ambassador Jan Ciechanowski has received notice from his foreign minister in London that the Republic of Poland has declared the existence of war with Japan as of December 11.

Reds rout Nazi reserves

MOSCOW (UP, TASS agency broadcast recorded in London) – Dispatches from the Kalinin Front northeast of Moscow today said the Germans had thrown hastily formed reserves into an attempt to halt the Red Army offensive, but been forced to yield additional ground. The Nazis abandoned wounded men.

Japs claim air mastery

BERLIN (UP, official news agency broadcast recorded in London) – Tokyo Imperial Headquarters said that in a battle over Malaya, the British air force in the Far East was practically destroyed and Japan is master of the air. British losses were put at 129 planes and Japanese losses at 17.

Puerto Rico has air raid alarm

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico – Army reports that unidentified airplanes had been sighted off the Puerto Rico coast resulted in an air raid alarm throughout the island at 2:45 a.m. today and there was a blackout until dawn. There were no reports that bombs had been dropped.

Philippine airfields bombed

WASHINGTON – War Department communique No. 7 today said that Japanese aircraft bombed Cebu and Clark Field in the Philippines, and that the enemy’s plan appears now “clearly revealed” as an attempt to gain improvised air bases outside of the area held by our ground defenses.

Thailand due to freeze credits

LOS ANGELES – Thailand, which capitulated to Japan, has frozen all American and British assets and will break off diplomatic relations with those two nations, Radio Tokyo announced today in a broadcast heard here by NBC.

Florida on alert for air raid

JACKSONVILLE, Florida – Reports indicating the possibility of an air raid put naval and military establishments on the alert today and all radio stations in the Jacksonville area went off the air for nearly three hours, naval authorities reported.

Manila airfield raided

NEW YORK – CBS’s Manila correspondent broadcast today that, according to a U.S. headquarters communique issued there today, Japanese bombers attacked several Philippine airfields. Nichols Field, just south of Manila, was raided but damage was believed slight, the broadcast said. A Japanese bomber was believed shot down by a harbor defense anti-aircraft gun.

Plea for Red war on Japs unlikely

LONDON – Reliable quarters said today that Britain had decided for the present to refrain from asking Russia for a declaration of war against Japan. British official quarters were represented as believing that Russia’s war with Germany should be pressed to the utmost without any major diversion.

Newsmen will leave Germany

LONDON – The German official news agency said today in a Berlin broadcast heard by the United Press that U.S. newspapermen in Berlin would leave with American diplomats.

Nazis flying for Japanese

WASHINGTON – Nazi pilots flying warplanes made in Germany have been operating over China recently and may have participated in the Japanese assault on Pearl Harbor and the Philippines, Maj. Gen. P. Kiang, chief of the Chinese military mission to the United States, said today.

North Luzon reported ‘clear’

NEW YORK – The NBC correspondent in Manila, recorded by NBC in New York, said today that “the U.S. High Command announced this morning that in Northern Luzon, the area had been entirely cleared of Japanese invaders.”

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Use wicked bolos –
Luzon natives beheading Japs

Enemy fails to gain; rain aids Philippine defense
By Frank Hewlett, United Press staff writer

MANILA, Philippines (UP) – Filipino civilians are fighting side by side with the United States and Philippine forces against Japanese landing forces in the Aparri area of Northern Luzon Island, dispatches from the front reported today.

An NBC correspondent in Manila, recorded by NBC in New York, said today that “the U.S. High Command announced that in Northern Luzon, the area had been entirely cleared of Japanese invaders.”

Dispatches said townspeople, villagers, farmers and fishermen went from their homes to aid the defense forces and with their bolos, the wicked Philippine knives, beheaded many of the Japanese soldiers on the beaches as they landed.

Recruiting stations are crowded throughout the islands and youths of the Reserve Officers’ Training Corps are enlisting because they are too impatient to await their commissions.

Filipino morale is high and the people are tranquil despite heavy Japanese aerial bombings of the Manila area.

There was a dawn air raid alarm, but the “all-clear” was sounded after 50 minutes without incident.

The alarm was sounded because a small group of enemy planes was seen headed for Manila, but the planes were turned away.

An Army communique said last night was uneventful except for local activity in areas where the Japanese had landed troops.

It noted that Japanese forces at Legazpi, at the southeast tip of Luzon Island, had not been reinforced.

Rain aids defense

Rain, rare in the Philippines in December, had come to the aid of the defense forces in some parts of Luzon.

The Manila Bulletin reported that among Axis citizens arrested were four German brothers of De La Salle College and three clergymen of a Manila church.

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Navy censor named

MANILA, Philippines – G. H. Yette, manager of the Press Wireless Radio Office, was recalled to active duty today as a Navy warrant officer. He was assigned to be Navy censorship supervisor at the United Press radio station.

Knox talk cancelled

NEW YORK – NBC announced this morning that atmospheric conditions forced cancellation of a scheduled broadcast by Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox from Honolulu at 1 a.m. EST.

Victory program –
Home front is organized; 10 million men may fight

WASHINGTON (UP) – The fight for the survival of the United States took shape today on the home front and along the far-flung battle lines.

On the actual firing line, the Philippines have become the central theater of conflict in the Pacific.

The task at home has also become clearly defined.

More men will have to be called to the colors – perhaps 10 million in all.

More money will be thrown into the battle of production – about $5 billion a month – for more warships, more fighting planes, more guns.

More taxes are in store – a “several-billion-dollar” war tax bill is just around the corner.

And more sacrifices. People will have to get along with fewer of the things made of raw materials imported from the Far East.

Congress is getting ready to act on draft legislation that will require 40 million men from 18 to 65 to register. Only those between 18 and 44 (inclusive) will be subject to military service, permitting a draft army of 10 million strong. The rest will be subject to non-combatant duty under pending legislation which may be acted upon by the middle of next week.

Funds to equip the expanding forces with more weapons are provided in a $10,572,350,000 supplemental defense appropriations bill which was voted by the Senate yesterday and now goes to conference with the House.

On top of that, a new long-range naval expansion program to add 900,000 extra tons of fighting strength – 166 warships – to the fleet. This will cost in excess of $3 billion.

Heavy taxes to meet the staggering war bill will be discussed by congressional experts starting January 15.

Labor and industrial leaders will meet here next week to devise methods for uninterrupted armaments production. Mr. Roosevelt has given assurances that the 40-hour week will not be sacrificed in the contemplated seven-day week production schedule.

Spies mopped up

Coastal defenses are being bulwarked against the threat of enemy attacks. Potential spies and saboteurs are being mopped up by federal agents who have bagged 2,541 Axis aliens during the first week of the war. The War Department completed plans for radio blackouts when air raids impend.

The Senate appropriations measure – raising the government’s total stake in the war against the Axis to $69 billion – was passed by voice vote.

The Senate acknowledged the growing importance of planes in modern warfare by adding to the House version approximately $1 billion for Army and Navy air programs alone.

Allies to lead in planes

OPM Production Director W. H. Harrison said today American airplane output, coupled with Britain’s, will surpass that of Germany by next summer. The German monthly rate has already been surpassed, he said, and the future Allied program will outdistance Germany in actual numbers as well.

The Senate passed the bill after adding $360 million to the original $2 billion increase voted by its appropriations committee.

The floor additions included $68 million more for the Civil Aeronautics Authority for developing landing areas; a $290 million increase in funds for defense housing; and $1,500,000 to finance collection of the new $5 annual auto use tax and other levies in the last revenue bill.

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Shifting into high –
Ford goes on 24-hour day, full week war schedule

DETROIT, Michigan (UP) – The Ford Motor Company, with defense contracts totaling more than $900 million, began turning out arms to beat the Axis on a 24-hour, seven-days-a-week schedule today.

Edsel Ford, president of the company, announcing the schedule, said it was in effect, wherever practical. Workers in the $37,500,000 Pratt & Whitney airplane engine factory at River Rouge, Michigan, were put on two 10-hour shifts, seven days a week.

An around-the-clock schedule was also instituted at the $58,500,000 plant near Ypsilanti, Michigan, which will be turning out Consolidated B-24E bombers by spring, its airfield, in the engineering laboratory, tool and dye plant and magnesium foundry.

“We have taken this action in response to the government’s declaration of all-out effort on the war,” Mr. Ford said. “We have asked employees in the present defense operations to volunteer for a seven-day schedule can be maintained for the shop while the individual employee puts in only the normal week. The response to this request has been unanimous.”

The auto industry is closing down plants no longer needed because of restricted passenger car quotas, but Gov. Murray D. Van Wagoner of Michigan said at Lansing that he did not believe layoffs would cause much unemployment. The war would speed up arms production, he said, and they would be absorbed by defense plants.

Harry Bennett, Ford personnel director, said the company would close most of its non-defense plants next week.

Charles E. Wilson, president of General Motors, has estimated that 90,000 of the corporation’s 300,000 employees throughout the nation will have to be laid off.

Meanwhile, officials of the UAW-CIO asked for an immediate conference with heads of Chrysler Corp., to “conclude an honorable agreement” on the seven-day week “swing shift,” on defense work.

At the same time, a Chrysler spokesman said Plymouth, Dodge, DeSoto and Chrysler plants would close next Friday – four days earlier than previously scheduled.

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Central Americans put clamps on Axis

By the United Press

Central American nations were seizing Axis nationals and boats wholesale today, putting an end to the fifth column problem at the very outset of the war.

Mexican marines took two Japanese fishing vessels near San Jose del Cabo in Baja, California, and interned their crews of 12 men. Authorities said they had asked permission to fish for shark where shark fishing was notoriously bad and one boat recently had flown an American flag.

Three American bombers overhauled a Japanese fishing boat trying to flee into the Pacific from Caldera Harbor, Costa Rica. Its crew of seven Japanese and three Americans was imprisoned.

A dispatch from the Cuban coastal town of Pinar del Rio told of a Navy patrol arresting several Japanese.

Cuban Minister of the Interior Victor Vega Ceballos signed a decree for a concentration camp on the Isle of Pines off the southwest coast. If Japanese, German and Italian nationals violate wartime restrictions, they will be hustled off to it, he said.

The Cuban Navy was ordered to round up all Axis boats in its waters. One of the first seized was the 120-foot luxury yacht of Italian Prince Ruspollis, who had been living in semi-retirement in Havana for three years. The crew was interned.

U.S. bombers force Jap ship back to port

PUNTARENAS, Costa Rica (UP) – Three U.S. bombing planes today chased and overtook the Japanese fishing vessel Alert and forced it to return to Caldera Harbor. The incident gave rise to rumors that Japanese airplanes were attacking Costa Rica.

The planes chased the vessel, “harassing it with bombing,” after which the ship was brought back to port, where its crew of seven Japanese and three Americans were made prisoners.

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I DARE SAY —
Boy without country

By Florence Fisher Parry

I walked by a little Naples cafe. I walked by a little German meat market. I looked through the window at the little empty places, and the pale, sad man standing there.

Americans, they, victims now of a terrible convulsion of fate.

Oh, yes, there will be many of these little victims squeezed between the wheels of war. And we are helpless, too, in a measure. We can give them but dubious help. Discretion is the better part of valor, they say, and suspicion the better part of protection.

And then there are the young Americans – Americans at heart, I mean – who have been here too short a time to be naturalized, who have but barely escaped the thralldom of Europe, who came to America as to Heaven on Earth, and now find themselves looked at askance.

Land of promise

Let me tell you about this boy I know, a youth without a country.

Three years ago, he was living in a little town in Bavaria, somewhere between Munich and Nuremberg. a boy of 16 or so, then. He was a Jew, although not until recent years had that counted especially against him. Indeed, in his little village he was singled out by his playmates. as all boys in little German towns were who could boast of an uncle or cousin in America!

Then the systematic squeeze and purge began. The Hitler Youth Movement took hold of young Germany, and almost overnight it seemed to him he was an outcast. There was no place for him. The schools which until then had placed the accent upon academic achievement, turned to body worship, turned Spartan, and martial, and Hitler, and nothing mattered but Aryan blood, German-pure, Hitler-distilled.

So this boy came to America and found that it matched all his dreams, And what a dream! America to him (and to all Germany) was rich and strong and powerful, the land of honey, the land of freedom, reckless with riches and strength.

“Yon cannot imagine,” he said to me, “what a picture of America we had! The only fault in Americans that we even would consider was that perhaps they were a little loose, wasteful and cocksure, but even that, to us, seemed like a magnificent virtue – we who were so restrained and repressed, and ordered about, and managed.”

“Well, did America live up to your dream?” I asked.

“Oh, yes,” he answered, “more than that. No German boy can realize that such liberty can be true until he comes here and sees it working all around him.”

The only thing that seems to sadden him is the knowledge that most of his young friends from his little village are among frozen corps on the eastern front of Russia, or among those of whom the bulletin reads: “German soldiers are crying like babies,” and “The Italians are dying like flies out of Moscow.”

Not wanted

Well, the other day this boy tried to enlist in the United States Army, the Navy and the Marines, and of course everywhere he went he was refused. He was an alien. The United States could not use him.

He came back depressed and saddened, but he understood it perfectly, and when I asked him: “Do you know what enlistment means? That it means literally offering your life?" he said. “I would be ashamed to offer less.”

And when I said to him: “Is it that you have grown to hate your native land? I thought nationality was a thing too deep to change so quickly,” he answered: “But Germany is no longer Germany. However, that is not why I tried to enlist – not through hatred, not because I wanted to deny my nationality. No, I tried to enlist simply because of my gratitude to America for showing me, a German boy, that there could be such a life, such a world, such a land of freedom and happiness.

You should have seen his face as he spoke.it was alight. It shone.

And, there are others, who, knowing America but briefly, overflow with gratitude so much that thy feel privileged at the chance to offer their lives – young aliens in America whom Uncle Sam must refuse!

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Appeal made for recruits for Air Corps

Army calls for 20,000 monthly to train as fliers

WASHINGTON (UP) – The Army today appealed for Air Corps volunteers, ns Congress began consideration of legislation to require all men between the ages of 18 and 64, inclusive, to register for military or non-combatant service.

The Army Recruiting Service said it needed 20,000 applicants a month, between the ages of 20 and 26, for training as pilots. It also called for 150.000 other volunteers between 18 and 35 for ground services required by expansion of the pilot training program.

It said enlistments for the duration of the war are needed in other branches.

Urges draft change

Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson, meanwhile, urged enactment of the proposed vastly-expanded draft law “to provide a framework into which we can steadily and solidly build, stone by stone, the structure which will accomplish victory.”

He made the plea in a letter read before the House Military Affairs Committee.

“I desire to emphasize,” Mr. Stimson wrote, “the psychological or moral effects of the passage of a great measure along these lines. It will make clear to the American people the character of the effort that will be required to defeat the vast forces arrayed against us.

“To the outside world it will be a symbol that we are providing the means to make good our declared policy to ‘accept no result save victory, final and complete.’”

Urges manpower pool

Mr. Stimson said the purpose of the measure was to “make available, if and when necessary, a great pool of men to meet contingencies.”

He cautioned against legislating to restrict the “priorities” by which registrants may be called into the armed forces.

Mr. Stimson’s letter was read by Committee Chairman Andrew J. May, D-Kentucky, as the committee opened brief hearings on his bill which would provide a basis for a draft army of 10 million men.

Registration planned

The bill would require the registration of all male residents of the United States from 18 to 64 years of age, inclusive, making those from 19 to 44, inclusive, subject to actual military duty.

Selective Service Director Lewis B. Hershey was to appear before the House committee to urge approval of the broad registration legislation.

The Senate Military Affairs Committee, which discusses the proposal behind closed doors today, hopes to offer the completed bill for consideration Monday.

Bill to be ready Monday

The House committee plans to have the bill in final form by Monday so debate can begin Tuesday with a vote perhaps on Wednesday.

Mr. Hershey has proposed that the estimated 10 million men from 19 to 44, inclusive, be subject to military service. The estimated 30 million men who fall outside that age bracket but are within the 18-64 limits would be on call for any type of non-combatant service the War Department sees fit.

There was no serious opposition to the proposals as outlined to Congress yesterday by the War Department. The national policy, the department said, will be “to accept no result save victory, final and complete.”

Disagreement seen

Some disagreement was expected over suggestions to register men younger than 21 and older than 45, but Mr. May said Congress is “going to do whatever has to be done to save the country.”

Seven Republican members of the House committee met late yesterday and were reported to have agreed to “go all the way” on the legislation except for the 65-year age limit provision. Rep. Dewey Short, R-Missouri, thought there was “not much sense” in registering men over 45.

Begin reclassification

Local draft boards, meanwhile, began a reclassification of an estimated one million men deferred under the present Selective Service Law because of industrial employment, minor physical defects or for other reasons. There are an additional one million eligible selectees as yet uncalled.

Mr. Hershey disclosed that plans are under consideration to provide some means of support for the families of married men in case this group is needed to man guns.

Drafting of women is not under consideration at this time, Mr. Hershey said, except insofar as they can replace men at industrial machines.

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Jury convicts 14 Nazi spies

Verdict ends first war conspiracy trial

NEW YORK (UP) – Fourteen persons convicted of transmitting information on U.S. defenses to Germany and failing to register as foreign agents awaited sentencing today at the end of the first espionage trial of the war.

A federal jury in Brooklyn found them guilty after more than nine hours deliberation. It returned its verdict shortly before last midnight, 14 weeks to the day after the trial started. Federal Judge Mortimer W. Byers remanded the 14 to jail until Monday, which he set for sentencing.

They face a maximum jail sentence of 22 years each.

Attorneys for Edmund Heine, who once earned $30,000 a year as managing director of the Ford Motor Company in Germany, said he would appeal the verdict. Other defense counsel made no immediate statement.

The conviction was the climax of FBI counterespionage activities which began in February 1940.

The defendants heard the decisions without demonstration. They were: Frederick J. Duquesne, 63; Rudolf Ebeling, 43; Axel Wheeler-Hill, 41; Josef A. Klein, 38; Leo Waalen, 34; Heinrich C. Eilers, 42; Herman Lang, 40; Carl Reuper, 37; Conradin Dold, 35; Franz Stigler, 34, and Paul A.W. Scholz, 41, all of New York; Edmund Carle Heine, 50, of Pleasant Ridge, Michigan; Erich Strunck, 32, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin, and Adolf H. A. Walischewski, 50, address unknown.

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City ‘embarrasses’ its mayor –
LaGuardia ‘shocked,’ calls for blackout of New York

NEW YORK (UP) – Mayor Fiorello H. LaGuardia, who, as national director of Civilian Defense, was shocked by his own city’s indifference to air raid alarms while he was showing the Pacific Coast what to do, perfected plans today for a complete blackout of New York.

The “Little Flower” arrived last night after spending five days on the coast. While there, he learned that New Yorkers had largely ignored alarms or ran into the streets, gawking at the sky.

“Was I embarrassed?” he said.

His said his first move would be to consult electrical engineers about the most expeditious means of turning off thousands of electrical switches and traffic lights in case of attack.

Police Commissioner Lewis J. Valentine said a complete blackout would be held soon. As a rehearsal, theatrical electricians of the Theatrical Protective Union (AFL) will blot out the blazing signs and theater marquees along West 45th St. – heart of the Great White Way – at 9 o’clock tonight.

Mayor LaGuardia said he would broadcast a message to New Yorkers tomorrow, and it was expected to be about their conduct during air raids.

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12 French ships seized by U.S.

Use of Normandie, others not yet determined

WASHINGTON (UP) – The government, having tightened its custody over 12 French ships, including the liner Normandie, withheld a decision today on formally requisitioning them for American use.

Coast Guardsmen and Marines supplanted the French crews of the 12 ships yesterday “as a matter of necessary protection to the crews and vessels.”

The Justice Department last night said the French crew members had been taken to immigration stations so their passports could be checked. They will be released on parole.

The government wanted to make certain he ships would no be sabotaged by anyone as were German and Italian vessels before Coast Guardsmen could take them over last spring.

Maritime officials said they “have not reached any conclusion” on the proposal to formally requisition the ships. French officials said they were assured the French flag would continue to fly over the ships.

The seizures took place in New York, New Orleans, Los Angeles, San Francisco, Mobile and the Canal Zone.

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Young widow proud of first U.S. war hero

Japs will remember him, she says of Kelly who sank battleship

NEW YORK – The pretty widow of Capt. Colin P. Kelly Jr., the Army flier whose bombs sank the first Japanese battleship to founder under American attack in this war, said proudly last night that “the Japs will remember him.”

She spoke without tears, holding firmly to Colin P. Kelly, III, their year-and-a-half-old son.

“He was a marvelous officer,” she said. “I know he would have wanted to die in action.”

She and Capt. Kelly were married August 1, 1937, six weeks after he had been graduated from West Point. Thereafter he was assigned to Randolph, Kelly, March and Hickam Fields and finally to the Philippines, where he was stationed at Clark Field, receiving his assignment there in early September.

Mrs. Kelly, an attractive brunette, said her husband was the first West Pointer to fly a Flying Fortress. He was assigned to teach other aviators to pilot the big four-motored bombers which since have become the pride of the Army Air Corps.

Dispatches from Manila said Capt. Kelly vanished in the roaring explosion that sank the Japanese battleship Haruna as the pilot plunged his craft straight down at the enemy and released a stick of high explosives almost into the mouths of flaming Japanese guns.

Lt. Gen. Douglas MacArthur, commander of the Far Eastern army, wrote his epitaph in a communique issued at Manila yesterday:

“Gen. MacArthur announced with great sorrow the death of Capt. Colin Kelly Jr., who so distinguished himself by scoring three direct hits on the Japanese capital ship Haruna, leaving her in flames and in distress,” it said.

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Report by Nazis –
War declared by Bulgarians

German troops are massed near Turkey
By the United Press

Bulgaria declared war on the United States and Great Britain today, the German official news agency said in a Sofia dispatch.

The Berlin radio, heard by the United Press in London, broadcast the dispatch.

The Bulgarian Parliament had been called into extraordinary session today, and the war announcement had been anticipated.

Nazi forces massed

Significance was attached to the declaration because of Turkey’s delicate status as a neutral allied to Britain.

Germany has massed important forces in Bulgaria within striking distance of the Turkish frontier and the Bulgarian Army has been fully mobilized for many months.

Axis sources made much of British attacks on Vichy French ships, and Vichy itself said that “measures have been taken to insure that such cowardly attacks cease.”

The Vichy statement was read in the light of reports that Germany and Italy are seeking to get control of the Vichy fleet and Vichy naval bases in Africa.

Sub sinks French ship

Vichy’s statement on “measures” was issued apropos the sinking of the steamship St. Denis, on its way from Africa to France, off the Spanish Balearic Islands by a submarine it believed to be British.

Italy and Spain reported that British patrol boats had captured the French steamship Formigny (2,166 tons) and taken it to Gibraltar.

An Italian official news agency dispatch from Santander, Spain, reported that an unidentified airplane had attacked a 200-ton French steamship.

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Hawaii quiet; drugs frozen

By Frank Tremaine, United Press staff writer

HONOLULU (UP, Dec. 12, delayed) – Hawaii has spent its fourth quiet night since Sunday’s Japanese air raids.

The military governor’s office announced there had been no developments in the combat situation.

It said that there had been no reports of sabotage by Japanese.

Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox is conferring with high naval officers.

Some families who had evacuated Honolulu have returned and others are preparing to come back.

The military governor’s office, announcing a list of newspapers which would be permitted to publish, omitted the Japanese-American Hawaii Hochi and Nippu Jiji of Honolulu and the Hawaii Nichi-Nichi of Hilo.

Military authorities prepared to freeze all medical supplies in the islands but said there was no drug shortage and that the freezing was designed merely to prevent hoarding. Civilians will be permitted to obtain drugs on a physician’s prescription.

Harry Bridges, Longshoremen’s Union leader, cabled Clifford O’Brien, Longshoremen’s Union representative here, ordering longshoremen to move all ships and cargoes without delay and to guard against sabotage.

[NormanStewart]

Roosevelt bars news on Hawaii

WASHINGTON (UP) – American press associations, newspapers and radio stations yesterday received a warning from President Roosevelt against publication of anything about Sunday’s attack on Hawaii or present conditions there until the government has heard from Secretary of the Navy Knox, who is making a personal survey of the damage wrought in the surprise Japanese air assault.

At the same time the commander in chief requested newspapers and radio stations to refrain from publishing casualty lists, saying that the government will release for publication only total figures on casualties, but not names or where the casualties occurred.

The next of kin of the dead or wounded will be notified immediately by telegram, Mr. Roosevelt said, adding that the Army and Navy felt that publication of lists of men killed or wounded in action would provide information of aid to the enemy, enabling the enemy to determine where and when large numbers of American soldiers and sailors suffered losses.

Mr. Roosevelt said newspapers should confine themselves to brief stories that the next of kin of a given man in the paper’s individual area has been notified by Washington, but that there should not be compilation of lists for a given community.

This, he said, would conform with the common agreement now prevailing in countries which have been at war some time.

The War Department later issued a statement announcing it will discontinue issuance of casualty lists and requesting the press to refrain from making up lists from information received from relatives.

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Church leaders ask unity in war effort

Clergy rallies behind governments as conflict in Pacific gets underway

WASHINGTON (RNS) – With the nation at war, religious leaders and religious organizations in the nation’s capital called on the country to bring a spirit of self-sacrifice to the conflict.

In a statement to Religious News Service, Col. William R. Arnold, chief of chaplains of the U.S. Army, declared:

“Patriotism is a religious virtue. The men in the Army bring a deep sense of duty and the spirit of self-sacrifice to the conflict. In war or in peace, patriotism is a religious virtue.

“The religious program of the Army remains the same now as before. There will be services Sundays and on days during the week. We will do all we can do to put as much religion as possible in the hearts and minds of the men.”

Special statement

A special statement from Dr. Gould Wickey, general secretary of the National Conference of Church-Related Colleges, follows:

“The assault on the United States when she was striving to maintain peace in the Pacific will affect a united nation for the defense of national honor, justice and righteousness. The Church-related colleges of America, both Catholic and Protestant, have been cooperating with our national officials to maintain those ideals which form the basis of the American way of life. Our students are trained to be soldiers of civilization, who are willing to sacrifice to the utmost for the perpetuation of a Christian civilization and in opposition to the conditions of fear, ignorance and slavery.”

Urges calmness

Dr. Walter O. Lewis, general secretary of the Baptist World Alliance, also in a special statement, said the following: “We ought to keep our heads, think clearly, and not get stampeded. Our country ought to be united. We must be willing to make the necessary sacrifices.”

The headquarters of the Baptist World Alliance have been moved to Washington from London for the duration.

Members of the local Washington clergy spoke of the war as follows:

The Rev. Dr. Oscar F. Blackwelder, pastor of the Lutheran Church of the Reformation and president of the Washington Federation of Churches: “Whatever the future holds, I wish the circumstances leading up to this fateful day could have been different. Whatever the military meaning of this day, for the church it seems another in a long series of heavy burdens. The church, especially in a day of war and crisis, must put on lights when nations put them out.”

Rabbi Norman Gerstenfeld of the Washington Hebrew Congregation: “Now is the time for America to stand united behind the decision of its chosen leaders. They must, with God in their hearts, determine the path of duty.”

Dr. McCartney replies

The Rev. Dr. Albert Joseph McCartney, pastor of Covenant First Presbyterian Church: “This is a solemn hour in the history of our nation. It is an anxious hour for all those who have sons in the service or who presently will be in the service. The question of war or peace has been taken out of our hands. I see no other course but the most aggressive resistance.

“As for the churches, they must carry on with greater vigor and more popular support than ever. Now is the time for the president to call for a day of humiliation, prayer and guidance.”

The Rev. Dr. William S. Abernathy, pastor of the Calvary Baptist Church: “I am stunned. I hate war so terribly, but we cannot stand by and let them do what they did to us yesterday.”

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Editorial: Let’s try it

The best possible way to all-out, non-stop production for victory would be through voluntary cooperation.

Let’s try it.

All have made mistakes in the past – labor, industry, government.

Let’s start a new page.

Last week, most Americans were convinced that there must be strong legislation to prevent strikes.

Let’s withdraw that judgment and assume that strikes will be prevented without legislation of the type passed by the House. If the assumption proves wrong, if strikes are not prevented, legislation can come fast, and will.

The great mistake was in thinking that we had time – time to stop work and fight among ourselves. Almost everyone, including the spokesmen for labor, said that production offered the country’s only hope of safety. But almost nobody acted as if it was true. For, with the war so far away, almost nobody could quite believe it.

Now we know it was true. Now we realize that every man-hour lost in the mining of coal, the making of steel, the building of ships, the manufacture of planes and tanks and guns and ammunition, was bringing deadly danger nearer to our own country and our own homes.

And in this time of national awakening every member of organized labor is entitled to the opportunity to prove that he will serve willingly, gladly and without even the shadow of compulsion. Those who claim that opportunity as their own right – and we do claim it – should not deny it to others.

The president has called for next week a conference of representatives of labor, industry and government for the purpose of agreement on procedure to settle all differences without interruption of work.

From industry, that will require recognition in complete good faith of labor’s rights.

From labor, that will require recognition in complete good faith that its rights must not be abused.

From both it will require great sacrifices.

We have believed, and still believe, that the greater errors of the recent past have been on labor’s side. Government stood ready with laws and powers to help labor enforce every just demand, and some demands that seemed less than just. Yet labor often chose to use that weapon which should have been employed only as a last resort, the strike.

If there is to be no present effort to impose responsibility by law, we think labor has a special obligation to accept responsibility and to remedy, by its own action, certain obvious wrongs.

There should be a truce in labor’s own civil war, a binding agreement to protect the country from damage by jurisdictional quarrels. There should be authority within the labor movement to require compliance by all unions with “no strike” promises made in labor’s name. There should be no barring of men from war work by extortionate fees. And certainly labor itself should free unions from control by racketeers and Communists.

The demand for legislation arose because labor refused to clean its own house. If labor will now undertake that task, promptly, fearlessly and with ruthless determination, the country will gain faith and hop for the way of voluntary cooperation.

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Ferguson: Modern Moloch

By Mrs. Walter Ferguson

Once upon a time, in a far-off land, there lived an ancient race. They worshipped a god called Moloch, to whom they sacrificed their children. Their god was an idol, built of shining metal, and periodically they made a fire within the colossal figure and upon its outstretched, incandescent arms mothers flung their babies, who were quickly roasted to death.

Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? Unintelligent and pagan and sinister? But is it actually any more sinister or pagan or unintelligent than our own behavior? For we, too, have made ourselves a new god – the Machine – and we worship his might, and glory in his achievements, and give our children to his insatiable demands, even as the people of that ancient race once yielded theirs to Moloch.

I thought of this the other day as I stood by the side of a mother weeping the sudden death of her little boy under auto wheels. “Oh, why can’t we do something about it? Why can’t we? Why can’t we?” she wailed.

Is it really true that we can do nothing to stop the auto deaths? No, it isn’t true. We could put a stop to it tomorrow, if we were not reluctant to curb the power of our machinery, says Roy Helton in the current Harpers – we could stop the accident rate on our highways if we demanded a system of speed control on our autos.

When we think about the question in terms of human life, and not in those of joy riding and exhilaration, we know that this is so. But if you want to learn how little the average man really cares about the auto death rate, ask the next one you meet whether he would sanction a law for speed control on motor cars and see what he says. Maybe this is another matter for women’s attention.

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Pegler: Merchants of death

By Westbrook Pegler

NEW YORK – This nation has little to thank Adolf Hitler for, but, to give the devil his due, he has relieved us of all such confusion as troubled some Americans for a long time after the first German war on the world and divided the people down to last Sunday in the present one.

This time there can be no suggestion that the international bankers or our soulless munitioneers, or merchants of death, kicked up a great war for profit. The international banker is nowhere in this situation, for the financing has been carried on directly between this government, thrice elected by the people, and our Allies with the permission of the people’s representatives in Congress. The war was prepared and started by a nation which had stolen all the money that the sucker nations, in their generosity, would give or lend to set the German people on their feet and then not only repudiated all debt but accused the suckers of trying to enslave them by lavish gifts, loans and investments.

Merchants of death were not on job

It was preceded by a long, yowling campaign of self-pity which wrung the hearts of Germany’s late enemies and moved some sentimental historians to conclude that the Allies had been guilty of a great wrong in resisting the Kaiser’s war machine from 1914 on. And while he was sobbing and bawling over the humiliations of his noble countrymen in the years after 1918, Hitler was creating another war machine embracing all the industry of the entire nation and all 1ts manpower.

But neither our American merchants of death nor Britain’s were on the job during this period. Thanks to Sen. Gerald Nye, who conducted one of those circus inquiries into the munitions trade, the American merchants of death had sickened of the ingratitude of their countrymen and had applied themselves to the manufacture of household gadgets, silk stockings and other harmless devices dear to the hearts of a comfort-loving people. The merchant of death proved to be human after al and was so ashamed of his calling that he turned square, leaving us with no plant ready to turn out the tools that are used in war.

The skills of the workers in the war industries had died or grown dull or been dispersed when Hitler started this war. For years the long and almost continuous stretch of war-industry country between Providence and Baltimore was dark most of the time. The trains rushed past sagging factories with faded “For Sale” signs pleading weakly on their walls. Windows were stoned out by town kids who one day, sooner than they could realize, would be needing weapons and machines from those plants. No smoke came from the crumbling, rusty stacks of the foundries and the ways of the shipyards were empty, save for an occasional subsidized liner, tanker or a tug in to be scrapped. Jobless men camped along the right-of-way and the United States not only was disarmed, except upon the seas, but without the equipment or the skill to manufacture or use weapons.

Government built up war industries

Britain, at the same time, had dropped her guard so deplorably that when old Chamberlain went to Munich to bow in humiliation and beg for peace, and time, the British simply couldn’t take on a fight with Hitler. France had no aviation at all, the United States was not much better off and Britain, too, though brave, was running a bluff which presently carried through by the magnificent few to whom Winston Churchill acknowledged the debt of the grateful many.

To President Roosevelt’s dogged, powerful campaign against the indifference of a people unaware, the United States owes the fact that within the past 18 months this country has largely revived the skills of the munitions and armaments trades and prepared the nation to fight in the air before the fight is over.

But it was the national government this time, not the merchants of death, that built up the war industries to their present promising state so startling against the memory of the bleakness of those plants up to 1935 and after. The president had read Hitler’s book, his speeches and his actions and anticipated, in a general way, at least, the course he would take which was unimaginable to most other statesmen and common people.

So, when Japan, with 10 years of almost continuous experience in war, struck the United States at Hitler’s bidding, all doubt was gone. This wasn’t a bankers’ war or a business promotion job of the evil munitioneers. It was a war of national defense, personal to every American, and within the week the government, itself, had been compelled to order the 24-hour day and the seven-day week and take over the abandoned trade of the merchants of death.

[grayknight1781]

@NormanStewart

No one will vanquish Germany. No one will destroy German unity

Spoilers

@NormanStewart

had never interfered in American affairs; had aided the United States in winning its war of independence

I could be here forever debunking what Hitler has said, but I just want to point out that the only German involvment in the American War for Independence were mercenaries known as the “Hessians” who fought for the British.

[NormanStewart]

Clapper: Bill of Rights

By Raymond Clapper

WASHINGTON – Property, money, material possessions don’t mean much now. Freedom, the right to live our own lives, to live as a first-rank nation – that is all that counts now.

This is a war to save for ourselves and for all other peoples those principles of the Bill of Rights written into our Constitution just 150 years ago December 15.

The Bill of Rights can exist for individuals or for nations only in a free world safe from conquest. Regimes of forces can’t tolerate them. Even in our own country, we may have to suspend some of those rights during the war. In wartime these freedoms can exist only if people voluntarily refrain from exercising them to the full. You can’t fight a war with a country full of people acting like Sen. Tobey.

These 10 precious amendments to our Constitution instill into a few simple principles the whole conception of the free way of life. They only set down in substance the practice of most free nations. You know the Bill of Rights. Freedom of speech and religion. Protection from search and seizure of persons, their homes and papers. No taking of private property without due compensation. Fair trial by jury. No cruel or unusual punishment. Those are the essential ones.

Dictators don’t allow Bill of Rights

These rules do not exist under the Nazis or any other totalitarian regime. The reason is that they would be fatal. Always they are the first rule to go when dictatorship replaces parliamentary self-government. The totalitarian regime must suppress free speech. It must spy on and arrest people and hold them without trial and subject them to brutal punishment because all these regimes rest upon absolute, unquestioned force imposed from the top. In practice the most convenient weapon for mass enforcement is fear. The horrible example, the blood purge, the concentration camp, the midnight secret arrest and the household spy are the means by which the dictator cows and rules his country and prevents the rise of an opposition that might overthrow him. The dictator must take this course as a matter of self-preservation.

This war must go to a knockout of one side. We know now after Pearl Harbor that we are not safe until Japan, Germany and Italy are smashed. Only then will we be safe from another treacherous attack. Only then will any nation be free from such danger.

So this is the good war. It is the war against treachery and brutality, against ugly, bootheel conquest, against slavery of individuals and of nations, against those whose answer to every argument is to pull out a gun. The heroes of Wake Island, and Capt. Kelly who was killed while sinking a Japanese battleship, have fought to save civilization’s greatest possession, the spirit of the Bill of Rights.

We know that if the Nazi Axis wins, the Nazi system will be imposed internally upon all countries as it was imposed on Vichy France, through submissive, cooperative stooges.

U.S. way of life depends upon victory

Hitler does not permit conquered countries to maintain parliamentary self-government. His victims are held either by military occupation or by Quisling politicians who will play the game with him and take orders.

If we would not make peace with a Hitler Germany, do you think Hitler would make peace with a Roosevelt America, with a democratic America? He would insist upon a new regime willing to do business with him in his way of doing business. He hates parliamentary bodies as he hates Jews. You can read it in his book. Congress would be his first victim. He would insist upon an American regime which allowed no such nonsense as the Bill of Rights.

This is not fantastic. Did we not insist upon Germany setting up a republic before we would make peace at the end of the last war? Remember, Hitler believes in his system as we believe in ours. He won’t make peace with our kind of government any more than we will make peace with his kind.

Literally our way of life depends upon victory. Our Constitution and our system cannot survive unless we win. That is why this is a good war.

P.S. We need planes to win a good war. Planes cost money. Buy defense bonds and stamps.

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Maj. Williams: We must think!

By Maj. Al Williams

War and we are in it. One people behind one president. Forgotten are our personal differences. Forgotten are our personal ideas and plans as to the methods by which we might have improved our fighting front against the foreign enemy. We are a funny people, so terribly human in our weaknesses and our strengths. We will fight like hell among ourselves. That is our right. It is the natural end result of our most precious heritage, free speech. But let one foreign outfit mess around with us, and then Americans stand forth in all the strange lights that distinguish Americans from all other peoples, united tighter than the molecules of the finest grained steel – a solid front against the enemy.

We’re in this war, and in it to the finish. And it’s got to be victory. I know this is the time when emotion runs above the boiling point and by the same token, this is the warning signal which should impress upon us that we’ve got to think our way through modern warfare.

The World War was the last war that could be “muddled through.” This one we’ve got to think. Think coolly in a straight line – consolidate all our efforts and might – draw in our scattered horns and hazy plans and smash the Japs.

Heard news while flying

The news of the daring air attack of the Japs against the stronghold of American sea power in the Pacific came to me while I was aloft at 6,000 feet, flying toward New York City. The drone of the big Wright “Cyclone” in my single-seater plus the bright blue sky and nothing to do but hold my course had lulled my senses. It was about 4:30 p.m. The sun was dropping down, its lower rim touching the horizon. For the sake of something to do, I donned my earphones and, not needing the airways radio, tuned to the commercial wavelengths. And then the news of the Pacific war came to me. We’ll all remember that afternoon.

War in the Pacific! The whole, entire world at war now. An air war – and the first blow had been struck from the air. Airpower against sea power. A struggle not primarily for the old-time objective of land, land. This war is to control the Pacific Ocean and controlling that, the land is thrown in, the spoils of the victor. This is the first of the wars of which I have talked so much and so long, the first War of the Continents. The intercontinental lines are not as clearly drawn now as they may be in the foreseeable future, because England is on our side or rather, we and the British Empire are fighting together.

It took me a long time actually to concede to myself that the Japs had attacked the strongest naval stronghold we possess in the Pacific. Manila and Guam – well, we always considered them outposts. But Hawaii. Well, it seemed incredible. After all, hasn’t this entire war been one of “the incredibles” – not only in the Jules Vernish tactics and surprises, but also in the shifting alinements.

Our task is clear cut

But our task is definite. It may be a long, tough job. But, God willing, we’ll do it. No more high-sounding words now. No more emotion. This is our country’s job.

And while we are in this mood, why not get it all to print? A newspaper columnist is certainly justified in writing to his readers as simply and in a heartfelt manner as if he were talking to each one personally. During the past few years I have been sorely tried, worried and distressed. My country was in danger, and I knew it in my heart. Realistic preparations for the stern realities of realistic war didn’t follow my visions – visions based on what I had seen so many times and so often laid clear in Europe when the Martian forge was heating and hammering out weapons.

Unrest and even distrust was becoming evident in our country. And then it all changed. A foreign nation had attacked American possessions, had killed American fighting men.

Don’ts let’s waste time boiling emotionally about the treacherous stiletto attack. That’s war, and the sooner we begin to think in war terms, the sooner American arms will triumph. And the sooner we’ll launch air attacks against Japan proper that will make Hawaii and Guam and Manila look like child’s play.

But above all other observations, THANK GOD I LIVED TO SEE A DAY WHEN ALL THIS UNREST AMONG MY FELLOW AMERICANS VANISHED LIKE A BAD DREAM, SOMETHING THAT NEVER REALLY EXISTED. Thank God we are all one people again. All Americans with one American purpose – the purpose of victory against the forces that attacked us.

Stand steady, countrymen. Hold from jitters. Our national purpose is now clear. We are going to win with our spirit brave – guided by cool, enterprising American brains.

[NormanStewart]

‘International Lady’ Stanley film feature

Ilona Massey and George Brent star in story saboteurs – Earl Carroll’s ‘Vanities’ presented on stage
By Dick Fortune

Now those sinister spies created by imaginative scenario writers have a new trick. They’re sending out their code messages concealed in the music broadcast by a famous concert singer.

That’s the new twist in the latest melodrama about espionage, “International Lady,” which is the current screen feature at the Stanley.

The picture is pretty entertaining even though the mullarkey about the messages in the music is a little hard to swallow. I have only the highest regard for the work of our FBI agents, but that music dissection sounds like something out of the “Tom Swift" books.

The story concerns the activities of a very beautiful singer, Carla Nillsen, who is supposed to be a Scandinavian refugee in London. Somehow Tim Hanley, an American G-man, suspects her of being a member of a sabotage ring which is raising havoc with the delivery of planes to England. He arranges to meet her “by accident” and takes her to a night club. There they meet an Englishman who poses as a music critic for a newspaper, but in reality is an agent of Scotland Yard.

Carla wants to get to the United States and Tim thinks that he may clear up the mystery if she gets her visa, so through his efforts she gets a permit without delay. Tim frets passage, too, and, at Lisbon, they find that the Scotland Yard man is New York-bound, too.

The plot thickens when the trio arrives in this country, but Tim and the Britisher decide to go their separate ways in search of a solution. When the saboteurs are finally rounded up the two men share the credit, but Tim seems destined to win the girl after the war mess is over.

Director Tim Whalen has kept things moving along nicely and gets important support from an excellent cast. Lovely Ilona Massey fulfills the requirement that all women spies in the movies must be beautiful makes a convincing aide for the sabotage ring. George Brent is the G-man and Basil Rathbone is the Scotland Yard ace, so these roles are in good hands. Others who help make the picture good entertainment are Gene Lockhart, Martin Kosleck, George Zucco and Marjorie Gateson.

Earl Carroll’s “Vanities” is the Stanley stage attraction, and though there are a number of entertaining bits, the show is a long, long way from those extravaganzas which once were the “Vanities.” It’s more like a summer theater production of a Broadway revue.

Stars of the show are the Slate Brothers who can be pretty good entertainers whenever they desire. They have a tendency to slip into the “blue” routines which, with their talents, is unnecessary. They can be very funny and are most of the time when they’re on-stage. Buster Shaver and his two tiny bundles of talent. Olive and George, also prove popular, as does the comedy of the Wiere Brothers. The show also has the usual ensemble of girls, but the resulting scenes are somewhat less than breathtaking. The Stanley’s edition of the “Vanities” really is a forgotten stepsister of those lavish productions which gave Carroll his reputation.

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Expert makes movie mistakes a business

Technical adviser eyes all scenes in ‘period pictures’ trying to detect anachronisms in ornaments, wearing apparel
By Paul Harrison, NEA Service staff correspondent

HOLLYWOOD (NEA) – The greatest irritations in the current life of William Gilmore Beymer are wristwatches, cigarettes and tinted fingernails. He finds them more vexing than taxes, Hitler and the common cold. Mr. Beymer is a technical adviser on period pictures, and after providing data for stories, sets and costumes, he sticks around during production and spots anachronisms.

Just now he’s watching the ladies and other females, and the gentlemen and gamblers, in Republic’s colorful showboat movie of the 1870s, “Lady for a Night.” While we talked, Beymer was wearing a wristwatch he had just taken from Ray Middleton before a scene began. Among the extras, he spied girls with high heels, scarlet nails and bobbed hair.

Sally Randish

The salon was crowded with some 200 principals and extras who surrounded the tables. At this point the scenarist had written that the chorus should be doing a pasamala or a bombashay, but the technical expert squelched it with the news that these dances hadn’t been developed then.

Beymer specializes in checking details of movies dealing with the latter half of the past century. Not that he’s that old, although he has a snow-white goatee and mustache and is very dignified. A former member of the staff of Harper’s Magazine, he wrote many articles about the Civil War, and then some books of his own.

He has found and corrected a lot of errors, mostly thoughtless ones such as the placing of a picture of Harriet Beecher Stowe on a wall of an old Richmond house. Nothing gave him quite such a start, though, as walking into another such set one day, representing the parlor of a Southern mansion in the 60’s, and finding over the mantle a large steel engraving of Lincoln and his cabinet signing the Emancipation Proclamation.

Not for nice girls

Cigarettes, which had come from England by way of soldiers returning from the Crimean War, were getting started in the United States in the ‘70s, Beymer said. But relatively few men and no nice girls smoked ‘em. Miss Joan Blondell, no lady in “Lady for a Night,” smokes one and sets the boat afire.

Incidentally, the man who had the most to do with women’s acceptance of cigarettes was Herbert J. Yates, now head of Republic Pictures. About 25 years ago, then a tobacco company executive, he put showmanship into merchandizing by hiring a number of proper and attractive women to smoke cigarettes in theater lobbies between acts and in some of the better restaurants. Sensational at first, it started a fad which became a commonplace habit.

Dough in the films

When Yates went into the movie business, he demonstrated something that the stockholders of some of the big picture companies have not yet realized – that there’s big money in it. There aren’t any stockholders in Republic, though, nor is there any indebtedness. Yates personally owns every foot and stick of it, and he is the only one-man producer and distributor in America.

Six years ago, he bought what is now the Republic lot for $135,000. It included 35 acres and two soundstages. Today it has 16 stages and other buildings, 10 acres of streets and permanent sets, a recent addition of 33 acres for future development, and is worth at least $1,500,000.

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Hollywood beauties mauled and cuffed and kicked in the movies now in production

By Charles R. Moore

HOLLYWOOD – It is beginning to look like a rough winter for some of Hollywood’s lovelies.

The writer, who can “take it” like fight managers, have packed a number of scripts with situations not designed for the comfort of the feminine stars.

Red-haired Ann Sheridan already has been kicked in the most convenient place by Richard Whorf, for benefit of the Warner Bros.’ cameras recording “Juke Girl.”

Ann wanted to kick back but the director said no. It wasn’t written that way.

Bette Davis, just elected to the dignified post of president of the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences, came back to the studio next day and had to submit to the indignity of a slapping from Dennis Morgan.

It was in the picture “In This Our Life,” and director John Huston insisted the slapping was vital to the plot.

Kaaren Verne is finding Hollywood a rough place in “All Through the Night.” She takes numerous socks from Humphrey Bogart, the cad.

Even the elegant Constance Bennett is scheduled for indignities in “Law of the Tropics.” Jeffrey Lynn makes her the target of a bombardment of rubber-powered paper wads.

Maybe you can blame Jimmy Cagney for all this. Or whoever thought it up for him. He started mistreating the ladies in “Public Enemy” several years ago, pushing a grapefruit into Mae Clarke’s face.

Somebody must like it, but you can bet the gals who take the roughhousing don’t.

[NormanStewart]

Cost of living shows gain of one percent

Rising food, clothing prices lift figure above 1940 level

NEW YORK – Rising food and clothing prices lifted the average living cost of wage-earners’ families one percent during November to a point 8.7 percent above the November 1940 level, according to the monthly survey conducted by the division of industrial economics of the National Industrial Conference Board.

The board’s economists estimated that the average worker’s living costs in November were 29.6 percent higher than at the depression low reached in April 1933 and 10.6 percent higher than in August 1939, just before the outbreak of the war in Europe. The November level, however, was eight percent below that of November 1929.

Food prices in November increased 1.7 percent over October and were 19.4 percent higher than in the corresponding 1940 month, while clothing, also up 1.7 percent on the month, showed a rise of 8.9 percent over the year-ago month.

The Conference Board area showed that 1ood prices last month were 22.4 percent over the pre-war level against a rise of 10.7 percent in clothing costs over that period.

Other items of expense in the average family budget also tended upward during November, although the rise was not so steep as in food and clothing.

The board’s survey placed coal prices for November 0.4 percent over October and 7.1 percent over the year-ago level, while rents were up 0.3 percent and 23 percent, respectively. The cost of sundries rose 0.4 percent between October and November to a point 3.9 per cent over the corresponding 1940 level.

Purchasing value of the wage-earner’s dollar in November, the survey said, was 101.6 percent of the 1923 “norm” compared with 108.7 percent in October, and 117 percent in November 1940.

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San Francisco area has total blackout

SAN FRANCISCO (UP) – San Francisco proved during a 2½-hour air raid warning last night that it has learned, in less than a week of Pacific warfare, how to black out completely.

The city that was scolded severely four days ago for its complete failure in its first attempt to black out, last night was plunged into inky darkness by a warning which the Civil Defense Council said was “the real thing.”

The Fourth Interceptor Command ordered the blackout. Only one airplane was heard and observers believed it was a Navy patrol bomber on its nightly tour of duty.

Motor traffic was halted, radio stations went silent and lights flickered off throughout the San Francisco Bay area. Air raid wardens made the rounds to inform householders of still shining lights. Several windows were smashed in San Francisco and Oakland to turn off lights in closed stores.

The blackout covered every city and hamlet from San Francisco south to San Jose, north to Santa Rosa and east to Sacramento.

[NormanStewart]

U.S., Jap war restricts new public financing

NEW YORK (UP) – New public financing this week aggregated only $9,682,450, the smallest for any week since October 24, and compared with $25,309,000 last week and $118,733,240 in the corresponding year-ago period.

The outbreak of war between Japan and the United States restricted offerings this week to two stock issues, totaling $8,757,450, and one municipal flotation in the amount of $925,000.

The sole municipal loan was $925,000 in City of Boston various purpose bonds, sold publicly yesterday by Union Securities Corp. and associated firms.

These bonds comprised $500,000 as 2½s and $425,000 as 2s due December 15, 1941. The 2½s and 2s were priced to yield 0.75 to 2.40 percent to maturity.

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War boosts business of Western Union

NEW YORK (UP) – Telegraph traffic transmitted over lines of the Western Union Telegraph Co. in the first three days of the war this week was 30 percent heavier than in the corresponding period last week, the company said today.

Although it was not stated how many employees have been hired by the company since the start of the American-Japanese war last Sunday, the company previously had added 4,000 employees to its payroll between January and November.

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2,541 Axis nationals trapped in U.S. drive

WASHINGTON – Agents of the War and Justice Departments have taken into custody 2,541 Axis nationals in the continental United States and Hawaii, Attorney General Francis Biddle said today.

German aliens total 1,002, Italians 169 and Japanese 1,370.

Forty-three American citizens have been taken into custody in Hawaii. Nineteen are of German descent, two of Italian descent, and 22 are either of Japanese descent or have been engaged in pro-Japanese activities.

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U.S. War Department (December 13, 1941)

Communiqué No. 8

HAWAII – The War Department has been advised by Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, commanding the Hawaiian Department, that numerous spectacular feats of heroism on the part of American Army fliers were characteristic of the fight during the surprise attack of Japanese aircraft at Honolulu on December 7. More than 20 Japanese planes were destroyed during the attack.

Typifying the magnificent fighting of American pilots, Gen. Short cited the following examples:

• Second Lt. Kenneth M. Taylor of Hominy, Oklahoma, and 2nd Lt. George S. Welch of Wilmington, Delaware, both flying Curtiss single-seat pursuit planes, early in the raid, attacked a formation of six Japanese planes. Each officer shot down two enemy planes. The other two Japanese planes escaped for the time being.

• A short time later, Lt. Welch, alone, engaged two Japanese planes, and after maneuvers worthy of a veteran fighter, shot them both down. Thus, two young American officers destroyed six enemy planes in their first actual fight. Lt. Taylor only recently arrived in Hawaii and the ink was scarcely dry on his commission as an Army officer when he was engaged in combat.

• First Lieutenant Lewis M. Sanders of Fort Wayne, Indiana, flying at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, saw a dogfight between an American and a Japanese plane. As he banked to join the fight, he saw the American plane go down in flames. He immediately engaged the Japanese plane in a furious battle and shot it down.

• Lt. Gordon H. Sterling Jr. of West Hartford, Connecticut, located a formation of six enemy planes. Undaunted by superior numbers, he courageously attacked and destroyed one of the Japanese planes.

• Second Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen of Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, engaged a single Japanese fighter plane over Schofield Barracks. The ensuing dogfight was witnessed by thousands of spectators as the American pilot, by superior maneuvers, sent the Japanese plane to the ground in a flaming mass of wreckage.

• Second Lt. Harry W. Brown of Amarillo, Texas, unexpectedly found himself in the midst of a rendezvous of Japanese planes. Instead of attempting to flee before the overpowering strength of the enemy, he courageously attacked, shooting down one of the enemy planes in the ocean off Kahuku.

In each of these fights, the American pilots were outnumbered at all times and found their opponents decidedly clever and dangerous fliers.

There is nothing to report from other areas.

[NormanStewart]

U.S. State Department (December 13, 1941)

740.0011 European War 1939/17497: Telegram

The Minister in Hungary to the Secretary of State

Budapest, December 13, 1941
[Received December 13 — 2:36 p.m.]

710

The Prime Minister informed me at 5:30 this afternoon that Hungary considers war to exist between Hungary and United States. All codes destroyed.

PELL

[NormanStewart]

Völkischer Beobachter (December 14, 1941)

Das 5. Schlachtschiff von den Japanern versenkt

Weitere harte Schläge gegen USA und England
Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“

vb. Wien, 13. Dezember - Während sich die japanischen Operationen in Malaya und auf der Hauptinsel der Philippinen Luzon planmäßig weiterentwickeln, haben die Japaner von dem britischen Pachtgebiet Hongkong die Hauptinsel Kaulun besetzt und beginnen von dort aus Stadt und Stützpunkt, die auf einer Insel gelegen sind, zu beschießen. Weiter meldet die Marineabteilung des Kaiserlichen Hauptquartiers, es habe sich jetzt bestätigt, daß bei dem Angriff auf Hawai außer der „West Virginia“ und der „Oklahoma“ auch das Schlachtschiff „Arizona“ versenkt worden sei. In der Seeschlacht an den Malayaküste hätten die Briten außer den Schlachtschiffen „Prince of Wales“ und „Repulse“ noch einen großen Zerstörer verloren.

USA-Schlachtschiff ‚Arizona‘ (Aufnahme: Archiv)

Damit erhöht sich also die Zahl der bisher von den Japanern versenkten Schlachtschiffe auf fünf, während die Japaner selbst trotz aller amerikanischer Schwindelberichte noch keinen Ausfall schwerer Einheiten erlitten haben. Die „Arizona“ war ein Schlachtschiff von 32.600 Tonnen, das 1915 von Stapel gelaufen war und als Hauptbestückung zwölf 35,6-cm-Geschütze trug, außerdem eine sehr starke Flakartillerie. Das Schiff hatte eine Besatzung von 1375 Mann. Durch einen gründlichen Umbau war es in seiner Kampfkraft vor einigen Jahren erheblich gesteigert worden.

Zu den Kämpfen um Hongkong gibt die Heeresleitung des Kaiserlichen Hauptquartiers bekannt, die Japaner hätten mit der Besetzung der Südspitze von Kaulun die Hauptverteidigungsstellung Hongkongs besetzt und träfen jetzt Vorbereitungen zu einem Großangriff auf die britische Zwingburg. In wenigen Tagen ist es ihnen gelungen, die Briten vom Festland zu verdrängen. Man muß sich angesichts dieser Tatsache daran erinnern‚ daß in der britischen Berichterstattung dieser Kämpfe dauernd davon gesprochen wurde, daß Truppen Tschiangkaischeks die gegen Hongkong marschierenden Japaner aufs schwerste bedrängt haben sollen‚ wie überhaupt die Darstellung der militärischen Lage in der englischen und amerikanischen Öffentlichkeit ihr Heil darin sucht, die tatsächlichen Erfolge der Japaner durch alle möglichen Schwindelmeldungen zu verkleinern und in ihrer psychologischen Auswirkung zu beschränken.

‚Erfreuliche Nachrichten für die Alliierten‘

Beispielsweise gab der USA-Sender Boston folgendes zum Besten: „Für die Alliierten liegen heute erfreuliche Nachrichten vor. Irgendwo im Stillen Ozean hat die japanische Flotte bei einem Zusammenstoß die Flucht ergriffen.“

Eine ebenso verschwommene Phantasiemeldung zieht aus dem Ausbleiben von Meldungen der im Pazifik operierenden amerikanischen U-Boote den kühnen Schluß, es würden „große Erfolge erwartet.“ Kurzum, wir sehen auch hier die gleichen Methoden vor uns, zu denen früher die Briten ihre Zuflucht nahmen, wenn es ihnen besonders schlecht ging. Dahin gehört auch das Märchen von der „Versenkung“ des japanischen Schlachtkreuzers „Haruna“, das bereits von japanischer Seite als plumpe Erfindung gekennzeichnet worden ist. Es ist bezeichnend, daß jetzt der amtliche Bericht des USA-Heeres über die Kämpfe auf den Philippinen plötzlich nur noch von einer „Außergefechtsetzung“ dieses Schiffes redet, was natürlich auch ein aufgelegter Schwindel ist.

Japaner bei Cavite erfolgreich

Konteradmiral Hart mußte, während sich die USA-Presse an erfundenen Siegen berauschte, auf der Pressenkonferenz in Manila mitteilen, daß die Docks des Flottenstützpunktes Cavite an der Westküste von Luzon immer noch in Brand ständen, weil es für die Rettungsmannschaften unmöglich sei, sich den Brandherden zu nähern. Es seien schwere Verluste besonders unter dem Marinepersonal eingetreten. Ein großer Teil von Cavite sei zerstört und die amerikanische Luftwaffe habe schwer gelitten. Hart schloß: „Alles in allem muß man sagen daß vom japanischen Standpunkt aus dem Angriff auf Cavite als erfolgreich angesehen werden muß.“

Vormarsch auf Singapur

Nach einer Meldung des Kaiserlichen Hauptquartiers haben japanische Luftstreitkräfte am Freitag heftige Angriffe gegen Batangas, Iba, Clark Field und einen weiteren USA-Stützpunkt in der Nähe von Manila gerichtet, Wobei 33 amerikanische Flugzeuge vernichtet wurden. Die Marineluftwaffe hat bei dem letzten Angriff auf Hongkong ein britisches Torpedoboot versenkt sowie ein Kanonenboot und ein Handelsschiff schwer getroffen. Auf der Malayahalbinsel seien weitere Verstärkungen gelandet worden. Die Engländer hätten dem japanischen Vormarsch in Richtung Singapur nur schwachen Widerstand entgegengesetzt. Japanische Marinetruppen haben die internationale Niederlassung auf der Insel Kulangsu, die der Hafenstadt Amoy gegenüberliegt, besetzt.

Japans Ernährung gesichert

Der japanische Landwirtschaftsminister Ino traf in einer Rundfunkansprache folgende Feststellung:

„Wie lange auch der Krieg mit den USA und England dauern wird, für das japanische Volk wird es keine Ernährungssorgen geben. Selbst bei einem völligen Ausfall der Reiseinfuhr seien große Mengen Weizen und Kartoffeln vorhanden, um einen Ausgleich zu ermöglichen. Es sei auch dafür gesorgt worden, daß im Fall feindlicher Luftangriffe die Versorgung der großen Städte mit Lebensmitteln gesichert sei. Im übrigen werde Japan zweifellos in der Lage sein, aus den anderen Ländern Ostasiens Lebensmittel heranzuführen und den ungeheuren Fischreichtum der Gewässer in Japan noch verstärkt auszunutzen.“

Diese Feststellungen wird man in London und Washington nicht gerade erfreut zur Kenntnis nehmen, da die ganze Kriegshetze gegen Japan sehr wesentlich von der Illusion ausging, man könne das Inselreich durch eine Blockade aushungern. Während Tokio mit aller Ruhe darlegen kann, daß auch diese Wahnvorstellung gegenstandslos ist, mußte der englische Ernährungsminister, Lord Woolton, im Rundfunk bekanntgeben, die seinerzeit von Churchill versprochenen Sonderzuteilungen für Weihnachten müßten leider ausfallen, weil angesichts des Krieges in Ostasien keine entsprechenden Zufuhren aus den USA erwartet werden können. Auch die laufenden Rationen seien unter diesen Umständen keineswegs gesichert.

Die Engländer bekommen also schon jetzt zu fühlen, daß das Kriegsabenteuer gegen Japan sich auch im Mutterland wie im ganzen Empire als ein Störungsfaktor ersten Ranges bemerkbar macht. Gerade weil dies so offensichtlich der Fall ist, zieht die Churchill-Agitation in Gemeinschaft mit den Roosevelt-Juden alle Register, um die Wahrheit zu übertönen. Dabei ist allerdings zu beachten, daß in der englischen Presse die Kampfkraft des japanischen Gegners im Allgemeinen anerkannt wird, während eine solche Einsicht in den USA noch weitgehend fehlt.

Ein Berichterstatter des Londoner „Daily Expreß“ in den USA schildert die dort waltende Stimmung der Bevölkerung als „eine wilde Mischung von Patriotismus, Begeisterung und menschlicher Besorgtheit.“ Der Krieg in Europa interessiere die breite Öffentlichkeit in Amerika kaum noch, aber man habe auch nicht den Eindruck, daß man in den USA Begriffe, was ein langer und schwerer Krieg zu bedeuten habe. Seit vielen Jahren habe man sich dort an ein Luxusleben gewöhnt, auf das zu verzichten jetzt schwerfallen würde, wobei allerdings der britische Beobachter außer Acht läßt, daß ungefähr ein Drittel der Bevölkerung in USA nach amtlichen Feststellungen unterernährt ist und bestimmt kein Luxusleben geführt hat. Wie weit vollends die geistige Unterernährung geht, zeigt die Plumpheit der Lügen der Roosevelt-Agitation, die sich auf eine völlige Urteilslosigkeit ihrer Opfer verläßt und nur ein krampfhaftes „Keep Smiling“ zur Richtschnur zu haben scheint.

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‚Sichere Bürgschaft des gemeinsamen Sieges‘

Führer-Telegramme an Viktor Emanuel, den Tenno, den Duce und Tojo

dnb. Berlin, 13. Dezember - Am Tage des Eintritts Deutschlands und Italiens in den Krieg gegen die USA sandte der Führer an den König von Italien und Kaiser von Äthiopien das nachstehende Telegramm: „Aus Anlaß der Unterzeichnung des Vertrages, durch den die Achsenmächte sich mit dem kaiserlichen Japan zu gemeinsamer Kriegführung und Zusammenarbeit zur Sicherstellung einer gerechten Neuordnung verbunden haben, sende ich Eurer Majestät zugleich mit meinen aufrichtigsten Grüßen die herzlichsten Wünsche für den weiteren Kampf der drei Mächte.“

Dem Duce des verbündeten Italien sandte der Führer folgendes Telegramm:

„Am heutigen Tage des Abschlusses des Abkommens, durch das die Achsenmächte und Japan sich zu gemeinsamer Waffenbrüderschaft zusammenschließen, sende ich Ihnen, Duce, meine herzlichsten Grüße. Ich weiß mich mit Ihnen einig in der Gewißheit, daß dieser Akt sich als sichere Bürgschaft des gemeinsamen Sieges der drei Mächte erweisen wird."

Das Telegramm, das der Führer aus dem gleichen Anlaß dem Tenno übermittelte, lautet:

„An dem heutigen bedeutsamen Tage, an dem sich die Achsenmächte mit dem Kaiserreich Japan zu gemeinsamer Kriegführung bis zum gemeinsamen Siege verbunden haben, sende ich Eurer Majestät mit den aufrichtigsten Grüßen meine Glückwünsche zu den bisherigen großen Erfolgen der japanischen Wehrmacht sowie meine und des deutschen Volkes wärmsten Wünsche für den Sieg der japanischen Waffen.“

Dem Kaiserlich japanischen Ministerpräsidenten Generalleutnant Tojo telegraphierte der Führer wie folgt:

„Aus Anlaß des heutigen Abschlusses des Abkommens zwischen den Achsenmächten und dem kaiserlichen Japan, durch das sich die drei Mächte zum gemeinsamen Kampfe, gemeinsamen Siege und gemeinsamen Aufbau in der Zukunft verbunden haben, sende ich Eurer Exzellenz meine herzlichsten Glückwünsche zu den schon erzielten, so bedeutsamen Erfolgen der japanischen Waffen und verbinde damit die wärmsten Wünsche für den weiteren Fortgang des nunmehr gemeinsam geführten Kampfes.“

Der Reichsminister des Auswärtigen von Ribbentrop sandte an den königlich italienischen Außenminister Graf Ciano folgendes Telegramm:

„An dem heutigen Tage, an dem die Botschafter Italiens und Japans zusammen das Abkommen unterzeichnet haben, das unsere drei Linder zu einer den Sieg verbürgenden Einheitsfront zusammenschließt, sende ich Ihnen, lieber Graf Ciano, meine herzlichsten Grüße und wärmsten Wünsche für den weiteren Erfolg unserer Waffen.“

An den kaiserlich japanischen Außenminister Togo sandte der Reichsminister des Auswärtigen das nachstehende Telegramm:

„Nachdem ich heute mit dem kaiserlich japanischen Botschafter, General Oshima, und dem königlich italienischen Botschafter Alfieri das Abkommen unterzeichnet habe, durch das die drei Mächte sich zu gemeinsamer Kriegführung bis zum gemeinsamen Siege und zur weiteren Zusammenarbeit zur Sicherstellung der von ihnen erstrebten Neuordnung verpflichten, sende ich Euerer Exzellenz aus Anlaß dieses bedeutsamen Ereignisses meine herzlichsten Grüße, mit denen ich meine wärmsten Wünsche für den weiteren Erfolg der japanischen Waffen verbinde.”

Viktor Emanuel an den Tenno

dnb. Rom, 13. Dezember - Anläßlich des Abschlusses des Militärabkommens zwischen Italien, Deutschland und Japan richtete König und Kaiser Viktor Emanuel III. nachstehendes Telegramm an den Tenno:

„In der Stunde, da unsere Völker in Gemeinschaft mit unserem deutschen Verbündeten gegen den gemeinsamen Feind kämpfen, richte ich an Eure Majestät meinen Gruß. Die ruhmreiche japanische Dynastie führt noch einmal Japan einer weiteren Größe entgegen. Genehmigen Eure Majestät meinen Glückwunsch, der zugleich derjenige aller Italiener ist.“

Der Tenno antwortete auf dieses Telegramm mit folgenden Worten:

„Das Telegramm, das Eure Majestät in dem Augenblick an mich richteten, da der gemeinsam von Japan, Italien und Deutschland geführte Kampf beginnt, hat mich sehr erfreut. Ich bitte Eure Majestät, den Ausdruck meiner tiefen Hochachtung entgegenzunehmen. Es gereicht mir zur Freude, Ihnen meinen vollen Glauben in den vollständigen Enderfolg unserer Länder bei der Verwirklichung der neuen Ordnung in der ganzen Welt zum Ausdruck zu bringen.“

Der Duce richtete an den japanischen Premierminister Tojo nachstehendes Telegramm:

„Am Tage, da die alte Freundschaft zwischen unseren beiden Ländern ihre endgültige Weihe auf den Schlachtfeldern findet, wendet sich mein Gedanke an das heldenhafte japanische Volk in Waffen. Über allen Erdteilen ist das Morgenlicht der neuen Ordnung aufgegangen. Das italienische Volk ist im Geist und in den Waffen im unerschütterlichen Siegeswillen, der Italien, Deutschland und Japan vereint, den japanischen Kameraden nahe.“

Dem Duce ging vom Ministerpräsidenten Tojo folgendes Telegramm zu:

„Mit dem am 11. Dezember in Berlin unterschriebenen Dreimächteabkommen sind unsere drei Länder gemeinsam in den Krieg gegen Amerika und England eingetreten. Die höchsten Ziele, die wir erreichen wollen, bestehen darin, es jeder Nation zu ermöglichen, den ihr gebührenden Platz einzunehmen und eine neue, gerechte Ordnung aufzustellen. Ich bin fest davon überzeugt, daß es uns gelingen wird mit unseren tapferen, unvergleichlichen Heeren und unseren festzusammengeschlossenen Völkern die gemeinsamen Feinde zu vernichten.“

Der italienische Außenminister Graf Ciano brachte in seinem Telegramm an den japanischen Außenminister Togo seine Überzeugung zum Ausdruck, daß Deutschland, Japan und Italien bereits im Begriff seien, die Grundlagen der neuen Ordnung zu schaffen und diese große Wiederaufbauarbeit siegreich zu Ende führen werden.

Der japanische Außenminister wies in seiner Antwort darauf hin, daß die Unterzeichnung des Dreimächteabkommens einen Umschwung der Weltgeschichte bedeute.

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Glodschey: Die Stützpunkte im Stillen Ozean

Von unserem Marinemitarbeiter Erich Glodschey

Nachdem die japanische Flotte durch die glänzenden Erfolge ihrer Marineflugzeuge, die in der ersten Kampfeswoche zwei britische und drei USA-Schlachtschiffe versenkten, bereits in hohem Maße für den Kräfteausgleich im Seekrieg des Stillen Ozeans gesorgt hat, ist die Frage der Stützpunkte für den weiteren Kampf noch bedeutsamer geworden. Wenn man nur das Kartenbild betrachtete, sah es so aus, als ob die Vereinigten Staaten quer über den Pazifik hinweg eine ununterbrochene Reihe von starken Stützpunkten besäßen, die ihnen die Seeverbindung mit Ostasien garantieren. Die amerikanischen Massenzeitschriften hatten mit dem Schlagwort von der unbezwinglichen „Roosevelt-Linie,“ San Franzisko-Hawai-Midway-Wake-Guam-Manila (mit Fortsetzung zum englischen Singapur) ein agitatorisches Bild geschaffen, das die USA-Stellung viel günstiger erscheinen ließ, als sie in Wirklichkeit war. Die USA-Presse tat so, als sei die Flugstrecke der Clipper-Flugboote über den Pazifik bereits eine militärische Kraftlinie erster Ordnung.

In der rauhen Wirklichkeit des Krieges haben sich aber sehr schnell die skeptischen Urteile nüchterner Sachkenner über die vielgerühmte Roosevelt-Linie als richtig erwiesen. Der schon erwähnte Aufsatz eines japanischen Marinefachmannes im Mai-Heft der Zeitschrift „Berlin-Rom-Tokio“ stellte fest, daß die bisherigen Ergebnisse der USA-Bauvorhaben auf den Pazifikinseln außer in Pearl Harbour (Hawai) und Dutch Harbour (Alaska) als gering zu betrachten seien. Insbesondere gelte das für die Stützpunkte auf den Philippinen und den Inseln Guam, Wake und Midway.

Kühl betonte der Japaner: „Eine zur Verteidigung dieser Inseln auslaufende amerikanische Flotte ist der Gefahr einer erheblichen Zersplitterung ausgesetzt, da bei ihr infolge der hervorragenden strategischen Stellung Japans nicht das Gesetz des Handelns liegt.“ Tatsächlich hat die USA-Flotte, wie Roosevelt persönlich eingestehen mußte, nicht verhindern können daß die Japaner in wenigen Tagen die Roosevelt-Linie aufrollten. Die kleinen Koralleninseln Midway und Wake wiesen nur Flugplätze auf, die zerstört worden sind, während das größere Guam auch als Stützpunkt für leichte Kriegsfahrzeuge diente. Die Insel ist inzwischen dem japanischen Zugriff zum Opfer gefallen. Auf den Philippinen haben japanische Landungstruppen den Kampf nördlich und südlich von Manila aufgenommen.

Da die Japaner mit Thailand ein Schutz- und Trutzbündnis geschlossen und in Britisch-Malaia nördlich von Singapur Truppen gelandet haben, zeigt sich Südostasien in diesem Anfangsstadium des Pazifikkrieges als der Hauptkampfraum. Bis dorthin hat die USA-Flotte einen Anmarschweg von nicht weniger als 5000 Seemeilen von ihrem vorgeschobenen Hauptstützpunkt Pearl Harbour auf Hawai. Doch selbst in Pearl Harbour befinden sich nur zwei Reparaturdocks für Schiffe jeder Größe, die schon für die Beseitigung der schweren Schäden des ersten

Angriffs der japanischen Marineluftwaffe nicht hinreichend dürften. Für größere Reparaturanforderungen muß also auf den 2000 Seemeilen weiter zurückliegenden Hauptliegehafen San Franzisko und die Docks in Seattle, San Pedro und San Diego an der nordamerikanischen Westküste oder das noch 2000 Seemeilen weiter entfernte Balboa am Panamakanal zurückgegriffen werden.

Also liegt die Ausgangsbasis der USA-Flotte für Operationen im südostasiatischen Seeraum 5000 bis über 9000 Seemeilen entfernt. Der Flottenstützpunkt Cavite bei Manila auf den Philippinen und das englische Hongkong haben nur Einrichtungen für mittlere Schiffe und stehen zudem unter dem ständigen Druck japanischer Luftangriffe. Es bleibt für die Gegner Japans in Ostasien nur der englische Hauptstützpunkt Singapur, den Surabaja in Holländisch-Ostindien mit Einrichtungen nur für mittlere Seestreitkräfte ergänzen kann. Im letzten Jahrzehnt ist Singapur von den Briten mit dem Aufwand von Milliarden Mark großzügig ausgebaut worden und weist Reparatureinrichtungen für die größten Schiffe auf. Jedoch steht die englische Seefestung unter der japanischen Drohung von Land her und aus der Luft. Was das bedeutet, hat die Versenkung der englischen Schlachtschiffe „Prince of Wales“ und „Repulse“ bei ihrem ersten Vorstoß ins Südchinesische Meer aller Welt bewiesen. Der nächstgelegene englische Stützpunkt gleichen Wertes ist Gibraltar. Bis dorthin hat Singapur eine noch längere Verbindungslinie als nach den Vereinigten Staaten, was die britische Admiralität nach dem Verlust der beiden Schlachtschiffe vermutlich zu ernsten Sorgen veranlaßt hat.

Demgegenüber ist die japanische Stützpunktlage ungleich günstiger. Das japanische Mutterland liegt viel näher zur Kampfzone in Südostasien. In den Hauptkriegshäfen Yokosuka, Kuro und Sasebo sowie den Handelshäfen Kobe und Nagasaki findet die japanische Kriegsflotte für alle Schiffsklassen die nötigen Ausrüstungs- und Reparaturmöglichkeiten. Im Pazifischen Ozean bilden die unzähligen Inseln in japanischem Besitz von den Kurilen im Norden über die Bonininseln zu den Marianen und Karolinen ein Netz von Beobachtungsplätzen für den amerikanischen Anmarsch, der in diesem Inselraum durch See- und Luftstreitkräfte gestört werden kann. Zum asiatischen Festland hinüber leiten die Riokiuinseln und Formosa. Auf dem Festland aber befindet sich die gesamte Küste von Korea über Mandschukuo, China, Französisch-Indochina bis nunmehr auch Thailand unter japanischem Waffenschutz. In zahlreichen Häfen und Buchten der langen ostasiatischen Küste können japanische Kriegsschiffe ankern. Ebenso kann die Marineluftwaffe außer über ihre Flugzeugträger dort über viele Flugplätze verfügen und von der Heeresluftwaffe im küstennahen Seekrieg unterstützt werden. Japan hat durch seine Erfolge seit Beginn des Chinakonflikts vor fünf Jahren also seine seestrategische Ausgangsstellung mit allen Vorteilen der inneren Linie gegen jede feindliche Bedrohung außerordentlich verbessern können. Daher kann die japanische Kriegsmarine den kommenden harten Anforderungen auch auf lange Sicht vertrauensvoll gegenüberstehen.

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Im Geiste Wilsons:
Roosevelt verlangt den Freibrief

Eigener Bericht des „Völkischen Beobachters“

dr. th. b. Stockholm, 13. Dezember - Präsident Roosevelt will sich, wie Reuters aus Washington meldet, die gleichen „drakonischen“ Vollmachten geben lassen, wie sie Wilson während des Weltkrieges besaß. Wilsons Vollmachten wurden vom Kongreß erst nachträglich bestätigt, während diesmal der Kongreß von vornherein seiner völligen Ausschaltung zustimmen soll. Da Roosevelt von jeher als Diktator der USA auftrat und den Kongreß von Fall zu Fall vor vollendete Tatsachen stellte, so werden die neuen Vollmachten nur die „Legitimierung“ eines längst vorhandenen Tatbestandes sein.

Nach Beratungen zwischen dem Kriegsminister Stimson und General Hershey wird dem Militärausschuß des Repräsentantenhauses bereits am Samstag ein Gesetz zugeleitet werden, das die Dienstpflicht für alle amerikanischen Männer im Alter zwischen 18 und 65 Jahren vorsieht. Die Neunzehnjährigen sollen eine einjährige vormilitärische Ausbildung erhalten.

Alaska als Sprungbrett gedacht

Ein neuer Beweis für die amerikanischen Angriffsabsichten gegen Japan ist der Ausbau Alaskas zum Ausfallstor gegen den asiatischen Kontinent. Ein Sonderberichterstatter der United Press berichtet, daß Alaska von amerikanischen Militärsachverständigen als das wichtigste Aufmarschgebiet zu einem Vorstoß gegen Asien betrachtet werde. Von Attu, der am weitesten in den Stillen Ozean vorgeschobenen Insel der Alëuten, sind es 1200 Kilometer bis zur Nordspitze Japans und 800 Kilometer bis Kamtschatka.

Während der dreimonatigen Reise durch Alaska stellte der Sonderberichterstatter fest, daß Armee, Flotte und Luftwaffe fieberhaft mit dem Ausbau von Verteidigungs- und Angriffsstellungen beschäftigt sind. An allen strategisch wichtigen Punkten seien starke Befestigungen, Stahl- und Betonbunker, unterirdische Flugzeughallen, U-Boot-Häfen und Häfen für Wasserflugzeuge angelegt. Diese Befestigungsarbeiten, die schon vor Jahren begonnen wurden, kosteten bisher 300 Millionen Dollar.

Beschränkung der Autoerzeugung

Die amerikanische Regierung gab am Donnerstagabend die ersten kriegswirtschaftlichen Maßnahmen bekannt, die die wirtschaftliche Freiheit in gewissen Branchen einschränken. So muß die Automobilindustrie ab 1. Januar ihre Produktion auf ein Viertel des Umfanges von 1941 einschränken, der ohnehin bereits geringer ist als in den Vorjahren.

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Vom Führer überreicht:
Höchste deutsche Auszeichnung für Oshima

dnb. Berlin, 13. Dezember - Der Führer empfing am Samstagmittag in Gegenwart des Reichsministers des Auswärtigen von Ribbentrop aus Anlaß der Unterzeichnung des Abkommens, durch das die Achsenmächte sich mit Japan zu gemeinsamem Kampf bis zum Endsieg zusammengeschlossen haben, den kaiserlich japanischen Botschafter in Berlin, General Oshima, in Sonderaudienz.

Der Führer überreichte Botschafter Oshima in Anerkennung seiner hervorragenden Verdienste um das Zustandekommen des Dreimächtepakts die höchste Auszeichnung, die Deutschland zu vergeben hat, das Großkreuz des Ordens vom deutschen Adler in Gold.

‚Der Krieg des größeren Ostasiens‘

dnb. Tokio, 13. Dezember - Das japanische Informationsamt gab bekannt, daß der japanische Verteidigungskrieg gegen die Vereinigten Staaten und Großbritannien einschließlich des Konflikts gegen das Tschungking-Regime in Zukunft „der Krieg des größeren Ostasiens“ genannt werden soll.

Eine Erklärung besagte, daß der neue Name gebildet worden sei, um die Kriegsziele der Errichtung einer neuen Ordnung im größeren Ostasien zum Ausdruck zu bringen. Dies bedeute jedoch nicht, daß der Kriegsschauplatz auf das größere Ostasien beschränkt bleiben würde.

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‚Normandie‘ beschlagnahmt:
Umbau als Flugzeugträger?

tc. Neuyork, 13. Dezember - Der große französische Luxusdampfer „Normandie“ (83.423 BRT), der sich zu Beginn des Krieges in den Hafen von Neuyork gerettet hatte, ist von den amerikanischen Behörden beschlagnahmt worden. Wie verlautet, wird die „Normandie“ möglicherweise als Flugzeugträger umgebaut werden.

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U.S. War Department (December 14, 1941)

Communiqué No. 9

PHILIPPINE THEATER – Enemy air activity continues. Ground operations are confined to Aparri, Legaspi and Vigan areas. No change in the general situation has been reported.

HAWAII – No further reports have been received.

WEST COAST, UNITED STATES: Extensive air reconnaissance by American Army units is continuing.

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U.S. Navy Department (December 14, 1941)

Communiqué No. 7

There have been two additional bombing attacks on Wake Island. The first was light, the second was undertaken in great force. Two enemy bombers were shot down. Damage was inconsequential.

The Marines on Wake Island continue to resist.

Enemy submarines are known to be operating in the Hawaiian area. Vigorous attacks are being made against them.

The above is based on reports up until noon today.

[NormanStewart]

The Pittsburgh Press (December 14, 1941)

U.S. AND ALLIES RAIN BLOWS ON AXIS
Navy admits Japs may hold Guam

4,000 Tokyo troops killed when Dutch sink four transport ships
By Harrison Salisbury, United Press staff writer

Transport sunk

Four thousand Jap troops were reported lost when Dutch submarines sank four transports off Thailand at the point ‘X’ shown on the map above.

The United States and her allies struck back early today with growing might at the Axis on a war front that nearly circled the globe.

In the Pacific, in Russia and in Africa and Europe, the anti-Axis forces rained blows at Germany, Italy, Japan and their satellite partners.

Only at Guam, the American outpost in the Pacific that is ringed by Japanese bases, was a setback indicated. The U.S. Navy at Washington sad it was probable that the handful of American Marines and sailors there has been overwhelmed by superior Japanese forces.

Elsewhere in the Pacific, the news generally was good. A survey of reports showed:

PHILIPPINES: American and Philippine forces mop up Lingayen coast, 125 miles northwest of Manila; only small land operations in progress as Japanese attempt to win fringe of air bases on distant Philippine shores in order to drive home air attacks on Manila’s defenses; Japanese bombers suffer losses in new attacks on Philippines’ air bases.

SINGAPORE: Four Japanese transports sunk by Dutch submarines off Thailand coast, some 4,000 Japanese troops lost; British forces in Northern Malaya hold off Japanese attacks.

HONGKONG: Chinese air and land forces attack Japanese from rear, hit at Canton-Kowloon railroad and Japanese air bases at Canton and on Sanchao Island near Macao; London has no confirmation of British evacuation of Kowloon leased territory on mainland adjacent to Hongkong but says such action was contemplated in defense plans.

PACIFIC ISLANDS: Wake and Midway garrisons hold out; no new Japanese action against Hawaii.

TOKYO: Thailand troops reported cooperating with Japanese in action against British and Chinese in Northern Thailand (no confirmation of this from other sources); French Indo-China said to be calling up men for military duty under military alliance with Japan.

The European Front was dominated by news of fresh successes by the Soviet Red Army which continued its sweeping advance along the whole front from Leningrad south to the Black Sea.

The Russians reported the reoccupation of another 30-odd towns and villages, particularly around Leningrad, the Kalinin sector 100 miles north of Moscow and the area east of Tula on the Southern Moscow front.

In Washington, the feeling was that a race for positions in the Atlantic already is underway.

The key positions in this struggle are regarded as the West African coast, particularly the strategic French post of Dakar, and the Spanish and Portuguese islands – the Atlantic stepping stones of the Canaries, the Azores and the Cape Verde Islands.

In this connection it was noted that both Spain and Portugal have closed their frontiers to movements of Americans and British and there were increasing indications that Vichy France has been swept into marriage with the Axis – at least in all but name.

The French, according to Vichy, have adopted a policy of “neutrality” in the extended war. But the Japanese claim a military alliance with French Indochina and the German propaganda broadcasts carried significant hints that France “will mot remain insensible” in the event of Anglo-American “aggression.”

The Germans executed 100 hostages in Paris and slapped a crushing fine of a billion francs ($20 million) on French Jews in reprisal for the continued attacks on German soldiers and officers.

They also started moving French Jews to the “East.”

Anti-Semitic measures

The Nazi campaign, it seemed obvious, was an extension of the most violent anti-Semitic measures to France, presumably with at least the tacit acquiescence of the Vichy French regime.

London reported that preparations are being made for a joint declaration by Britain, the United States and Russia and their allies that no separate peace will be signed by any of the Allied powers and recognizing Germany’s paramount position of leadership in the Axis sphere.

Speculation concerning Russia’s position in the worldwide coalition against the Axis seemed to be at an end with strong statements both in Moscow and by Maxim Litvinov, Soviet ambassador to the United States, at Washington of Russia’s determination to fight to the end against Hitlerism.

Russia looks to west

The Russian statements indicate that Russia, while sympathizing fully with Britain and the United States in the Pacific, will seek to avoid immediate embroilment in the Pacific conflict in order to concentrate her strength in the west and continue her blows against the main German armed forces.

This policy, it was indicated, has the approval of both London and Washington despite the obvious strategic advantages of Russian bases, particularly Vladivostok for operations against Japan.

On the African Front, Axis forces continued to fall back under the powerful attacks of British armored and mechanized troops. The fighting was well west of Tobruk and both the Berlin and Rome communiques seemed to be preparing the Axis public for the loss of Bardia, Sollum and, indeed, all Axis positions east of Derna.

William C. Bullitt arrived in Cairo to coordinate American political and diplomatic action in the important Middle Eastern sphere where it was indicated the United States will play a more and more important role.

The Axis satellites – Hungary and Bulgaria – declared war on the United States.

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Not confirmed!

Axis sources yesterday reported the sinking of the battleship USS Arizona (32,600 tons) and the sinking or crippling of the battleship USS Pennsylvania.

Neither report was confirmed from any American or British source, and newspapers were asked to be careful in handling the rumors. Therefore, The Press briefly printed the two reports yesterday under the headline “Not Confirmed” and did not use any headlines or pictures bearing on the reports.

The alleged sinking of the Arizona was reported in a broadcast of the DNB (official German propaganda agency) on the basis of a Tokyo report.

Tokyo also reported by radio (in a broadcast heard by the United Press listening post) that Rear Adm. Husband E. Kimmel, commander-in-chief of the U.S. Pacific Fleet, was killed in last Sunday’s attack on Pearl Harbor. The broadcast quoted a Rome dispatch of the Stefanie Agency (official Italian propaganda bureau) saying that Adm. Kimmel was killed aboard the battleship USS Pennsylvania, which the Italians claimed “was sunk or at least heavily damaged.”

Neither of these reports has been confirmed from any American or British source. They may, or may not, be true. They should be read with caution. Both came from roundabout sources.

Indicating the uncertainty of these unconfirmed reports, the German radio (heard by the United Press listening post) tonight quoted Japanese headquarters as admitting that it had no confirmation of the claim that Japan had sunk the aircraft carrier USS Lexington. The Japanese now say they never claimed sinking the Lexington (although radio and other dispatches several days ago said that they had).

Under the circumstances, The Press does not feel justified in using large headlines or pictures on these reports. If we err in this war, we hope it will be on the side of conservatism and understatement and in accordance with the requests of the U.S. government.

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WAR BULLETINS!

Knox returns from Hawaii

SAN DIEGO, California (Dec. 13) – Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox arrived today from an inspection trip to the Hawaiian Islands and left immediately for Washington, declining to comment on his findings. He went to the islands after the surprise Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor.

Hungary at war with U.S.

WASHINGTON (Dec. 13) – The State Department announced today the Hungarian government had notified Herbert C. Pell, American minister in Budapest, that it considered “war to exist” between Hungary and the United States.

Philippine bay cleared of Japs

MANILA (Dec. 13) – The Manila Herald reported today that the Lingayen Gulf area, 125 miles northwest of Manila, has now been cleared of Japanese troops.

Japs sink Norwegian ship

MANILA (Dec. 12, delayed) – Japanese bombers sank the Norwegian ship Ravanass in Philippine waters, it was announced officially today. Twenty-eight survivors made shore.

Canada may draft women, too

MONTREAL (Dec. 13) – Canada will soon have selective service for both men and women, Air Minister C. G. Power predicted tonight. The present Selective Service Act provides for compulsory service within Canada of men from 21 to 24. Power said Canada will organize manpower for shore defenses and that women would work in arsenals, shops and munitions factories.

British invade Thailand, Japs say

TOKYO (UP, Dec. 13, Domei News Agency recorded in New York) – British and Chinese forces have invaded northern Thailand near Chiang Rai and a battle which has been continuing since yesterday resulted in withdrawal of the Anglo-Chinese forces in the face of attacks by Thai troops, the newspaper Nichi-Nichi reported from Bangkok.

RAF raids French, Dutch coasts

LONDON (Dec. 13) – British bombing planes, attacking by day and night, set fire to large oil tanks on the French coast and a large supply ship off the coast of Holland, the Air Ministry said today. The supply ship was enveloped in black smoke and steam when bombs were dropped on it, the Air Ministry said.

Fighters carried out an offensive patrol of airdromes in France and Holland. It was announced that one plane of the Coastal Command was missing.

Earle notifies U.S. of war declaration

WASHINGTON (Dec. 13) – The Bulgarian government today declared war against the United States and Great Britain under the Tripartite Axis Pact to which she is a signatory, Minister George H. Earle informed the State Department from Sofia.

Vichy approves neutrality policy

VICHY (Dec. 13) – A policy of French neutrality in “the intercontinental war” but of defense of the French Empire wherever it might be attacked was approved today by the Cabinet. The decision was said to make certain France would not reenter the war unless provoked by aggression.

Japs admit dent in Navy

NEW YORK (Dec. 13) – Radio Tokyo tonight acknowledged “some damage” to Japanese naval forces which attacked Wake Island Thursday while the British radio said Japanese troops were reported moving out of Hankow and Ichang on the Middle Yangtze River.

Brazil closes Axis journals

RIO DE JANEIRO (Dec. 13) – The government’s National Press Council today closed two Axis publications here, the Italian “L’Italia en Marcia” (Italy in Progress) and the Japanese “Revista Cultural” (Cultural Review). The leading Italian newspaper in Sao Paulo, and one of the oldest newspapers in Brazil, will reportedly suspend publication Monday.

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The Weekly Washington Merry-Go-Round

By Drew Pearson and Robert S. Allen

WASHINGTON – One week ago, today those who attended St. Agnes Episcopal Church in Washington were stirred by a sight they will not soon forget.

St. Agnes is High Episcopalian and is located in a Negro section of the capital. Few members of the congregation still live in the community.

And last Sunday most of those at the service were children, for it was at 9:30 a.m.

Leaning forward in one pew was a tall, gaunt form, which only a few people recognized as Viscount Halifax, the British ambassador.

His Lordship followed the service very carefully. And when Father DuBois reached that part in the service where he prayed “for guidance for all Christian rulers,” Viscount Halifax was visibly and deeply moved.

A few hours later he was to learn how much his prayers were needed. For already that morning the Japanese warlords had launched their mission of death upon Honolulu.

Japanese newsmen

When war broke, Japanese newsmen in Washington were rounded up by the president’s personal bodyguard, Tom Qualters. Purpose was not to detain the correspondents, but to lift their credentials and deny them further access to news sources.

Mr. Qualters went first to the office of Domei, official Japanese news agency, in the National Press Building. He was looking for Masuo Kato and Clarke Kawakami, but neither was there. Later, Kato was found in his apartment, and Kawakami was tracked down at the Union Station, about to board a train for New York.

What Mr. Qualters wanted most from these two, plus two other Japanese correspondents, was the card of the White House Correspondents’ Association, which is an open sesame almost anywhere.

NOTE: The case of Kawakami is exceptional; though a Japanese correspondent, he is an American citizen, son of a Japanese father and an American mother, and a graduate with honors from Harvard. When newsmen covering the State Department tried their hand at a Foreign Service exam recently, Kawakami did better than all American correspondents except Lawrence Todd, representative of Russia’s TASS Agency.

Vanishing dollars

Assuming that on August 1, 1940, your dollar was worth 100 cents, today that same dollar, in purchasing power, is worth only 88½ cents.

This is not an imaginary or scare statement. It is a plain declaration of fact about an ominous problem that vitally affects the welfare of every man, woman and child in the country, although few are aware of it or how serious it is.

On August 1, 1941, the cost of living was 5½ percent higher than on the same date the year previous. Since last August 1, the cost of living has jumped another six percent, making an increase of 11½ percent over that it was August 1, 1940. That is, in four and a half months, the increase in your living costs has more than doubled. Thus, your pay has been cut six percent since last August 1. And that isn’t all.

Price Administrator Leon Henderson estimates that at the rate present uncontrolled economic factors are snowballing, the cost of living shortly will begin pyramiding at the eye-popping pace of 1½ percent a month. That is, you will be taking a pay cut every month of 1½ percent.

That is, you will unless something is done about it.

Mr. Henderson has been frantically trying to get something done about it since August, when the president sent his message urgently asking Congress for price control legislation. Thanks to a log-rolling combine of congressional farm and labor interests his results so far are zero. In fact, they are worse than nothing.

After stalling for four months, during which the cost of living took a six per cent gouge out of your pocketbook, the log-rolling coalition passed a measure in the House that in effect legalizes dollar-rifling boosts in living costs. Instead of controlling prices, this bill would force price increases and encourage a veritable Pandora’s box of economic and social evils – strikes and other labor disturbances over wage demands, profiteering, inflation and screwball political panaceas.

Up to the Senate

The sordid House bill is now before the Senate Banking Committee, one of the ablest committees in Congress.

In the absence of Sen. Bob Wagner of New York, Sen. Carter Glass of Virginia, father of the Federal Reserve System, is acting chairman. If anyone on Capitol Hill is a foe of inflation, it is Sen. Glass.

But Sen. Glass and his committee are not the Senate. The same log-rolling elements that massacred the Henderson bill in the House also are present in potent. numbers in the Senate. And if they can help it, little, if anything, will be done to restore the measure to its original effective form.

Meanwhile it will be weeks before the legislation will reach the Senate floor. With a long holiday recess in the offing, the measure couldn’t be taken up even if the Banking Committee reported it out quickly. That means that it may be February before a price-fixing bill finally is enacted.

Meanwhile, as Congress “fiddles,” the cost of living continues to skyrocket and the buying power of your dollar, whether wage-earner, business man or farmer, grows less and less every day.

NOTE: Here is something to remember – During the World War, the U.S. spent around $34 billion and a very grave inflationary condition developed. So far over $68 billion has been appropriated for the defense program and this is less than half of what military authorities say will be needed.

Capital chaff

When Hitler-hating Sen. Pepper of Florida meets Hitler-hating Secretary of the Navy Knox, each greets the other with, “Hello, you old appeaser, how are you!” … Sen. Harry Truman of Missouri displays on his office wall the patched war maps by which he directed the fire of artillery company in France 23 years ago… Beginning last Monday, all traffic was barred from East Executive and West Executive Avenues, running by the White House… On the desk of Presidential Secretary Steve Early is the Mark Twain motto: “Always do right; this will please some people, astonish the rest.” … On the desk of Sen. Charles McNary of Oregon is the same motto.

Miss Rankin dissents

A dramatic private debate took place around Rep. Jeannette Rankin before she cast her solitary vote against the war resolution.

Fellow Republican isolationists, among them Harold Knutson of Minnesota, who, like her, had voted against war in 1917, pleaded with the Montana congresswoman to vote for the declaration against Japan.

“We have been attacked,” they argued. “The United States didn’t start this war.”

“I need more time to decide,” Miss Rankin insisted. “Give me 10 hours to think this over.”

“But Japan is invading our territory. Japan is attacking us!”

“That is what Mr. Roosevelt says,” was the stubborn answer. “I am not taking his word for it. I am against war.”

‘Neutral’ Sweden

Intelligence reports cast Sweden in a new role as a war-aid supplier to Adolf Hitler.

Confidential word has been received that the Nazis have secured the great shipbuilding facilities of Sweden to add to those of continental Europe, in their momentous race to outstrip American and British shipyards.

Also Swedish banks are financing half of this Nazi ship program, with the other half to be paid out of German trade balances in Sweden.

The German steel industry will supply a large part of the ship plates. Deliveries are to begin in 1943. As far as has been ascertained the ships will be freighters, transports and other types of cargo carriers. The Swedes will not make any warships as such, although the ships they build will be for the purpose of enabling the Nazis to carry on their war of world conquest.

NOTE: Recently Swedish vessels delivered four large cargoes of newsprint and pulp to South America where, it is reported, the urgently needed propaganda material reached Nazi hands. Last summer, the U.S. put an embargo on paper exports to Nazi agents as part of the fight to block their subversive propaganda operations.

South American bases

One clue as to how carefully the Japanese and Nazis prepared for the attack on the U.S. was unearthed by the congressional committee which investigated aviation conditions in South America.

They discovered that six Messerschmidt planes recently were flown into Colombia by Japanese pilots. The planes and pilots later disappeared, but it is well known that Colombia is dotted with German “fincas” or plantations, many of them not too far distant from the Panama Canal. These plantations are located establishments, where no outsider can ascertain exactly what goes on.

The congressional committee also learned that the Japanese had secretly stored 8,000 tons of dynamite at Medellin and that other high explosives were stored by Japanese fifth columnists.

War chaff

It was significant that the Japanese struck first not at the Philippines, which is armed to the teeth with heavy bombers, but at Hawaii. Hawaii had sent its best war planes on to the Philippines…

Current sight is always easier than foresight, but looking backwards it might have been better not to have arrested all those German spies. J. Edgar Hoover was running a radio station for them, though they didn’t know it, and had possession of the secret Nazi code. Continued possession of that code might have revealed the hookup between Hitler and the Japanese warlords and the plans for attack. However, the Justice Department wanted to show that Congressman Dies was not the only one who was chasing spies and overruled Mr. Hoover’s arguments for continuing to watch the spies but not arrest them…

Incidentally, both Mr. Hoover and Mr. Dies apprehended several Japanese agents on the West Coast, together with reams of documents showing their espionage activities. In one case, the State Department forced Mr. Hoover to turn the Japanese loose even though an American confederate was convicted. In the case of Mr. Dies, the State Department requested him not to publish his sensational material…

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Simms: Suicide squad, human torpedo yarns blasted

Japs just hard-hitting, accurate fliers, eyewitnesses say
By William Philip Simms, Scripps-Howard foreign editor

WASHINGTON (Dec. 13) – At last a corner of the veil has been lifted from events around Singapore, if not Pearl Harbor. And the revelations come not an hour too soon.

Uncanny tales of Japanese cunning and daring were being broadcast throughout the nation, attributing to the little brown men qualities bordering on the supernatural.

However, instead of hordes of aerial warriors gallantly committing suicide by diving down the funnels of battleships, as some commentators seemed to imply, it is not known that the attackers were just plain, hard-hitting fighters.

One story was that the Japanese airmen made “human torpedoes” of themselves and deliberately crashed into the American and British warships. Nothing else, it was said, could account for their “amazing” accuracy.

‘Sure they can fly’

A story from the Philippines quoted an American soldier as saying: “Sure they can fly! Sure they are accurate! They can hit a fish in a bucket from 15,000 feet.”

Another nationally circulated story suggested that the Japanese fliers were using a new and extremely accurate bombsight and that their bombs probably contained a new kind of explosive.

Meanwhile, the Tokyo radio was broadcasting, in English, yarns about “suicide squadrons” setting forth to accomplish their lethal purpose inspired by their god-emperor and without hope of earthly reward or even survival.

Fleet’s movements spotted

Precisely what happened at Pearl Harbor is still not generally known, but eyewitness accounts are available of the sinking of Britain’s Prince of Wales and Repulse, off Malaya.

All accounts agree that the British ships ventured into highly dangerous waters without proper aircraft protection. The sky was overcast and Adm. Sir Tom Phillips, the commander-in-chief, counted on that fact to hide his fleet’s movements. But the weather cleared somewhat and the Japs spotted him.

Soon the air was filled with hostile aircraft. Some of them dived and bombed the two super-dreadnaughts – again and again. Others swooped low and loosed torpedoes at the zigzagging craft. Some scored hits but many more mussed. The Repulse alone successfully dodged 19 torpedoes aimed at her huge flanks.

No “human torpedo” crashed into either ship, according to eyewitness accounts. The ships simply were pounded to pieces, blow on blow, by Japanese airmen who had the sky to themselves until the job was done. All the doomed vessels had to defend themselves with was their own anti-aircraft batteries, which admittedly are insufficient protection against multiple bombers. The only protection against aircraft is aircraft.

No one here belittles the Japanese feat. No one any longer underestimates their skill as fliers. No one denies they possess courage. The point is they are not supermen. To create for them a superman legend, it is pointed out, is to do service to the Japanese and disservice to the Allied cause.

Try to scare enemy

The Nazis have long employed propagandists, headed by Dr. Goebbels, to sow fear. Part of their war technique is to make their intended victims afraid of them. But they were not the originators of this technique. The Orientals were doing it in Marco Polo’s day and 1,000 years before that. As far back as history recalls, they schemed to make the enemy believe they were wound-proof and death-proof because they had been smeared with dragon grease or something.

There’s no “dragon grease” on the Japs. Such is the gist of the news from Singapore. They did what they did through ordinary courage, training and discipline.

‘Human torpedoes’ called a myth

BERN (Dec. 13) – Japanese “human torpedoes” are only a myth, Cmdr. Hosoya, Japanese naval attache at Vichy, declared in an interview published yesterday in the Swiss newspaper, Gazette de Lausanne.

“The secret is much simpler,” the officer added. “The Japanese Navy is exercising continually. It does not have any Saturdays, Sundays or weekends beginning on Friday.”

He said that Japan’s principal strategy was to avoid unnecessary loss of life.

“Submarine corvettes which deliberately throw themselves into collision with the enemy do not exist in the Japanese Navy,” Hosoya insisted.

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Van Zandt joins Navy for duty in North Atlantic

Pennsylvanian is fourth congressman to enter armed service

WASHINGTON (UP, Dec. 13) – Rep. James E. Van Zandt, R-Pennsylvania, a lieutenant in the Naval Reserve, reported to the Navy today for duty in the North Atlantic.

Mr. Van Zandt, former national commander of the Veterans of Foreign Wars, is the fourth member of Congress to enter the armed services since war broke out. others are awaiting calls to active duty.

Mr. Van Zandt said he has returned to Japanese Ambassador Kichisaburo Nomura with “disgust and contempt” a medal he received in 1936 from the Imperial Reservists Association of Japan.

Other members of Congress in service are:

• Rep. Frank C. Osmers, R-New Jersey, 33-year-old bachelor from East Orange, who enlisted as a buck private.

• Rep. Albert L. Vreeland, R-New York, who has an indefinite leave of absence from the House to take over his captaincy in the Army Reserve. His secretary said he planned to live on his captain’s pay and waive his $10,000 a year salary as congressman.

• Rep. Lyndon B. Johnson, D-Texas, who reported for duty as a lieutenant commander in the Naval Reserve after he voted for war with Japan. He said he soon would be detailed to duty at San Francisco.

Those awaiting calls to duty include Sens. A. B. Chandler, D-Kentucky, and Henry Cabot Lodge, R-Massachusetts, Army Reserve captains, and Rep. Hamilton Fish, R-New York, reserve colonel.

Congressmen need not – and generally do not – resign upon entering the armed services. They have the choice of accepting either the pay of their rank or their congressional salary, customarily the former. They cannot be conscripted or ordered into active duty except by their own consent.

[NormanStewart]

President signs –
AEF ban ends; married men facing draft

Congress considers bill to broaden Selective Service law

WASHINGTON (UP, Dec. 13) – President Roosevelt, in a move to implement America’s war effort, today signed a bill authorizing the use of National Guardsmen and selectees anywhere in the world.

The bill eliminates previous Selective Service law restrictions prohibiting the dispatch of selectees or Guardsmen outside the Western Hemisphere, with the exception of U.S. possessions. The measure received congressional approval earlier this week.

Would hold troops

The bill also would permit the Army to hold in service until six months after the war is ended all soldiers – enlisted men, selectees or Guardsmen. Mr. Roosevelt at the same time signed another bill which would give the Navy the same authority to hold its personnel.

Mr. Roosevelt made the bill a law as congressional committees began consideration of sweeping legislation for a potential 40-million-man draft to swell the nation’s military and civilian defense forces, with a 10-million-man Army contemplated.

Brig. Gen. Lewis B. Hershey said that to raise the necessary manpower for the Army, it probably would be necessary to draft married men.

Gen. Hershey said he probably would have to take a large number of men from industry and “invade homes quite considerably.”

Urges reclassification

The draft director added, in testimony before the House Military Affairs Committee: “We have thousands – probably hundreds of thousands – who should be reclassified, but not hysterically. We must go at it calmly and coolly,” adding that “the draft boards have been reasonably generous. I wouldn’t preach a crusade to take every married man, but I do believe that there are individuals on the border line that inevitably the line will be on the other side.”

Gen. Hershey told the committee that previously he had not favored the induction of young men under 21, but he added, “my thoughts have changed materially since last Saturday.”

Would register

Both House and Senate Military Affairs Committees considered a projected measure which is designed to register all men between the ages of 18 and 64, inclusive, and which would make available for military service those between 19 and 44, inclusive.

The Senate committee, which may report its own draft bill on Monday, met in executive session with War Department and Selective Service officials. The House committee, which has already introduced its bill, heard a series of witnesses at the opening hearing describe the urgency of the proposed registration law in the light of America’s expanding war preparations and defense.

Secretary of War Henry Stimson, in a letter read to the House committee by Chairman Andrew J. May, D-Kentucky, said that enactment would “provide a framework into which we can steadily and solidly build, stone by stone, the structure which will accomplish victory.”

Stresses danger

“We’re going into this thing on an all-out basis,” Brig. Gen. Wade H. Haislip, assistant chief of staff, told the committee. “The War Department doesn’t want to minimize the danger we’re in.”

“The nation must find men for the land, and I think in the not too far distant future, for the naval forces,” Gen. Hershey said. “If we are to stand the losses of war, it is most necessary that our age registration groups be as broad as possible.”

Gen. Hershey, the first witness, told the committee that at least 40 million men would be registered in the 18-64 years classifications. This would include the 17 million already registered for Selective Service. For the 19-45 years age brackets – those who would be eligible for combatant service – there would be about 30 million registrants of which 25 percent, or 7,500,000, would be fit for military service, he said.

Sees all in defense work

The most vigorous testimony of the brief House committee session came from Gen. Haislip, who warned that “before this thing is over, we’re all going to be in some sort of defense work.”

Rep. Andrew Edmiston, D-West Virginia, objected that the men of the War Department are “prone to go too far.”

“I don’t think you can go too far in this war,” Gen. Haislip replied.

The congressional meetings coincided with an appeal by the Army Recruiting Service for at least 20,000 Air Corps volunteers a month, between the ages of 20 and 26, and for 15,000 other volunteers between 18 and 35 to work in aviation ground services.

Offices to stay open

The Navy, meanwhile, announced that all recruiting stations will remain open 24 hours a day, including Sundays.

The Navy again urged all volunteers to bring with them their birth certificates or other evidence of citizenship and age.

Mr. Stimson, in his letter urging enactment of the draft legislation, said:

“I desire to emphasize the psychological or moral effects of the passage of a great measure along these lines. It will make clear to the American people the character of the effort that will be required to defeat the vast forces arrayed against us.

“To the outside world, it will be a symbol that we are providing the means to make good our declared policy to ‘accept no result save victory, final and complete.’”

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Perkins: Defense strike ban gets test at conference

Future of ‘voluntary accord’ may be decided at White House
By Fred W. Perkins, Press Washington correspondent

WASHINGTON (Dec. 13) – With all elements of labor and industry pledging all-out cooperation, the peaceful method of preventing defense labor strikes will be given its major tryout in labor-management conferences beginning here Wednesday under White House auspices.

Results of these meetings will determine how thorough-going is the apparent mew accord between labor and management, produced by the national peril, and they may indicate how long the accord is likely to last.

If results are not thoroughly satisfactory, or if early signs appear of a reversion to the strike method of adjusting industrial differences, the Senate has in position for immediate passage the Smith anti-strike bill, already adopted by the House in a nearly two-to-one vote.

Bills lying dormant

For the present the Smith bill and other bills aimed at the problem are expected to lie dormant. If action becomes necessary, the Smith bill is in best position for Senate passage, because it already has cleared the House and the other proposed legislation would have to go through both branches of Congress.

Sen. Harry F. Byrd, D-Virginia, main Senate backer of the Smith bill, declared that the bill should be concurred in by the Senate without delay, “no matter what happens in the White House labor-management conferences.” He asserted the country should have an ample statutory guarantee that there will be no further interruptions to military and naval production through strikes during the crisis, and that such a guarantee should be more substantial than any groups or leaders.

Most Senate opinion, however, was believed to support President Roosevelt’s policy of depending for the present on voluntary agreements in which labor will have an equal voice with management. This opinion takes into account the fact that the Smith bill remains in the background for use when and if necessary.

Unions oppose it

Both the CIO and the American Federation of Labor are opposed to the Smith bill in every particular, and if the war crisis had not broken last Sunday their desire to prevent its enactment might have produced at least partially the peace now ruing in labor relations.

The Smith bill will occupy its present position, in position for Senate adoption, until the end of the 77th Congress, which will continue until the end of 1942.

The CIO executive council today named its six representatives in the White House conference. They are headed by John L. Lewis, who as president of the United Mine Workers produced the strike crisis that brought on the House action on the Smith bill. Philip Murray, head of the CIO and chairman of the Steel Workers Organizing Committee, was named fifth on the list.

Others are Joseph Curran, president of the National Maritime Union, who has been charged with Communist connections by the Dies Committee; R. J. Thomas, president of the United Auto, Aircraft and Agricultural Implement Workers; Emil Rieve, president of the Textile Workers Union, and Julius Emspak, secretary-treasurer of the United Electrical, Radio and Machine Workers.

The AFL is to name its representatives Monday. They may include figures who were prominent in the break several years ago that gave birth to the CIO.

Announcement of the industry representatives is expected from the White House Monday or Tuesday. Mr. Roosevelt gave the duty of selecting them to William L. Batt, chairman of the Business Advisory Council of the Commerce Department and director of the OPM materials division.

Willkie’s name mentioned

“Big names” being discussed as the possible presiding officer of the conference include those of Wendell Willkie, but in informed circles today it was stated there was little chance that the 1940 Republican presidential candidate, would be given this assignment.

William H. Davis, chairman of the National Defense Mediation Board, was said to be a possibility, even though his policies have been attacked by the CIO group. Bernard Baruch, who headed the war industries board of the World War, also was mentioned.

Mr. Baruch was concerned in organization of the war labor board which functioned in the labor field in World War I. That board did not get into action until a year after America’s entry into the conflict. Next week’s White House conference is expected to set up an agency with similar functions, but without the year’s delay.

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‘Smashing Hitler’ Reds first task, Litvinov implies

Ambassador indicates joint Allied plan of attack against Axis exists, leaves little doubt that Russia is considering action against Japan
By John A. Reichmann, United Press staff writer

WASHINGTON (UP, Dec. 13) – Soviet Russia implied tonight that her present contribution to the war effort against the Axis would be confined to “smashing Hitler” on the home front since “we would not be helping the Allied cause if we were to relax our efforts in this direction just now.”

Those words came from Maxim Litvinov, new Russian ambassador to the United States. They were issued at his first formal press conference only a few hours after the heads of three other world powers had assured the United States of their support in the war against Germany, Japan and Italy.

As the State Department announced the affirmations of support from King George VI of Great Britain, Queen Wilhelmina of the Netherlands, and from Generalissimo Chiang Kai-shek of China, Litvinov was asserting: “The Red Army intends to smash back at Hitler until he is destroyed. Hitler is soaring to his doom.”

Indicates joint plan

He hinted that a plan of attack exists in which the Russians, the British Empire and the United States will “spot” their military forces at points most strategic to bring about an Axis defeat. At the same time, he left little doubt that Russia is studying the feasibility of opening a new front against Japan.

“I am sure a complete understanding exists, or will be arrived at, on which country shall place its efforts in each sector and will be based upon mutual interest,” Litvinov said.

“We are all together in one boat against national infamy and barbarity.”

Litvinov characterized the Nipponese as “one of a common gang,” and denounced the Axis powers as “international gangsters who plan to plunder all countries and enslave their peoples.”

U.S. aid assured

The Soviet ambassador said that for four and a half months Russia has had to bear the full force of the German military machine with its vast supplies from the occupied countries.

The Red Army, Litvinov said, has no lack of manpower, but it does need material. But both President Roosevelt and Secretary of State Cordell Hull have assured him, he said, that American supplies to the Soviet will be increased – not decreased – as a result of America’s entry into the world conflict.

The State Department quoted the expressions of British, Dutch and Chinese support to Mr. Roosevelt, and his replies, as follows:

King George VI: “We share your inflexible determination and your confidence that with God’s help the powers of darkness will be overcome and the four freedoms established throughout a world purged of tyranny.”

President Roosevelt: “May God guide us through whatever trials are yet to come and spread the day of victory.”

Queen Wilhelmina: “It is a gratifying thought to me, Mr. President, that now an armed conflict has broken out as a result of Japan’s wanton attack against the United States, the Army and Navy and the Air Force of the Netherlands will fight as comrades in arms in the same good cause as the military, naval and air force of the United States. My thoughts are with you and with the American government and people in this hour of our common trial from which with God’s help we shall arise victorious.”

President Roosevelt: “My sincere thanks for your message. It is indeed gratifying that the American people will have beside them in the trials ahead your heroic people who have shown such courage and determination. The strength of freedom is a sure sword which, with God’s help, cannot fail.”

Chiang, replying to the president’s message of December 9, predicting Japan’s defeat promised: “All we are, and all we have, to stand with you until the Pacific and the world are freed from the curse of brute force and endless perfidy.”

Russia on record for defeat of Japs

KUIBYSHEV, USSR (Dec. 13) – Russia’s line of policy toward the Pacific war is still unannounced but there is at least no longer the slightest doubt where Soviet sympathies lie.

An editorial in Pravda, official organ of the Communist Party, yesterday predicting inevitable defeat for Japan and making repeated allusions to Japanese treachery and aggression was the strongest statement on the Far Eastern situation to appear in the Soviet press since the July 1938 conflict on the Manchukuan-Mongolian frontier.

It contained, however, no clue to Russia’s future course of action, if any.

Meanwhile, there is no indication that either Britain or America is putting any diplomatic pressure on the Russians to join with them in the Pacific conflict, though the three nations are now vital allies against Germany. The British view seems to be that with the Soviet Union performing the all-important role of wearing down Hitler, nothing should be done to embarrass the Russians in taking whatever line toward the Far East they may see fit.

The presence of a huge, well-trained Soviet army in the Far East is a factor of first importance in the Pacific situation. The eruption in the Pacific finds Soviet Russia, as a result of her recent military successes, more confident of ultimate victory than at any time since the Nazis invaded this country. It finds Germany at the lowest ebb of her military fortunes so far, with the Russians dealing counterblow after counterblow.

Vital cities safe

Whether these Russian gains are permanent and decisive or represent a turning point in the war it is too early to say, but now it is pretty plain that the vital centers of Moscow and Leningrad are safe for the winter months. This is of enormous importance.

Observers here do not doubt that Hitler’s difficulties in Russia caused him to apply intense pressure on Japan for the immediate entry of that country into the war on a “now or never” basis.

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Tax chairman asks spreading of war costs

Hearings to open January 15; non-defense economies urged

WASHINGTON (Dec. 13) – Chairman Robert L. Doughton, D-North Carolina, of the House Ways and Means Committee declared tonight that the federal war tax program, which is to be enacted early next year, will take “just as much as we can without dislocating our national economy.”

Coupling his warning of high war costs with a plea for reduction of non-defense expenditures, Mr. Doughton urged that government fiscal policies be reorganized to spread a large portion of the tax burden over a long period of time because “we can confiscate only once, but we can tax perpetually.”

Mr. Doughton’s committee will start hearings January 15 on a new tax bill. The program may call for from five to 10 billion dollars in new levies.

The Treasury’s first four-billion-dollar tax bill estimate was based on peacetime conditions. But monthly expenditures now are expected to reach five billion. Tax collections have run slightly less than a billion a month.

According to Mr. Doughton, no definite policy has been agreed upon but virtually every means of taxation is expected to be examined with a view to upward hikes.

“There is one thing we should do in this emergency, and that is reduce the non-defense expenditures of the federal government to the lowest practicable point,” Mr. Doughton said.

“Certainly Congress next year must enact a new tax bill to get more money, just as much as we can get without dislocating our national economy.”

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I DARE SAY —
Newsreel theater a vital institution

By Florence Fisher Parry

We have a News-Reel Theater in Pittsburgh (Diamond Street), devoted to the showing of the best available NEWS pictures of the world. This theater has been operating for some years now; but it never has received the grateful acknowledgment of Pittsburgh’s movie audiences that it deserves. It should be an INSTITUTION; its weekly change of news pictures should be almost required seeing. Instead, a casual and somewhat “floating” audiences has supported it.

This indifference of the intelligent populace is now certain to turn into the most acute interest. A news-reel theater will now be an indispensable part of our new war habits. The sad part of this is that all this time, until now, news pictures have suffered little censorship, and we were free to see some of the greatest news pictures ever to be made.

Now, necessary censorship will limit the operations of the news camera-men. But there will be plenty to see, even so! So much that if we expect to keep intelligent track of what’s going on we can’t afford not to see it – regularly, faithfully, as an act of patriotism.

Why, in New York City, it’s the NEWS-REEL theaters that are packed ones; that are the most popular of all! There are dozens there, in the most strategic spots, the most expensive spots, to be had in Manhattan. And they’re filled; they’re supported like the newspapers. The very day of the air-raid alarm in New York, I talked long distance to my daughter; and she said: “All we do here is grab a paper and then dash into a news-reel theater.”

Obligation

Let us live up to the words of the president, and be worthy of their import. He said: “WE MUST SHARE TOGETHER the good news and the bad news… This government will put its trust in the stamina of the American people and will give the facts to the public as soon as two conditions have been fulfilled: First, that the information has been definitely and officially confirmed; and second, that the release of the information at the time it is received will not prove valuable to the enemy directly or indirectly.”

Now as regards the news reels, they will be censored at their source; and those which do come through to us will be well-worth seeing. The opportunity to inform our children, at this critical moment of their lives, is one we dare not ignore. I hope that the news reel exhibitors will ask for as many geographical pictures as is feasible to show; the physical aspect of any city or country now under attack or in danger, offers poignant interest at this tame.

We are appallingly ignorant of life in the Pacific. In this regard, the service of the news reel theaters should be indeed a signal one.

Let us have less leg art from Miami and more NEWS! The “historic short,” attempted by most studios and botched into banality in all too many, could now be lifted to a really major place of importance. One thing is sure: We can’t afford to stay away from the movies now. Too much is happening; one week and we are out of touch. The newspapers and radio will do their great job of informing the people; but never has the old Chinese saw been more true than now: One picture is worth a thousand words.” And one MOVING picture should be worth a million words, if it tells us something vital about our country at war!

Alas!

This is no time to raise a voice of protest; but I must meekly offer the wan hope that now that war is here, undue effort will NOT be made to make us grin and bellow at the theater. There’s need for the light touch, heaven knows; and the movie makers are already diligently at work churning mirthful concoction designed to ease our strain.

But even laughter can be overdone; and when it is evoked by the feverish stunts of erstwhile stars who by this time should have earned a place of dignity, I for one am perturbed and wish it were not so.

What provokes this wishful thinking is the appearance of Greta Garbo in another so-called “screwball” comedy, in which my favorite movie star is called upon to comport herself in a manner better befitting Carmen Miranda. In fact, almost the entire advertising campaign of “Two-Faced Woman” was built around the fact that Garbo rhumbas, skis, swims, and Heaven knows what else.

Now, far be it from me to disparage this excellent comedy in which M-G-M has placed Garbo; and to the younger fans this new Garbo is no doubt a fetching creature. But I remember the Greta Garbo that used to be: Remote, Mysterious and Pale, from whom it would be a desecration to expect a rhumba, much less an Annette Kellerman performance on the side.

Ah, that Garbo! I feel sad that the exigencies of this feverish day should have reduced this erstwhile goddess to the necessity of competing with Rita Hayworth or Lana Turner. Besides there is something a little distressing to me about a woman trying too desperately to be blithe and giddy.

Poor Gloria!

It is a recourse all too many of our fading movie stars are employing. Poor passe: Gloria Swanson attempts a comeback in a broad farce, “Farmer Takes a Wife,” in which she exchanges her former halo for a foolscap.

The still-beautiful Claudette Colbert, the still-lovely Barbara Stanwyck, the still-intriguing Marlene Dietrich, the still-lovely Irene Dunne, do not need to cut up capers in order to hold our fealty and love; but you would think so to see the way they carry on in all of their late pictures.

And as for our male stars, I pity them. They are all simply wearing themselves out being juvenile. Take Melvyn Douglas: He must be simply played out. George Brent, too, must be exhausted being a gay old dog. Thank Heaven. Warner Baxter and John Boles have stopped frisking around. This terrible mania of cavorting about the movie sets of Hollywood evidently proved such a strain on Cary Grant that he went in for a murderer role, and in “Suspicion” manages to reclaim a remnant of dignity.

Why, I ask you, do movie stars have to lose their dignity in direct ratio to their increasing years? Stage stars don’t. Stage stars gain in stature, in dignity and in prestige as the reluctant years catch up with them. It is only in the movies where a star has to make a fool of himself in order to hold his public.

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Book is important addition to history of the Civil War

Author provides one of the most concise books yet written about ‘rebellion’
By James Totman

Down through the years hundreds if not thousands of books dealing with the American Civil War have been offered to the American public. Some of these books have attempted to recite the war in the light of personalities, others have attempted to take isolated instances and dwell solely upon that viewpoint to tell their story.

Recently an important contribution to the worthwhile histories of the Civil War was published. It is George Fort Milton’s “Conflict… The American Civil War” (Coward-McCann).

In the author’s own words, the purpose of his work is: to contrast the antagonists in their various essential aspects; to describe some of the variables in the conflict; to limn the chief personalities, civil as well as military, in the management of the two nations; in other words, to give a picture of the Civil War as a whole – the war on land, at sea, in diplomacy, in the spirit of the people, the employment of their natural and their psychic strengths.”

With that for a premise the author has had to sift and weigh his material carefully for, on the most part, such an objective would have taken many, many volumes rather than be condensed into the 393 pages in the book.

The book opens at the firing on Fort Sumter and ends with the surrender of Lee at Appomattox Court House. Four years of conflict, covering all phases of the war, are covered in a masterly and authoritative manner that will place this book among the most intelligent and concise yet written about the “rebellion.”

It pictures clearly and effectively the varied forces at work in the war between the industrial North and the agrarian South.

The war from a military standpoint is treated with the exactness of a report by an on-the-spot observer; from a diplomatic viewpoint the author treats his subject objectively and in so doing he brings many new facets into his book that are rarely treated in most Civil War histories.

The author writes extremely well. His book is a scholarly work written in an easy-to-read manner, and should be of great value to any layman, particularly to historians.

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Poll: Wage-price curb in U.S. favored by 63% of Americans

Public recalls huge increases of last war; sentiment in this country matches that in Canada, where controls are in effect
By George Gallup, Director, American Institute of Public Opinion

PRINCETON, New Jersey (Dec. 13) – With the outbreak of war against Japan, renewed attention will unquestionably be paid to the whole problem of price rises that may bring inflation. The last time America went to war, in 1917-18, prices more than doubled.

Heretofore opponents of price control legislation have argued that a drastic regulation program was unnecessary so long as the United States was not at war. Now that the United States is at war, Congress may be called upon to review the problem once more.

So far as public opinion is concerned – and the willingness of the public to cooperate in any price-fixing program is vitally important – there is little question that control not only of prices, but also of wages, would meet with substantial approval.

Favored by six out of 10

The latest poll on the subject, completed by the American Institute of Public Opinion just before the outbreak of war with Japan, showed that although sentiment for such control had declined slightly since the preceding month, nevertheless more than six voters in every 10 favored a price and wage control law.

The attitude of the American public is closely similar to that of the Canadian public. A poll in Canada by the Canadian Institute of Public Opinion, affiliate of the American Institute, found that more than 70 percent of voters with opinions on the subject were in favor of the price and wage control program which Canada put into effect early this month.

Public ahead of Congress

The noteworthy fact about American sentiment on the subject is that the majority are ready to go farther than Congress. Congress has thus far confined its legislative plans to price control alone; the public would also include wage control.

The survey conducted in the United States was based on the following question:

“A new law in Canada keeps wages and salaries from going higher than they are now and also keeps all prices, including prices of farm products, from going higher. Would you approve or disapprove of such a law in the United States?”

The vote, together with a comparison of results in November on a closely similar question. follow:

	Early December	November
Approve	63%	68%
Disapprove	28%	24%
Undecided	9%	9%

The results of the Canadian Institute poll follows:

Canada’s price wage control law

Approve	76%
Disapprove	24%

In the Canadian poll, only one person in 14, on the average, said he was undecided or without an opinion on the question.

Farmers least in favor

In both the United States and Canadian polls, the group which showed less enthusiasm for price and wage control than any other large group was the farm element. The farmer’s welfare depends, of course, on the price of the agricultural products he sells, and he is not, in most cases, a wage earner.

The American Institute poll found 59 percent of all farmers questioned in favor of both price and wage control, 31 percent opposed and 10 percent undecided. In Canada, where the wage-price measure applies to farm prices as well as all other prices, the vote of farmers is 71 percent favorable, 29 percent opposed.

Sectional vote uniform

Another notable fact revealed in the study is that virtually no difference in sentiment exists between the upper- and middle-income groups and the lower group. In fact, a measure which would include wage control as well as price control is actually favored by a slightly larger vote (64 percent) in the lower income group than in the upper and middle (62 percent).

A further indication of the widespread support for such control is the vote by geographical sections. This measure, which has produced many heated arguments in Washington, is approved by every section of the country by majorities of more than 60 percent.

	Approve	Disapprove	Undecided
New England & Middle Atlantic	60%	30%	16%
East Central	61%	29%	10%
West Central	61%	29%	10%
South	66%	25%	9%
Far West	69%	24%	7%

[NormanStewart]

Wake, Midway hold –
U.S. prepares for Axis drives

U.S. girds for Axis drive against Africa

From the Azores in the Atlantic to Zamboanga in the Philippines, both ways around the world, extends the U.S. front in World War II. Major American role in the conflict is being and probably will continue to be played in the vast theater of oceans and hemispheres mapped above.

WASHINGTON (UP, Dec. 13) – The United States, confronted by the “probable” loss of Guam and by the possibility of an early Axis drive to occupy strategic African shores facing this hemisphere, moved swiftly tonight to consolidate war efforts both at home and abroad.

The most important U.S. move was the signing by President Roosevelt of legislation freeing selectees and National Guardsmen for assignment anywhere in the world.

Speculation on the role these troops will play in fighting this nation’s two-front war was banned by official injunction, but it was pointed out that signing of the legislation made immediately available for service anywhere some 1,250,000 selectees and Guardsmen now in the Army.

Garrison’s defeat seen

Navy communique No. 5 told of the likely defeat of the small Guam garrison which has been subjected to unceasing attack since Japan launched her onslaught last Sunday. The communiqué also stated that heroic resistance was continuing at Wake and Midway Islands.

The War Department in its seventh communique of the war asserted that Japanese landing attempts in the Philippines showed clearly that Nipponese strategy was aimed at setting up “improvised air bases” to bomb with greater ease the strong U.S. defense centers around Manila on the island of Luzon.

The State Department, meanwhile, confirmed reports from Berlin that the Axis satellite Hungary had handed the American minister in Budapest a note declaring a state of war exists between Hungary and the United States.

Causes no surprise

The move occasioned no surprise here, since only yesterday Hungary broke off diplomatic relations with this country, stating at the time that the action was not then a war declaration.

Shortly after the disclosure of Hungary’s move, U.S. Minister to Bulgaria George H. Earle, former governor of Pennsylvania, advised the State Department that Bulgaria had followed suit, declaring war on this country under the tripartite Axis pact to which she is a signatory. Bulgaria declared war on Britain at the same time.

While the Pacific still remained the principal sphere of war for the United States, it was disclosed that British and American officials were studying the possibility of a powerful thrust by Adolf Hitler in the Mediterranean region – aimed ultimately at placing his troops and the Luftwaffe on the West African coast opposite South America.

What countermeasures might be under consideration for such an eventuality were not disclosed here, nor would officials say whether the conversations between the U.S.-British officials involved any special joint action.

War council meets

President Roosevelt and members of his war council met in two separate conferences during the day to discuss the war in the Pacific and problems arising from U.S. involvement in the Atlantic. At one conference, he met with Secretary of State Cordell Hull and Secretary of War Henry L. Stimson. The other was with Acting Secretary of the Navy James V. Forrestal and four ranking naval officials.

Other developments included:

• Senate and House conferees approved a $10,500,000,000 bill carrying funds and contractual authority for the Army, Navy and lend-lease aid, and for the expansion of the nation’s war industries.

• The United States Weather Bureau advised all weather stations to discontinue publication of all wind and weather forecasts which may be of help to the enemy.

• Maj. Gen. William N. Porter, chief of the Chemical Warfare Service, ordered immediate instruction of West Coast civilian and industrial groups in air raid protection methods.

Jap plan revealed

The War Department Communique No. 7 related that Japanese landing attempts on the northwest, north and southeast coast of Luzon – the main island on which Manila is located – were now revealed clearly as desperate efforts to find bases for launching more powerful air blows at key U.S. defenses on the archipelago.

“The enemy plan is now clearly revealed as an attempt to secure improvised air bases” the communique stated.

The tenor of the War Department communique made it clear that the Philippines are the principal theater of war in the Far Pacific and that American and Filipino forces are performing a heroic job of defending the important fortification centering in Luzon.

Secretary of War Stimson was disclosed by the communique to have authorized Lt. Gen. Douglas A. MacArthur, chief of the Far Eastern Command in the Philippines, to award the Distinguished Service Cross and the Distinguished Flying Cross “for gallantry in action beyond the line of duty.”

From the Philippines have come some of the most stirring stories of bravery against the fanatical invaders.

May promote men

MacArthur was also given authority to promote officers and enlisted men “for outstanding leadership in the present operations,” the communique announced.

The Army moved, meanwhile, to strengthen defenses in this hemisphere. Maj. Gen. Karl Truesdell, commander of the Sixth Army Corps, Providence, Rhode Island, was ordered to the Panama Canal Zone for duty with the Caribbean Defense Command.

Brig. Gen. Arthur G. Campbell, commander of the 2nd Coast Artillery District, Fort Hamilton, New York, was ordered to command of the harbor defenses at Narragansett Bay, Fort Adams, Rhode Island.

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USS Arizona sunk, Japanese claim

Reports of Hong Kong occupancy aren’t verified

TOKYO (UP, Dec. 13, official Japanese Domei Radio) – Official Japanese spokesmen today claimed that the 32,000-ton battleship USS Arizona has been sunk and that Japanese troops have occupied Kowloon, leased territory on the China mainland adjacent to Hong Kong.

The Japanese ambassador at Buenos Aires claimed that Japanese troops have occupied Hong Kong.

These Japanese claims were made:

That 140,000 tons of American and British warships have been sunk or severely damaged in a week of war, including three battleships sunk at Pearl Harbor, two off Malaya; an aircraft tender sunk at Hawaii, a U.S. submarine probably sunk; an American aircraft carrier probably sunk; four battleships heavily damaged, four large cruisers heavily damaged and assorted small warcraft sunk or damaged.

That Honolulu has suffered six air raids within nine hours of the arrival of Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox with casualties of 1,500 servicemen.

That 129 U.S. and British planes have been destroyed in Malaya and the Philippines, including eight U.S. planes shot down in combat yesterday and 14 on the ground.

That Japan has won air supremacy throughout the Far East and lost only 17 planes in the first three days’ operations.

That one Anglo-American transport was sunk in the Far East, two gunboats and four transports damaged.

That Thailand troops now operating in collaboration with the Japanese have repulsed British-Chinese forces which invaded the Northern Thailand border at Chieng Rai.

That French Indochina is mobilizing all youths fit for military service “following the conclusion of a military agreement with Japan.”

Of ground operations in the Philippines, the only new Japanese report was that troops have been landed at Legaspi on the southeast corner of Luzon.

An extraordinary session of the Privy Council was convened in the Imperial Palace in the presence of Emperor Hirohito at which Foreign Minister Shigenori Togo outlined the new Axis war agreement and Japan’s agreement with Thailand.

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Six Honolulu fliers cited as battle heroes

Army communique praises them for shooting down 10 Jap planes

WASHINGTON (UP, Dec. 13) – The War Department in a communique late today praised the courage of six youthful Army fliers in combatting the surprise attack of Japanese aircraft on Honolulu December 7 in which more than 20 Japanese planes were destroyed.

The six American fliers who were named in the Department’s communique were:

• Second Lt. Kenneth M. Taylor of Hominy, Oklahoma
• Second Lt. George S. Welch of Wilmington, Delaware
• First Lt. Lewis M. Sanders of Fort Wayne, Indiana
• Lt. Gordon H. Sterling Jr. of West Hartford, Connecticut
• Second Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen of Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts
• Second Lt. Harry W. Brown of Amarillo, Texas

The communique, describing the heroism of the fillers, said there was nothing to report from other areas.

The text of the War Department Communique No. 8, issued as of 4 p.m., follows:

“HAWAII: The War Department has been advised by Lt. Gen. Walter C. Short, commanding the Hawaiian Department, that numerous spectacular feats of heroism on the part of American Army fliers were characteristic of the fight during the surprise attack of Japanese aircraft at Honolulu on December 7. More than 20 Japanese planes were destroyed during the attack.

Two get six enemy planes

“Typifying the magnificent fighting of American pilots, Gen. Short cited the following examples:

“Second Lt. Kenneth M. Taylor of Hominy, Oklahoma, and 2nd Lt. George S. Welch of Wilmington, Delaware, both flying Curtiss single-seat pursuit planes, early in the raid, attacked a formation of six Japanese planes. Each officer shot down two enemy planes. The other two Japanese planes escaped for the time being.

“A short time later, Lt. Welch, alone, engaged two Japanese planes, and after maneuvers worthy of a veteran fighter, shot them both down. Thus, two young American officers destroyed six enemy planes in their first actual fight. Lt. Taylor only recently arrived in Hawaii and the ink was scarcely dry on his commission as an Army officer when he was engaged in combat.

“First Lieutenant Lewis M. Sanders of Fort Wayne, Indiana, flying at an altitude of about 3,000 feet, saw a dogfight between an American and a Japanese plane. As he banked to join the fight, he saw the American plane go down in flames. He immediately engaged the Japanese plane in a furious battle and shot it down.

“Lt. Gordon H. Sterling Jr. of West Hartford, Connecticut, located a formation of six enemy planes. Undaunted by superior numbers, he courageously attacked and destroyed one of the Japanese planes.

“Second Lt. Philip M. Rasmussen of Jamaica Plain, Boston, Massachusetts, engaged a single Japanese fighter plane over Schofield Barracks. The ensuing dogfight was witnessed by thousands of spectators as the American pilot, by superior maneuvers, sent the Japanese plane to the ground in a flaming mass of wreckage.

Outnumbered at all times

“Second Lt. Harry W. Brown of Amarillo, Texas, unexpectedly found himself in the midst of a rendezvous of Japanese planes. Instead of attempting to flee before the overpowering strength of the enemy, he courageously attacked, shooting down one of the enemy planes in the ocean off Kahuku.

“In each of these fights, the American pilots were outnumbered at all times and found their opponents decidedly clever and dangerous fliers.

“There is nothing to report from other areas.”

The citation in the dispatches of the six fliers for their gallantry was the first word in the department’s communiques regarding the air fighting over Hawaii in last Sunday’s attack.

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Pre-war secrecy hides strength of Japan’s navy

By Milton Bronner

WASHINGTON (Dec. 13) – When war blazed in the Pacific, most Americans immediately wondered: “Just how strong is the Japanese Navy?” With the U.S. Navy starting in to pop off the Mikado’s ships, the question happily becomes “How many do they have left?”

Accurate estimate of the strength of the Nipponese Fleet is difficult because of the smokescreen of secrecy the Japs have thrown around their activities ever since they started an all-out naval building program five years ago. Occidentals, who sought the facts met with a figurative “S-s-so sorry, no information, please.”

For the past few years there have been rumors that they we building, or had already built, from four to eight super-battleships. These vessels were described as being great 45,000-ton ships carrying gigantic 20-inch guns.

Scoff at reports

However, despite the rumors and Japan’s secrecy, U.S. and British naval men have expressed the confident view that the Japs actually have only been turning out 35,000-ton warships the same as most of the new battleships being launched in this country.

During the five-year period, in addition to building new ships, Japan modernized her old battleships.

The best estimates of Japan’s growing sea strength were given last February when U.S. congressional committees were considering appropriations for new warships to be built in this country. U.S. naval officers declared that to the best of their knowledge Japan had:

Ten battleships with eight more under construction; eight aircraft carrier and two more under construction; 46 cruisers and 10 more being built; 125 destroyers with 11 or on the ways, and 71 submarines, with seven new ones being constructed.

U.S. Navy’s size

Seventeen American battleships, with 15 more being constructed; seven aircraft carriers and 11 more being built; 37 cruisers with 54 being built; 170 destroyers with 192 more on order; and 113 submarines with 73 new craft on the ways or on order.

Some new ships for both countries have-been completed during the 10 months since the testimony was given.

Of special importance, too, is the fact that all of the Japanese Fleet is in the Pacific Ocean, whereas the U.S. Fleet is divided between the Atlantic and the Pacific in a ratio that has been kept secret.

The strength of the present Japanese naval air arm is still another mystery. Some time ago it was believed Japan’s air forces were not comparable to those of any of the other big powers. But it is believed that the Germans sent some of their own best machines and technicians to Japan.

Raided by navy planes

It probably was the navy planes which made the first swoop upon Hawaii. Japan had early this year 12 naval air stations in Japan proper, one at Port Arthur and one in Korea. Whether the Japs had others in the mandated Caroline and Mariana Islands is one of their secrets, but it is likely. It was estimated the Jap Navy had 600 planes and 2,100 pilots.

The aircraft carriers that probably transported the Japanese planes for their attack upon Hawaii and the Philippines are in the main not so large nor so swift nor capable of carrying as many planes as their American rivals. Aircraft carriers known to belong to the Japanese Navy were: Hosho (7,470 tons with 25 knots speed), Akagi (26,900 tons with 28.5 knots speed and carrying at capacity 50 planes), Kaga (29,900 tons with 23 knots speed and carrying 50 planes), Rujyo (7,600 tons with 25 knots speed, carrying 30 planes), the Soryu, Hiryu and Shokaku (each of 10,000 tons with 25 knots speed and each carrying 30 planes).

Has seaplane ships

In addition, the air arm of the Jap Navy had three seaplane transports: the Kamoi (17,000 tons with 15 knots speed), Notoro (14,050 tons with 12 knots speed), and Chitose (9,000 tons with 20 knots speed). The number of seaplanes they carry is not known.

Japan has plenty of troops available for military occupation of any islands or mainland it may for the time being conquer. Its peacetime army is only 250,000, but the army has been up to fairly full war strength ever since Japan began aggression upon China.

Every man between the ages of 17 and 40 is subject to military duty and it has been stated that Japan could put six million men into the field, provided it can furnish the equipment. Two million men are supposed to be engaged in the Chinese war. That leaves a large margin for attack in the Philippines, Malaya and other key points.

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Editorial: Let’s start paying

It will be a long, grueling war – and expensive. In the next few years our government may have to spend more money than in all the 152 years of its history up to now.

Let’s start at once to pay a larger share of the costs as we fight.

The generation that does the fighting always pays heavily, in lives lost, in materials destroyed, in lower living standards.

But whatever part of a war’s cost is financed by borrowed money has to be paid twice – first, in higher prices for munitions and civilian goods during the war, and again by the taxpayers of future years. And the repayment of borrowed money is with interest.

We who stay at home and pay money – even if we pay to our fullest capacity – will contribute only a pittance compared to those who leave their homes and jobs and careers and give, or risk, their lives. To contribute less than our full capacity would be unthinkable. Taxes which we might have considered onerous a few days ago should now be regarded as welcome obligations.

Treasury and congressional authorities are preparing to draft a program of all-out taxation. We offer these suggestions:

• Excess profits. The ideal tax would be made so tight that no individual or corporation could gain one dollar of extra profit as a result of this war.

But there should be no tricks, and no self-defeating rules of bookkeeping such as, for instance, the rule advocated by certain Treasury theorists who would require computation of all profits on the base of original capital invested. That base, applied throughout industry, would close down many of the plants to which we look for weapons.

An equitable plan would permit excess profits to be computed either on the base of invested capital or on the earnings of preceding peace years. It might well be backstopped by another law for recapture of all profits in excess of six or seven percent of the cost of performing war contracts.

• Income taxes. Those already subject to these taxes – single persons with incomes above $750, and married persons with incomes above $1,500 – should pay at further increased rates. They comprise, roughly, the economic upper one-third of the population, the part that has most of the ability to pay.

The income-tax base should be broadened again, to increase still further the number of taxpayers. The ideal tax would take something directly from the income of every citizen, from each according to his ability to pay – and, in times like these, to the limit of his capacity. Remember the boys in the front lines, fighting at a dollar a day or less.

• Sales taxes. This newspaper has always regarded these as the worst form of taxation. In normal times, we believed, no government expenditure could produce enough benefits to offset the damage done by federal taxation of the people’s necessities.

But it is true that sales taxes would raise much revenue, and correspondingly curb the rise in the debt. And the worst tax is a lesser evil than the debt. So, after exhausting the revenue-getting possibilities of the ability-to-pay taxes on excess profits and incomes, we believe Congress should consider sales taxes as an additional source.

Ahead of the all-out tax program there should be a program of all-out economies. The days of surplus workers and surplus goods are gone, or rapidly going, and with them goes whatever excuse there might have been for pump-priming expenditures.

Every available man-hour of labor and every available material resource will be required to win the war. Those needy who cannot work must be cared for. But the time has come to abolish NYA and CCC and WPA and farm subsidies and all other subsidies – to wipe out every government activity not absolutely necessary to the nation’s security.

Our country is fighting for its life. It can no longer afford to pay men and women to conduct researches into freckle creams and sunburn lotions, to standardize the size of toothpicks or to write books about why Bostonians eat beans and Southerners enjoy barbecues.

The government should start its financing of the war by stopping the waste of hundreds of millions of dollars now spent to support boondoggles.

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McFarland: This is not 1917

By Kermit McFarland

Twenty-four years ago last April, the United States formally entered World War I.

Less than a week ago, the United States officially entered World War I.

But what an immense difference between the war conditions of April 1917 and those of the present war!

For the first time in its history, the United States has gone to war with absolute unity prevailing among its people. If there is a dissenting vote anywhere in this land, it has been so overwhelmingly smothered under the blitz of American public opinion that no one ever will know it existed.

There was great dissent, not only among the people but among the leaders, when all the previous great wars in which this country was engaged were launched. In some cases, notably the Revolutionary War, this division of opinion and loyalties prevailed until the end of the conflict.

Even in 1917, the nation was badly split over entering the war, although the buildup for action had been under way for months.

It took four days for Woodrow Wilson’s declaration to fight its way through Congress. The debate in both houses was bitter and the resolution was opposed by 50 congressmen and six senators. Even after Mr. Wilson’s message to Congress, asking for the declaration of war, there was a “discordant undertone” of pacifism running through Congress.

But this time it took only a few hours to enact a resolution declaring war on Japan. There was no semblance of pacifism in Congress, even the previously ardent isolationists joining in enthusiasm in putting over the resolution.

Before last Sunday, it is true, there were groups and organizations and public leaders who bitterly fought President Roosevelt’s policies, but the moment Japan struck at Hawaii those organizations vanished and they and their leaders became as vehement in their support of the government as the government’s most ardent stooges.

It was a landslide, all going one way.

There are other striking differences between this war and the last one.

Several days after Congress formally declared war on Germany in 1917, The Press carried a story that the Pennsylvania National Guard would be called to the colors “soon.”

Last Monday when war was declared on Japan, the Pennsylvania National Guard, now the 28th Division of the U.S. Army, was en route to its base camp at Indiantown Gap after participating in the most intensive and realistic maneuvers in the Army’s history. The 28th, along with other vast units of the Army, already, at the very outset of the war, has under its belt nearly a year of intensive training – much of that time with the very latest type equipment.

It was seven months after the declaration of war in 1917 before the green U.S. troops saw action under fire. In this war, U.S. forces were in action even before the formalities were declared.

Shortly after the 1917 declaration of war, it was announced that 12,000 young men in Allegheny County might be subject to “compulsory drill.” When the war with Japan broke out, there already were that many selectees from Allegheny County under arms, many of them by now “veterans” of intensive training. And there were that many more in the various military services who had volunteered.

Our arms plants for months have been rolling at ever-increasing speed, as compared to 1917 when we started from scratch. We already have authorized an expenditure for national defense which more than doubles the total outlay mm 1917-1918. Our people, especially in the larger cities, have gained at least a smattering of education in civilian wartime training. We have not reached the peak of our war efforts, but we are in stride. We have got the feel of it.

In 1917, we had only been threatened. While we had lost some shipping, our territory had not been invaded, our citizens had not been directly attacked by an aggressor power. But now, for the first time since the War of 1812, we have been invaded.

In space of time, we are not later in entering the world conflict than we were in 1917. World War I had been under way two years, eight months and six days when we formally declared hostilities. This one had been under way two years, three months and nine days.

Topping all considerations, however, is the fact that in this war we start off on our toes.

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CANDIDLY SPEAKING —
Jitterbug expert is typical citizen

By Maxine Garrison

Every once in a while I get a chuckle remembering an impromptu and unconscious comedy routine I watched in a younger set hangout one evening.

Except for the furious noises made by the five-piece orchestra, the scene was strictly pantomime. But, as so often happens, the pantomime was far more eloquent than words.

The place was a jitterbug hangout. and we had gone simply to stare. Being an icky since ‘way back myself (the office expert has just told me that anyone who uses such language proves himself to be an icky and doesn’t need to admit it), I wouldn’t know a rug-cutter from a vacuum cleaner (Neither would the carpet, I betcha).

All the dancers were engaged in the most amazing gyrations I’ve ever seen, but one couple in particular caught my eye.

The boy, about 16, was short, chubby and ecstatic. The girl, about the same age, was tall, thin and furious.

Born ‘rug-cutter’

You could see at a glance that this young man was born to cut rugs into linsey-woolsey. He pumped his elbows and bent his knees with great abandon. He flung up his head and closed his eyes, and his face shone with rapture and perspiration.

He twirled the girl this way and that. He danced away from her and around her. His brow corrugated with concentration on the more intricate movements of the dance. He was oblivious to that part of the world which started just beyond the little dance floor.

The only thing about him which indicated that he was conscious, and not having a seizure, Was the way he watched to make sure that the other dancers appreciated how much more agile and accomplished he was beside them.

They were much too busy to take heed. All except one – his partner.

She had been fed up to the ears since the first step. She was obviously not accustomed to such violent dance floor maneuvers, and she didn’t particularly want to become accustomed to them. Not right out in front of everybody, where the whole world could see how green she was.

No grace required

She tried. She really did. She followed the earlier steps, albeit without particular grace (As a matter of fact, it isn’t exactly the kind of dancing that calls for grace).

But when he started leaping around to some pattern known only to himself, she gave up. When he danced away from her, hopping and swaying, she simply stood still and waited for him to come back.

Eventually she began to glare at him with the ferocity of a trapped animal. If he hadn’t had his eyes closed in that trance-like rapture of his, he would have shriveled under the glare. But on and on he went, humiliating and enraging his partner, antagonizing everyone else on the dance floor by forcefully shoving them out of his way.

Little Willie may not know it. but he is typical of far too many fellow citizens of both sexes. They insist on having their fun, regardless of the wishes, convenience and even safety of anyone else. They shut their eves to all the world beyond that small but full-to-overflowing circle of their own ego.

They don’t even know they’re not popular, and they may never learn. Not because their best friends won’t tell ‘em, but because they don’t have any friends. Only speaking acquaintances.

One ounce of awareness or thoughtfulness or sensitivity – call it what you will – in their makeup, and they’d be right nice people. It’s a shame they don’t, in that homely old American phrase, get next to themselves. We need more nice people.

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U.S. is real radio center

Circuits reach nearly 50 other countries

SCHENECTADY, New York (UP, Dec. 13) – The United States, with radio circuits to nearly 50 different countries, is the world center of international communications in the opinion of Dr. Harold H. Beverage, vice president and director of communications research for RCA Communications, Inc.

Mr. Beverage said the present war has interfered with some of the circuits but that it is no longer necessary to relay messages through countries which may be at war with those for whom the communications are intended.

“Another thing which directly concerns the extreme flexibility of radio,” Mr. Beverage said, “is that if we cannot find our people where they were, we get them where they are.

Tell how it’s done

“For instance, when Paris was occupied in the present war by foreign troops, direct communication with that city was interrupted. But as long as there was a station in France able to communicate with us, we were still able to maintain constant contact with the French.

“Since the fall of France, we have reached France through Bordeaux, Lyons, and more recently through Vichy.”

Mr. Beverage then told how long-range radio communication is accomplished.

“While it is true that the use of short waves is generally most effective over long distances,” he said, “there are still occasions when the elements say in effect, ‘Nothing doing with short waves.’

Spurred by World War

“During periods of intense sunspot activity, the resulting magnetic disturbances spell ruin to shortwave communication. At such times we start up the longwave Alexanderson alternator, named for its inventor, Dr. E. F. W. Alexanderson, consulting engineer of General Electric,” Beverage continued.

“It happens that when short waves are at a low level of efficiency,” the RCA official explained, “long waves are even more effective than under ordinary conditions.”

The World War gave radio communications a big push, Mr. Beverage said. The early Alexanderson alternators at that time showed a marked superiority over the systems of long-distance communication, he added. By the end of 1920, direct circuits were established not only with Great Britain and France, but with Japan, Germany, Norway and Hawaii.

“Today the United States is unquestionably the world center of communication,” he said.

[NormanStewart]

Navy officer’s wife offers to serve

GREENPORT, New York (UP, Dec. 13) – Mrs. Margaret Lyle Crouter, wife of a naval officer and the mother of three children, swung a bottle of champagne today in the time-honored manner of christening new vessels for the Navy.

“I christen you YMS-22,” she said. And, as a new minesweeper slid down the ways, added: “And I’ll serve on you if they let me.”

Her husband, Cmdr. M. H. Crouter, was asked what he thought of the idea.

“She expressed the sentiment of every American woman in the country,” he said.

Bullitt in Middle East

CAIRO (Dec. 13) – William C. Bullitt, U.S. coordinator in the Middle East, arrived here by air today. He declined to be interviewed.

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Pittsburgh network soprano praised by ‘unknown’ celebrity

Symphony conductor reveals admiration for Margaret Daum by listener who remains ‘mystery’
By Si Steinhauser

One Christmas night 36 years ago, Pittsburgh’s Victor Herbert stood in the pit of a New York theater and conducted the orchestra as Fritzi Scheff, a Viennese girl sang “Kiss Me Again” from “Mlle. Modiste” and became world famous in the few minutes she took to do the number. Never since that night, except when Fritzi Scheff sang it, was the song so beautiful. From that fame Miss Scheff became wealthy but the years took their toll and just a few years ago friends were trying to block a foreclosure on her home and to remove her from a job any average homeless girl with any kind of a voice would be glad to get, just to eat.

Howard Barlow, famed Columbia symphony conductor writes us a note encompassing all those years.

Mr. Barlow had just concluded conducting the “Lyric Stage” program on which Pittsburgh’s own Margaret Daum had sung “Kiss Me Again.” The maestro was called to a phone and a man, who refused to give his name, said:

“We happened to be sitting listening to the radio when we heard a soprano whose name we didn’t catch sing ‘Kiss Me Again.’ A lady in our party who has sung that song all over the world – and I won’t tell you who she is – was much excited about the incident. She said the soprano sang this tune in precisely the way Victor Herbert had taught her to sing it, with just the right phrasing and tone. In fact, the lady was so moved that she burst into tears, dashed from the room and fainted in the corridor.” Then the man hung up.

Mr. Barlow is certain that he knows who the woman listening was.

Radio censors have had to crack down on songs slapping at the Japanese. Bob Miller penned lyrics reading “We’re gonna have to slap the dirty little Jap.” The censors eliminated “dirty” and substituted “cheeky.” In another line “stinker” was revised to read “upstart.”

Barry Wood’s rendition of “The Sun Will Soon Be Setting on the Land of the Rising Sun” has been the big song hit to date.

However, Molly McGee beat them all to it with her reply to the guy who was going out to buy a globe of the world.

“Want one with Japan on it?” queried Molly.

The guy said he did and she finished him with “You’d better hurry!”

John Barrymore reports that he’ll be on the Rudy Vallee program Thursday.

“Zip,” year-old chow will bring an award to his nine-year-old master Wayne Mulligan, 203 E Willock Rd., today. “Zip” will be designated “America’s greatest dog of the week,” the award carrying with it a medal from the Moylan Sisters, a KQV 5 o’clock attraction.

Zip’s master fell in the basement of his home. Zip licked his face, restored the lad to consciousness, then ran upstairs for help.

Merwyn Bogue, Kay Kyser’s “Ish Kabibble,” will be given a starring role in Kay’s next picture.

Phil Baker is holding warmup sessions of “Take It or Leave It” of which he will be mc when Bob Hawk takes over “How’m I Doin’?” Phil uses the Charles Martin Playhouse audience as guinea pigs, even awarding cash just as Hawk does on a regular broadcast.

Warren Williams stars in tonight’s Inner Sanctum story, “The Song of Doom.”

Wayne King collects pipes and mixes his own tobacco. He owns some 200 pipes and smokes them all in turn. It takes nearly seven months to make the rounds.

Horace Braham, actor on “Women of Courage” and “Kate Hopkins” broadcasts, makes clay caricatures as a hobby. He has a room equipped with ovens for baking his collection for what he calls his “horror room.”

Mark this down where you can read it next summer: Broadcasts not plays will be featured at next year’s summer playhouses.

The only theme song dedicated to a hospital is Muggsy Spanier’s “Relaxin’ at the Touro.” The Touro is a New Orleans hospital.

Uncle Sam’s foot soldiers are carrying two-way “walkie-talkie” radio equipment.

Helen Hayes had planned to do “Tovarich” last Sunday but war news took up her half hour, So she’ll do the play tonight.

However, Miss Hayes will be doing a repeat performance for she did “Tovarich” so that her studio audience would not be disappointed.

Highest radio towers in the Western hemisphere are those of WNAX Yanktown, South Dakota and WKY of Oklahoma City. Both reach 900 feet into the clouds.

Chicago has a new little theater group made up of radio stars, headed by Sundra Love of “Right to Happiness.” Lou Leverett, stage impresario, is director.

Jack Logan, announcer of the Wilkens Amateur Hour and WJAS, tomorrow joins Uncle Sam’s Navy.

The amateur hour of today will be the sixth annual all-twin show, the only broadcast of its kind anywhere. There will be 15 sets of twins on the program, three sets in one family.

The studio audience will include at least 300 sets of twins and 10 sets of triplets.

Mexico has just set up its first network of 10 stations.

Louis Silvers, conductor of music for the Monday night Radio Theater, scored the show while in a Hollywood Hospital. Released, he thought he was sitting on top of the world. Last week Mrs. Silvers went to the hospital and the maestro sat beside her bed and wrote the music for the show in familiar surroundings.

Bob Crosby wanted two tickets to Brother Bing’s broadcast, so he went to the NBC press rooms in Hollywood and requested the tickets in person. “Bing seldom has any tickets and he’s also a bit forgetful and since I wanted to get in I didn’t depend on him,” the younger Crosby told the press boys.

If you think the world is confused here’s proof to help support your theories:

Don Gordon who meows like a black cat on the Tom Mix programs forgot himself the other day, and, thinking of his pet dog at home, barked.

A Radio City announcer said, “This is WJZ. I mean this is WEAF.”

An NBC announcer in Manila said, “Now I return you to CBS in New York.”

Shirley Temple’s commercial, sponsored by a watchmaker, was followed on many stations in the country with time announcements sponsored by a rival watch.

The “no applause” ban has been lifted on the Bing Crosby program.

Ralph Edwards got a letter panning him for having “perfectly good food” thrown at victims of Truth or Consequences. So, to ease his conscience, Ralph bought 100 pumpkin pies and had them sent to New York City’s Welfare Department.

That Tchaikowsky’s Piano Concerto is one of the most-played pieces on the air, Andre Kostelanetz recalls a story about it. Kostelanetz reports that some months before it was produced, Tchaikowsky played it to Nicolas Rubinstein to whom he was dedicating it. But Rubinstein’s reaction was most discouraging. According to one of the composer’s letters, written some years afterward, he was bitterly shocked by his friend’s attitude. Rubinstein listened throughout in silence, then burst into a stream of sharp criticism; the work was trivial, bad, quite unplayable; only one or two pages were worth anything – the rest ought to be either destroyed or completely rewritten. Rubinstein would produce it if it were completely revised according to his idea. Tchaikowsky met this with a firm refusal and instead, dedicated the concert to Hans von Bulow.

The audience at the Charles Martin “Playhouse,” especially those at the repeat shows, have been seeing the movie stars in gay, carefree moods. The latest instance was last week when Joan Bennett was on the program. Following the broadcast, she stepped to the center of the stage and said, “Two of my children are in school in Hollywood so I couldn’t bring them with me. However, I’d like to introduce the one I did bring.” Then Joan ran backstage and returned leading a pet dog. For the next five minutes she turned animal trainer and had the dog do tricks for the onlookers.

KDKA’s Far North program of Saturday right is the first broadcast casualty of the war. Founded to set up contacts with men in Canadian wilds, the Far North Hour has been dropped so that enemies may not use the radio beams for aviation guides.

A second casualty was the Great Pittsburgh Hour inviting new industries here. This will await Uncle Sam’s approval or remain off the air.

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Germany eyes her manpower to offset U.S.

Hitler may order new mobilization to spur production
By David M. Nichol

BERN (Dec. 13) – Europe’s already-strained national economies and resources of manpower are facing a new mobilization, under Nazi compulsion, to offset the potential war production of the United States.

Der Bund of Bern reports from Berlin today evidence of “fanatical determination” by Germany’s leaders to scrape together the last possible means of assistance “not only in Germany but in all of Europe.”

It refers to the belief among “wide circles” of Germany’s people that the damage inflicted in the initial Japanese blows will set back the American war machine “several months.”

More seriousness

Reports from Berlin uniformly point out the lack of any enthusiasm for war with the United States among Germany’s people, although Die Tat of Zurich contends the new conflict is more popular than the French campaign.

The paper also says that extension of the conflict has resulted in a certain release in the terrific tension generated in advance of Thursday’s Reichstag session.

Der Bund says there is “no hurrah” spirit in the Reich and adds that “a great seriousness burdens the populace for everyone knows what will now come will be vastly more difficult than all that has passed.”

Russia watched

Berlin, meanwhile, is watching most closely the reaction in two areas, the powder-charged Russian-Japanese border and France.

Great surprise exists in most European capitals at the absence of any Russian move so far but Neue Zuercher Zeitung reports from Ankara that the British ambassador there, Sir Hughe Knatchbull-Hugessen, left suddenly in the direction of Syria for conferences with “high military and diplomatic officials.”

Ankara expects the “conferences” will result in a joint Russian-British statement.

Believe France must act

The Neue Zuercher Zeitung says that Berlin officials believe France soon must take a stand because of interest in her Far East colonial empire.

The “belief” of Berlin’s officials is tantamount to French action, although earlier in the week Vichy said that for the time being it was maintaining neutrality in the Japanese-American conflict. There has been no statement from France since the German-Italian declaration of war against the United States.

French stirred by ship seizing

Vichy gets report on U.S. taking of Normandie
By Paul Ghali

VICHY (Dec. 13) – While all remains outwardly calm here, there are many undercurrents making for the tenseness which was increased this morning with rumors that the Normandie and other French ships had been seized in the United States. But there has been no official confirmation of the American action here.

News transmission to and from the United States now is precarious and irregular. This seems to herald a general restriction of correspondents’ activities by the force of circumstances.

Tenseness here was also increased today by the report of the torpedoing of a small French freighter in the Mediterranean “presumably by a British submarine.” The government has announced that “measures have been taken to end such cowardly outrages in these waters.”

The Indochinese situation is another cause of the tense atmosphere here. It is denied in official quarters that anything in the nature of an alliance has been signed in Tokyo between Japan and the French colony. It is further pointed out that the terms of the Franco-German armistice would ban such a pact. That France will remain neutral in the Pacific although “strictly defensive measures” have been taken within the framework of existing accords with Japan, is emphasized.

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U.S. can upset Japan’s plans only by looking at the cards

Foe holds ace of experience in battle
By Thomas M. Johnson

WASHINGTON (Dec. 13) – The Japanese leaders who decided to attack the United States are not quite the madmen some Americans would have us believe. They are takers of calculated risks, as all who wage war must be.

And while our leaders and our people believe lust for the treasures of Asia has made them risk too much and calculate too little, yet they have calculated.

We can upset those calculations only if we drop now the great American sport of wishful thinking and take a look at the cards. It requires no card expert to fathom Japan’s game. She counts on striking quick, hard blows to win a short, fierce war. And she leads with war’s most demoralizing weapon – surprise, backed by its toughest – experience.

10 years’ experience

In that hardest, best school were taught her seamen who approached Hawaii, her airmen who bombed it, despite our Navy’s offshore patrol and our Army’s defenses; her soldiers who have invaded the Philippines and are attacking Malaya.

For 10 years, practically, they have been at war, which is a far better teacher than maneuvers – as all old soldiers know. Yet maneuvers are the only preparation any of the troops opposing her, save the underequipped Chinese, have had.

Of the British in the Far East – including Canadians and Australians – almost none has heard a shot fired in anger. Britain’s East Indian armies, totaling a million, comprise diverse and sometimes hostile races and religions, mostly crude farmers.

Color line enters picture

The ability, even the willingness, of some to stand with the white man against the Japanese who, like themselves, are brown, is as uncertain as that of the natives who are Holland’s main reliance in the East Indies. Even Russia’s Siberian army, if it joins in, kas had relatively little fighting experience and has been weakened by the demands of Europe.

And all these armies that have now become our allies and our advance guard, rely on us for equipment, especially tanks, and the airplanes that are manufactured virtually nowhere in the Far East save in Japan.

The Japanese know our planes must be brought by ship, since neither they nor any other weapons are made in our Philippine outpost. They know also that Lt. Gen. Douglas MacArthur’s 150,000 native troops are still so incompletely trained, especially in teamwork and staff work, that the islands must be defended largely by American troops.

No more holidays

Of late our garrison has been greatly increased in number and efficiency, but the sudden bombs bursting among them were the first enemy fire they had endured.

And fire-bursting bombs and shells or just the heat of real war – may crack many a weak vessel that looked strong in the mild days of peace. There can be no more Sunday holidays at exposed outposts nor gasoline and oil supplies left above ground, nor broadcasting actual or potential to enemies the full details of defense projects and progress.

Another card Japan holds is that her supreme command is not only war-wise but really supreme. It says to a subordinate “Go” and he goes. It need not say to four or five equals. “Where shall we go? And how?” And worst of all – “Why?” The Gamelin-Ironside disaster showed that cooperation among Allies is a terrific problem even when efforts are made to solve it, as already they have been in the Far East.

Panama Canal vital

But there it is complicated by tremendous distances, more tremendous for the Allies than for the Japanese; such as the 7,000 miles from California to the Philippines; the three weeks from the Atlantic Fleet to the now weakened Pacific Fleet – three weeks so long as the Panama Canal works.

Also the very fact that we and our allies “encircle” them gives the Japanese, broadly speaking, the advantage that enables Germany to shuttle troops and supplies back and forth between Russia and Western Europe while her enemies must go around the block.

This Japanese card took a trick the instant war began. Already it is making our ships go around a block from Hawaii to the Philippines. No longer can they safely run the gantlet of the “mandated” islands that Japan holds because in 1919 we trusted her, let her surround Guam and command essential American trade routes.

Must go by south

Now we must go by a southern route, 2,000 miles longer. And “we” means not only outbound warships but transports and supply ships and cargo vessels bringing from the East Indies the raw materials that are vital not only to our economic life but to our war-making power.

These include hemp, chrome, graphite, mica, tin, and rubber. The Japanese think they can raid this lifeline with submarines and planes and especially with cruisers.

But beyond mere raiding, the Japanese, if they take Singapore, or perhaps sooner, may try a grand slam. They may try to cut off our supplies at the source by invading not only the British but the Dutch East Indies. One reason: they know that our rubber supply will not last a year unless we can miraculously stimulate the growth of our infant synthetic rubber industry.

Brazil’s rubber will be too little and too late – 200 tons the past month, and just starting. And rubber shortage means creeping paralysis of the automotive industry and transport that are the country’s life.

Cards stacked against us? Not a bit. We will lose more tricks than some American wishful thinkers and sound-offers would have us believe. We must face that, and take it, toss in all our chips, and fight the harder. Japan’s will be early tricks.

If our stockpiles of rubber are too low, so are Japan’s stockpiles, of more things than rubber. If Japan can hamper our commerce with the East Indies, we, aided by the British and Dutch navies and we hope, the Russian submarines, can strangle hers. We can starve Japan out, in time.

We can learn to fight

And in time we can learn to fight, and fight better than the Japanese because more intelligently and presently, perhaps, more unitedly – for most Japanese did not want war. They did not have it forced on them by infuriating, treacherous aggression. But, barring Japanese revolt, we cannot fight more bravely than they – theirs is the fatalistic courage of the timeless East.

Yet Japan hopes to defraud time, rush us off our feet. She hopes to throw us back so that we cannot recover before the Germans can come to her aid. Already they are supplying commerce raiders; there have even been rumors – unconfirmed – that the world’s greatest battleship, the Tirpitz, was in the Pacific. More important, the expert advice for the raids that caught us largely flatfooted, came doubtless from the experienced German staff officers who have long permeated every bureau in Tokyo.

But Japan counts on yet more German help, if freed by a crushing defeat of Russia. And she counts on our realizing that, and supplying Russia at cost of our defenses holding islands from which even if Germany fails, we can oust her only after tremendous time and effort.

The Japanese have calculated, all right. But this country, united, can twist their calculations into miscalculations.

New York wrecks Japanese Pavilion

NEW YORK (UP, Dec. 13) – City workmen began demolition today of the $250,000 Japanese Pavilion, presented to New York City after the World’s Fair ended, by the city of Tokyo as a “monument for peace and good will” between the United States and Japan.

Park officials said the building “never was satisfactory to park officials,” although they had planned to convert it into a tea room. Urgings of Japanese officials prompted acceptance of the structure for permanent use after the fair.

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Latin America plan provides joint defense

Chile seeks cooperation of Brazil, Argentina in Straits of Magellan
By Allen Haden

SANTIAGO (Dec. 13) – In one of the most open bids for cooperation between nations on an equal basis made in South American history and comparable only with United States-Canadian frankness in dealing with common defense problems, Chile’s Defense Minister Juvenal Hernandez Friday stated that Chile was proposing a joint meeting of the general staffs of Argentina and Brazil to discuss control and fortification of the Straits of Magellan for hemisphere defense.

Non-fortification of the straits is guaranteed by articles of the Argentine-Chilean treaty of 1881. Hence, Chile cannot fortify the straits without Argentina’s consent to set aside that article.

Will darken straits

The consultation is proposed by Senor Hernandez to give practical reality to diplomatic negotiations the successful conclusion of which was announced by the Chilean foreign minister on December 8.

Inclusion of Brazil in the invitation to meet presumes not only discussion of the Straits of Magellan but also many other questions relative to joint convoying of ships and coordination of patrols along the Atlantic Coast.

Whether the staff meeting takes place or not Chilean control over unfriendly vessels using the straits is assured by Senor Hernandez’s statement that all lighthouses and light buoys are to be extinguished in the straits, navigation at night prohibited and the use of Chilean pilots required through the straits.

U.S. material needed

The fortification of the straits, consequent upon Chilean-Argentine agreement, will depend upon the supply of necessary material by the United States.

Authoritative quarters here believe that effectively to prevent the use by enemy vessels, the fortifications must be complemented by sea patrols at both the Atlantic and Pacific entrances to the straits. This implies the close cooperation of Chilean and Argentine navies.

The Hernandez statement highlights the declaration by retired Chilean Gen. Francisco Javier Diaz that he expects a Japanese attack against Chile at any moment. German-trained Gen. Diaz scouts the idea of territorial invasion, foreseeing aerial and naval operations only.

Japanese attacks on Chilean seaports would be designed to stop copper, manganese and tin shipments to the United States. Chile is shipping 500,000 tons of copper this year to the United States and Bolivian manganese, wolfram and tin are shipped through the Chilean ports of Arica and Antofagasta.