Passive Defense of U.S. Fits Into Nazi Plans for War on All Free States
LUNDBERG, FERDINAND
Passive Defense of U.S. Fits Into Nazi Plans for War on All Free States By FERDINAND LUNDBERG F\EFENSE is the problem uppermost in American minds today, and with good reason. Yet in all the...
...As a result of these experiences, die economic problems of war ud preparation for war were studied in the inter-bellum period...
...if the leaders lose...
...Prior to the first World War, no thought was given in any country to the economic problems of war...
...It is often said that the people of Germany, Russia, Japan and Italy are not really behind their leaders...
...We have innumerable advantages: immense natural resources, a tremendous productive capacity now only partially used, a large reservoir of man-power in our ten million unemployed, access to products from overseas, together with vast financial means and most of the world's gold...
...If the fleet is pinned in the Pacific by Japanese threat then the Atlantic coast is wide open...
...Defense Linescynically achieve^ The people of France and England, then%are fighting against the onslaught of the people of Germany and Italy who through their leaders have now obvious designs upon the people of the United States...
...So many dubious elements are taking advantage of the fact that this is an election year that perhaps it is not possible...
...And without fanfare, Secretary of Commerce, Harry Hopkins, proceeds to devise a 10 billion Sollar public works program, a good share oflwhich will go for housing...
...The world as a whole is a victim of its own lack of sufficient insight into its owp profound economic, social and moral problems...
...Without actual war, we shall nevertheless be living in an atmosphere of war and of war psychosis...
...In the accompanying article, the first of a series on America and the war, (xnirtesj- of Justice which he will write specially for The New Leader, Ferdinand Lund berg, author of America's Sixty Families, analyzes the United States' peace policy and reveals its drastic weaknesses...
...The only criterion now^is: Can a certain measure help us to better resist totalitarian tyranny...
...Not "only what one defends but how one defends it miist be central to any adequate conception of national defense...
...This is not the time to voice specific Socialist demands...
...Among a great «amber of publications on this »object listed in the catalogue of Ibe New York Public Library, tkere is only one of American nthorship and dealing with feuerican conditions...
...We will have to do moré than embark upon a war economy": We must adopt some form of military conscription, no matter by what other name it is called...
...become necessary, and arbitration boards should be set up to prevent strikes in essential industries...
...And France lies in ruins today...
...Dynamism of events today make prediction impossible...
...The waiting type of defense in the face of modern technological warfare leaves the defender with three strikes on him before he is ever called to bat...
...If England is defeated in the summer months, however, it becomes a near possibility that the United States may not only be encircled and invaded but effectively conquered by an Axis coalition., A few months ago such a prospect wopld have seemed fantastic...
...A complicating factor in the present crisis, of course, is the remembrance of the Wilsonian fakery of the last war, when Germany represented no threat whatever to the American people but did represent a threat to the London-New York banking syndicate...
...The will to die in defense of the homeland is not enough...
...UR enemy has not only declared against us in print but he has amazingly shown his ability to make good his threats...
...We will suffer from a scarcity of skilled workers, and a systematic training for special skills is of the utmost importance...
...One of the needs inherent in the eurreat situation is that strong moral support be civen to England, and to Russia and Turkey if they have any intention of resisting Hitler in Eastern Europe...
...There may be those still among us who believe that we may sit down at table with Hitler and Mussolini and reach a reasonable compromise but I, for one, am not one of them...
...For instance, Ford and General Motors have stated that they could produce large numbers of airplanes within six months...
...What wiH happen to the United States, with all its traditional libertarian aspirations, if the Navy is defeated, as ft can be defeated, by the imaginative use of unknown factors...
...Others she does not have to strike down, but may suffocate with pressure on thejr economic jugular vein...
...A whole people, in terms of the ravished values cherished by its victims, may be judged as culpable of wrongdoing as a' berserk Tsar...
...Events in France have proven, however, that such a challenge is empty...
...Is it that they want the companionship of their families on the battlefield ? t Rather than look for a battlefield near home, Americans should in a time of danger look with respect on a political leadership that would give them a decisive battlefield far away from home and family...
...And we will either thrust ourselves on the battlefield or shall have the battlefield thrust upon us...
...In the second place, imaginative technological mobilization such as has been undertaken by Germany gives to determined conquerors a power and range that were not deemed possible even a few weeks ago...
...Speaking to newspapermen, A. V. Alexander, English Laborite Admiralty chief, revealed that it was with reluctance that Downing Street ordered war action against a nation which only a month ago was an ally, and today because of a fascist cabinet putsch was well within the Rome-Berlin-Moscow axis...
...So convenient to the dictators is the idea that the United States should never again rend an expeditionary force abroad, an idea tenaciously held in the popular mind today, th^t it might have been manufactured in Berlin...
...This eventuality may not be on thue immediate agenda of history...
...Convinced that the Unit with them now, the people < fight all the harder iyflï Nazi onslaught...
...No German troops have come anywhere near the Dutch East Indies or French IndoChina...
...If we over-simplify, these competing notions of organization may be termed authoritarian and libertarian in spirit...
...But what the conquest-minded Germans may do with all their newly conquered industrial resources in the next ten years—if they are permitted by Franco-British capitulation to retain their advanced position—is another question...
...It is painfully tion...
...No German troops have come anywhere near the United States...
...But it is made absolutely inescapable by the technological fact...
...Yet the Maginot Line was outflanked, the invincible (according to expert opinion) French army was brushed off as easily as was the Polish army, and the British navy and air force have been unable to prevent wholesale bombing of British soil, wholesale sinkings of British shipping...
...And rather than wait for him to spring upon us, rather than give him time to mobilize his resources and strength and allies, it seems to me the better part of wisdom that we adopt as .the general order of the day the command that has gone out to the American Navy at certain times in our history: "Seek out the enemy wherever he may be and destroy him...
...tt&ZI Germany not only studied, • war economics^ but put her: dÜies into practice...
...Let there be no misunden standing: To do all in one's power to fight for the preservation of democracy against a regime, that is bent on enslaving the world is in line with the principles of the International Socialist and Labor Movement...
...The German army has demonstrated once again, brilliantly and authoritatively, that we live in a complicated technological age and that we fiave by no means explored the limits of its possibilities for evil as well as for good...
...If the fleet moves into the Atlantic, then the Pacific Coast is open either to Japanese assault or to joint Geraan-Italian-Japanese assault...
...If one is merely defending American soil from literal and definite violation, as in the eighteenth century, the problem becomes beautifully simple—so simple that it must make the German generals roll on the floor of staff headquarters in glee...
...We need most urgently, a plan of what is required, so that industry will know what it is called upon to do...
...The natural desire to continue one's ordinary life should not be permitted to stand in the way of our getting the armed force we need to defend our free institutions...
...He who waits to see if he will be attacked, and whose nerves become frayed iri the-process of waiting, is lost...
...No Social Democrat should now advocate a measure of government ownership or control which might impair our military and economic effectiveness...
...Nazidom, however, is a different matter, and finance capitalism is finished whether we defeat the Nazis or are put under their diplomatic yoke...
...Under this provision of the 29,421 ramshackle, insanitary slum dwellings have already ¦WB eliminated...
...The paramount ies-x son is that machines, imaginatively used, can perform miracles...
...we need lot only a military, but also an economic gèneral staff to direct our war economy...
...Germany, far from being exhausted by the war, has barely had to extend herself ,and is in a position to exploit her victory to the utmost...
...ONTRARY to .Edmund Burke, one can ^ condemn a whole people as easily, and as justifiably, as one can condemn a single ruler...
...In a technological age that has multiplied a thousandfold the destructiveness and range of engines of warfare^and that has concentrated a nation's whole power of resistance in small industrial areas, it is worse than childish to be willing to defend New York, Boston, Philadelphia, Washington or Pittsburgh "to the last stone...
...It has become a question of drawing the sword, of killing or of being killed—or, on the other hand, of refusing to draw the sword, as was the case with Austria, Czecho-Slovakia, Denmark and Norway, and being killed anyhow...
...The passive conception of defense in modern warfare has been rendered by the German army as obsolete as the dinosaur...
...Yet in all the discussions -about defense, official and unofficial, it is evident that considerable confusion exists...
...We must not continue these mistakes...
...Whether such a declaration is politically possible is another question...
...Some people, those near her, she may strike down...
...To do everything at this juncture to strengthen our military and economic preparedness is the corner stone of Social Democratic policy...
...No German troops or naval forces have come anywhere near the British, French or Dutch dependencies in the western hemisphere...
...On the contrary, the regimentation necessitated by war economy is something totally different from the free and conscious planning under Socialism...
...However, we need at once a plan for organization of production to meet the requirements of rearmament...
...IN order to arrive at a proper conception * of American defense it is necessary to understand two central facts about the world today...
...Only so can we succeed in preserving civilization...
...Nor should We be misguided by those who claim that conscription is undemocratic...
...If it 'is to be used to defend, literally, dogmatically, and passively, American soil, then it is all beautifully simple—so simple that we may all rest fairly easy, worrying only over such things as the probable development by the European airplane industry in the next five or ten years of around-the-world bombers and the possible creation by the logical Prussian military mind of armored transports for the movement over vast ocean areas of divisions of army tanks for landing on distant coasts...
...It is characteristic that this was done mainly in Germany, especially after Hitler came to fówer, and with the usual German thoroughness, a large new literature on "Wehrwirtschaft" came into being...
...We cannot permit Edsel Ford, for example, to state categorically that the output of automobiles at the present rate must continue, if, as very well may be the case, his plants will be needed for other goods...
...After what the Nazis done to France and England on the tinent it must be recognized that, after a breathing spell during which they may mobilize all thetr new European resources to the full, they can do much more...
...In some cases, more working hours per week .may...
...To accomplish this, we need not copy German thorough regimentation of production and consumption, conscription of labor and throttling of output of all goods not absolutely needed for carrying on the war...
...That rampart is the Brit-,, ish Empire...
...On the others hand, with two strong Republicans in the Cabinet, perhaps it is possible...
...Strategically, an invasion of the United States need amount to no more than a disorganization of the industrial northeast...
...those that are equipped for the purpose will be glad and able to produce needed war goods in great amounts, once they receive substantial orders...
...Peace has been re-jècted by the latecomers...
...All economic measures were taken, not according to a predetermined plan, but U makeshift adjustments to developing conditions which endangered the supply of some neces-jjry goods...
...I We naturally cannot go into thfe manifold economic measures that will have to be taken...
...Hitler gained his victories not only through superiority of planes and tanks...
...With the northeastern corner disrupted the invader would be master of the continent and everything west and south of Pittsburgh would fall into his lap...
...Defense Aims Fail to Halt New Deal Mousing Plans QUIETLY and in unassuming fashion the United States Housing Authority proceeds with its plans for slum clearance projects «nd the establishment of low-rent modern housing...
...We must be willing to sacrifice everything for liberty...
...For the potential victims of these totalitarian states this * » » is nothing but self-delusion...
...The Advisory Commission to the Council of National Defense, it is to be hoped, will make a survey of our «sources, plant capacity, aip .«election of establishments thit an change to manufacture <jf TO materials...
...The latecoming peoples, working with industrial-scientific techniques aptly copied from the Anglo-French world, are able so to use those techniques (including the techniques of soul-eroding propaganda) as to annihilate distances...
...Even during the war, there was only a war economy "in the making...
...The world struggle, far from being precipitated by a few lunatic firebrands named Hitler, Mussolini, Tanaka and Stalin, is ! a reflex of the discontent of the masses, throughout large areas of the world, with conditions forced upon them by a rapidly evolving world economy...
...To hold out, in the face of the lessons taught in France, for a battlefield extending from the Atlantic Piedmont to the coal fields of Pennsylvania and up* through the New England hills, or for a battle along the Gulf coast of th# Deep South, is to hold out for death and destruction on our doorsteps...
...Ocean barriers, it should now be plain, avail as little today to us as they did to the Incas in the days of the Spanish conquerors...
...In this great task the active cooperation of the United States will be urgently needed...
...With our great resources and the industrial genius of our people, war goods in adequate amounts can be produced, and probably without much curtailment of output of other goods...
...We may admit m/jiUTARY organization has been forced that the people are not with the leaders— M on th{, order of the day for us by obvious that only on the battlefield can W» «ave ourselves...
...Ul.'.' One often hears it said: "I am willing to bear arms at any, time in defense of American soil, but I'll fight like hell against being sent to Europe...
...In a military sense, we are where Germany was in 1934...
...This is about 1/5 less than the cost of current *>«te residential construction in the same cities or towns, as by figures published by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, i -Ünder the terms of the United States Housing Authority Act »«amber of unfit, insanitary dwellings must be eliminated .to equal Somber of new homes constructed...
...Social Democrats, so often in the past denounced as un-American, will prove to be much fetter patriots than many of our opponents who unfortunately continue to place their special economic and political interests above the welfare of the nation...
...To give only one example, production of steel, non-ferrous metals, and fuels can be largely increased almost at once...
...Those who hold the "defend American soil" concept of national defense might suggest that all that is needed is a strengthening of existing means of defense...
...Naturally, profiteering by capital must be rigorously prevented...
...The nation-wide Average is $805 ,The average net construction cost of these new homes .is $2,772 P« dwelling unit...
...We ar§ committed to large scale rearmaments if nothing more...
...for homes in the South is ttQ.12, and in the North, $15.20...
...T)iey cant stop...
...As an immediate possibility territorial invasion of the United States is quite out of the question...
...The navy could be shifted .into the Atlantic, to project lines of communication with our European bridgehead in England...
...I have never, for example, heard it seriously argued that while Ghengis Khan was a bloodthirsty rascal, his followers were angels...
...Above all, we must develop a new spirit of sacrifice to a great common cause...
...The mere conception .of American defense is not even clear...
...But it is precisely in following this course—and in sturdily refusing to consider any other—that we are having demonstrated for us the inadequacy of our very idea of thorough national defense in the light of German achievements in France...
...The only feature that a democracy at war has in common with Fascism is the regimentation of production and consumption...
...The only type of defense that can operate against the Nazi type of political and military aggression is—attack...
...If that were so, then Nazi Germany and Bolshevik Russia would present the clearest picture of the economic structure of a Socialist society...
...A WAR economy is not the beginning of Socialism, but neither is it the beginning of Fascism...
...They must keep going as long as any nation remains unsubjugated...
...Where and how the blow will be struck he does not know...
...Had it been, had there been forevision of what was coming, remedial steps would undoubtedly have been taken long ago...
...The latter should be done in agreement with the labor unions which, if assured against an increase in the cost of living, will certainly consent...
...The friendly nation of today may within 24 hours be overrun by Nazi troops and become a base of operations against the United States...
...A Belleau Wood would seem to me far better than a Gettysburg...
...A fourth lesson is that one must strike before one is struck, that one must seek out the enemy wherever, he may be and destroy him, and that pending direct action against the enemy all manner of economic and political harassing operations must be employed against him...
...German seizure of European markets, and will be even more disturbed (and will set up echoing disturbances throughout our whole economy) as Germany and Italy extend their holds over the Mediterranean, the Near East, Africa, and Latin America (through the medium of Spain...
...If Britain is eliminated by the Nazi blitzkrieg tactic the United States will be wide open to coalition attack by the totalitarian states—and I mean effective attack under the mere threat of which almost any government in Washington would have to tremble...
...It is not true, as has been stated with regard to England, that "during the present struggle, the form of the new order will be emerging from the old...
...Courage is not enough...
...It seems, for one thing, that we are preparing to defend oui' soil when it is highly probable that no one, least of all the Germans, intend to violate that soi!—directly...
...OEVERAL lessons have been taught America by the easy German march through Flanders and France...
...l'Hh notion Of defending American soil by patrolling the beach with a musket, by manning a few coast defense guns, and by drearily maneuvering the Navy back and forth between the Atlantic and Pacific Oceans has been made untenable by the German march through • Flanders and France...
...Of these projects, 220 comprising 84-12b homes aire...
...Democratic France, Switzerland, Holland, Sweden have compulsory military service...
...Yet these two large political areas are at the moment in as much inner turmoil and insecurity as if armies had landed...
...IN view of the crisis now upon us, how * would a dynamic conception of American defense operate...
...To justify themselves, democracies must be able to meet this grave challenge to their very existence...
...She could have defended herself on German aoiL But there was no French "aggression...
...For it is a moronic idea to express willingness to wage war up and down Broadway and Fifth Avenue, or along Pennsylvania Avenue, or on Boston Common...
...For Germany probably has no intention of attacking American soil...
...has entered into loan contracts totaling «$638,213,000 with 171 local authorities for the construction of 413 public housing projects containing 145,646 new homes, has received little notice in the metropolitan press...
...But Ti'-fhe leaders show that they can win and that the masses may conceivably be satisfied in their cravings for a more expansive life, then the people of Germany, Rus'sia, Italy and Japan will be 100 per cent behind any and all conquests, no matter how achieved...
...Would not the whole world have been breathing easier today if the French in 1936 had struck a dagger into the heart of Nazidom, if the British Tories had not been allowed to hare their way...
...T*HE question is no longer one of war or ' * peace, it is evident...
...To solve these will require planning and organization, not only on a national, ¦but on an international scale...
...We will have to give up habits and comforts to which we have been accustomed...
...There may be cases where a necessary transformation is not made voluntarily, and there coercion will have to be used...
...Like it or not, we have to face this powerful adversary who has shown his ability to be completely ruthless—and successful in his ruthlessness...
...No, "defense of American soil" has been shown by events to mean less than nothing...
...The .issue ha» been made subject to the arbitrament of arms...
...But no matter what .the sacrifices will be that all will be called upon to make, the need is so urgent that no taxes nor future financial burdens can deter us from going ahead with all our might...
...At the same time, the profundity of the maladjustment in these countries was never adequately realized in London, Paris and Washington...
...His next article, which will appear ¦ shortly, will deal with America's defense I industries...
...The economic measures of the New Deal (as distinct from its social and labor legislation) will be overshadowed or largely superseded by the war economy, which will do more to increase production and to reduce unemployment than the New Deal has been able...
...We may, it is said, rely on our fleet, which is the best in the world...
...Conversely, no non-Socialist should oppose any measure of government ownership or control whichvwould strengthen our military and economic power...
...Hitler and Mussolini have had their ambitions stimulated, and will be in no aaoog for compromise...
...Another word of warning: Measures of government control that are dictated by a war economy are by no means necessarily a step toward Socialism...
...The government will probably eventually have to take over the railroads and ocean shipping...
...Not to recognize this in the light of recent events is to be unrealistic and everl mischievous...
...Only families from unfit housing and only families in the lowest income group •» admitted to the U.SJI.A.-aided housing projects...
...But how our military efficiency is to be used once it has been achieved (and with our flexible industrial resources it could be achieved in six months) is another quesA SALVO of well aimed British naval ** shells put the French fleet out of the war this week...
...It is clearly time that we took him at his word and fully recognized his ability...
...After the war economy ceases and the armies are demobilized, the post-war world will be faced by stupendous economic problems...
...He succeeded m instilling into millions a fanatical ideal for the aggrandizement of their country, an ideal that we abhor, but which made the poisoned German youth willing to sacrifice...
...The ibasic policy must naturally be the speedy production of all needed war goods...
...We must make almost superhuman efforts to catch up, but in the long run our productive capacity will tell...
...But the measures of government control in a democratic country under a war economy are temporary and voluntarily assumed by the representatives of the people, and not imposed by an autocratic government which seeks to control permanently the lives of the people...
...In saying this, I have no intention of being cynical...
...Some allotment of 6carce materials will also become Harrytlopkins necessary, especially imported ones...
...Indeed, they do suggest it...
...The stakes in this hemisphere are vast...
...In the first place, there is under way a gigantic struggle for a redistribution of material power, with different conceptions of social, cultural, economic and political organization competing for ascendency...
...All this goes by consensus, it would appear from all current statements by responsible men and women...
...every city, town and village in which U.S.H.A.-aided projects We been opened, the rents charged for new homes are as low or kwer than the average rent charged in the slums...
...now under construction or already have beln completed...
...Yet Washington has reacted profoundly to the potential change in political overlord-ship in these areas...
...It is a question of war now—while we have an advanced ^position left from wfcidi to figbt the foe—or of war later when we have no advanced ; tion...
...Yet the American import and export market has been profoundly deranged by the...
...But the French army was conceded by all authorities, including German and Italian, to be the best in the world, and it now lies hacked to ribbons...
...Germany claims "living space...
...Americans who voice the idea are often heard saying they will fight for their homes, women and children, but will not enter a foreign battlefield...
...Merely making up deficiencies in equipment and in trained manpower, it is now evident, will not save us...
...Due to our past gross negligence in military and economic preparedness, quick results cannot be expected, especially nbt in those goods which are most needed, such as airplanes, tanks, guns, warships, etc...
...The exploits of the German army constitute the main factor forcing a revision of all ideas on American defense...
...And in attempting to meet in the future the Nazi drive for absolute world dominion we shall have to spend as much in treasure and energy—and more in lives—as by fighting now, but without as much possibility of winning...
...The average monthly rental approved by the U.SJH-A...
...Full technical mobilization of the country should parallel these actions...
...The political fact is one thing...
...We are now planning for war, or the eventuality of war, afad not for peace...
...Anti-Hitler backbones need stiffening, and the only way the United States can give such stiffening is by declaring war as soon as possible on Rome and Berlin...
...A few general principles that this plan should embody may be briefly outlined...
...It is literally true that only the British navy now stands between Nazidom and our shores...
...Already...
...We will need various controls, though utterly different from a regimentation of the German type...
...IT will be important to prevent * soaring prices as a result of greatly increased demand...
...As matters stand, thé' country is Wide open to effective invasion once the Navy is defeated or out-tricked,' or if it is only immobilized in one ocean while an attack comes in another...
...Once our English brideghead is lost—as it unquestionably can be lost under the onslaught of Nazi planes, submarines, torpedo boats, parachutists, and possible surprise landing forces opent in g in inclement weather—the American line of defense i» pushed in much nearer thé homes, shops, factories and farms of the country...
...We are preparing, it seems, to resist an invasion that is only a doubtful possibility of the remote future—say, of the next ten or twenty years, which is remote enough for anyone these days...
...The democracies meanwhile remained complacent and unwilling to change their accustomed routine of life...
...Only one ; now stands between us and the • full fury of governments that not only openly hate us but covet our resources, fear our powers of organization...
...Unless we implement a dynamic conception of American defense, having no resemblance whatever to lying in wait for an invading enemy behind ramparts over which airplanes may fly with impunity, we shall, it is now plain, be doomed as completely as was France with her fine navy, her invincible army, and her beautiful (and expensive) Maginot Line...
...Because of the splash displays on foreign news, the modest releases which tell us that the U.S.jH.A...
...Discouraged fcy An dHatoriness, the peojlfe of England n*y well Collapse as did the people of France...
...It is so much simpler, and much more adroit, more artistic, to bring it under heel by indirect political envelopment...
...But unless the confusion is very soon dissipated, it may in time prove fatal, ft>ir it is a hangover from the unrealistic and indecisive mood that has prevailed in the democracies from Vei^ sailles to Munich...
...Why should the barely scratched di<S tators hold back...
...So far as I know, there is no example in history of a people rejecting the conquests of its leaders...
...It is really a slogan of indirect capitulation...
...I merely recognize, as do few liberals, laborites, or Socialists, that there is no divinity that doth hedge a people...
...And, knowing the strong roots of the idea in the popular mind, Washington officialdom is following just this course...
...wreral years before the outbreak i the present war, Germany had lore economic planning and regi« mentation of production and con-snnption than she had at an J tee during the first World Wan flris constituted perhaps her sain -advantage over the demo& «ties which, even in the face of tie gravest danger, were reluctant to forsake their normal eco* aomic life and therefore could not jepare as well...
...The question now is not one of saving imperialist economies (which are finished anyhow) but of saving peoples, including ourselves, from stultifying political and moral subjugation...
...What is useful of our air force could be transferred tö an English base, and our pi tot-power could be transferred to England...
...National Planning for Industry as Vital to Defense as Re-armament By BELA LOW Engineer and Economist r! have just passed through weeks that seem like an incredible nightmare...
...In the meantime, while preparing to ward off by passive defense the expected blow of a combined Axis airforce and navy, all constructive peacetime activity will oouie to an end anyhow...
...Hitler, Stalin and Mussolini are really only , figureheads, symbols, captives of their own apparatus...
...THE question presents itself in what way the foregoing expresses the view of Social Democracy...
...in Northern projects, $934...
...Defense of French soil availed the heroic defenders nothing...
...And the German people will not reject Hitler's conquest of Europe simply because it was brutally and events in Europe, and in a world increasingly dominated by essentially Prussian efficiency we must model oür tactics (although not our ends) on those of the opposing team...
...I may be unduly prejudiced, but it seems a much better public policy to defend the United States, if defense is necessary, down to the last stone in Germany...
...Such control can probably best be accomplished by fixing prices, not of every conceivable manufactured article, but of important raw materials, and also wages...
...Hitler's schedule, in the meantime, is laid out by weeks and months...
...To this purpose everything else must be subordinated...
...A second lesson is that passive defense today amounts to treason in its effects...
...Before Hitler, Mussolini, Stalin and the rest came to power, all was not well in' Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan...
...This should be undertaken promptly, without waiting for the selective training to become operative...
...The country as a whole could immediately be placed on a war footr ing, out of recognition of the fact that it is only a question of now or later, witl> t&fn cumstances now somewhat favoring us -in that we would have a bridgehead in Europe which we would lack later when Hitler might be able to establish a bridgehead in Latin America...
...Nor was the defense mechanism of these two powerful countries sufficient to prevent the paralyzing spread of doubt and dissension, via "Fifth Column" grapevines, in the home populace...
...And even metaphorically speaking we won't be able to put the British navy out of commission once it falls in German hands...
...But let us not forget that any solution of the world's economic problems presupposes a defeat of the totalitarian powers, so as to regain and secure democracy and peace.' Unfortunate^, we cannot plan for peace now, wev must plan for war...
...Worse ^ than the dreadful reversed - that the democracies have suffered, worse than all the hèrrors we have witnessed, is the realization of what would happen not only to Europe but also to ourselves if Hitler should win a.final and decisive victory...
...In ten or fifteen years possibly a mechanized Axis force may land on the Georgia •coast and reverse Sherman's march while the country is debating the merits of some Dewey or Willkie of the day...
...The various general staffs had elaborate plans for military campaigns, but there was no such thing as economic planning nor economic preparation...
...The financing of such a huge program will naturally> present great problems...
...But why wait, hugging to our bosom the brilliant tactical idea that we will "defend American soil against actual invasion ?" Why wait as the Germans capitalise on their new positions and proceed to unloose new technological horrors upon the world, with the assistance of Japan and Italy, of the conquered sections of Europe, and possibly also with the assistance of Russia and Spain ? When Hitler remilitarized the Rhineland, France had an opportunity to defend herself, to defend French soil, although it was not immediately endangered...
...The nation-wide average is $13.01...
...The leaders merely recognized the existing discontent, canalized it in terms of certain novel vocabularies, and gave it centrifugal force and direction in order to avoid anarchy at home...
...Whatever stays our hand as the German swordsman' clears his way to our doorstep with thunderous strokes should now be seen, by all men with the capacity for seeing, as inimical to us...
...I dont say it is out of the question, because I have been impressed by what the Germans have done to powerful France...
...The adaptation of plants to the manufacture of war essentials, though requiring time' because of lack of foresight, can be done in most cases without compulsion...
...No American government, if an enemy got that far, would have the ability to carry on...
...But at this moment we must remember that Hitler has reduced one formidable rampart of world orderafter the other with incredible ease...
...WE need not say "cannons instead of butter...
...The Atlantic Ocean is no more of a barrier to destructive aggression than is Gowanus Creek...
...Undoubtedly she may also by a typical German stroke of military imagination build flotillas of heavily armored transports to convey into distant regions the precious armored tank divisions...
...A third lesson is that what tanks and airplanes have wrought within a comparatively small radius can be wrought by tanks, airplanes, aircraft carriers and a modern battlefteet within a world radius...
...I merely say it is a future possibility, and need not be considered, at the moment, too ardently...
...TBE estimated average incöme of families in Southern projects Vis $629 per annum...
...A declaration of war would not only tell England— and Russia and Turkey—that the UniM States is coming, but it would instantly galvanize all thinking in this country toward the implementation of the war «(Fort Perhaps in the beginning we could «ot give adequate material aid...
...Very late—and let us hope not too late—we are realizing that the United States is part of the world...
...The statement is usually made with a fine flourish, as though a deathless challenge were being hurled in the teeth of fate by1 a modern Patrick Henry...
...France and England were much more adequately prepared for defense of the home soil than we are or shall be in several years...
...Few have probably stopped to analyze the implications of their reservation...
...Undoubtedly Germany will build huge flotillas of aircraft carriers, and cruisers and battleships to escort them...
...Even if they -were, they would be carried forward, willy-nilly, by the dynamism of their own forces...
...We need not commandeer our industries...
...It is an empty phrase, not founded on past experience nor on logic, to say that war must lead to Fascism...
...In making good her claims, she is showing that she intends to destroy other people's living space...
...This does not mean that some planning and organization adopted under a war economy may not be usefully retained, to serve society in times of peace...
Vol. 23 • July 1940 • No. 27
