Where the News Ends
SCHLAMM, WILLI
By Willi Schlamm Where the News Ends EVEN the "first-est" among the America First people eagerly agrees with you on one point: America must arm for defense. But wouldn't it be smart to find out...
...The Republican Party with its isolationism shares v^jth Russian Bolshevism the responsibility for the present world catastrophe...
...Americans should be particularly apt to com-piehcnd this basic law of modern warfare...
...The aggressor possesses a deadly superiority because he does not prepare continuously, for all possible eventualities and for all time, but merely for one particular occasion for a definite, carefully chosen: painstakingly investigated and planned assault...
...No little red school house sheltered and trained him...
...If you do'not do it before the opponent has finished his own preparations, you aft through...
...There is no denunciation of any particular tvrant, any specially dangerous enemy of the good life...
...The star part which he played in our national game gave him an eminence which made him a national influence...
...As surely as you are now alive and issuing a "call" to a mode of behavior disapproved by the majority of the American people in the last election, so surely, if we do not fight united for our independence —so surely will you be slapped on the mouth not by any American brand of fascist but by your Nazi masters...
...Your sons on the contrary will no longer have to express dictated words, for they will be reeducated to think only dictated thoughts...
...There was a peculiar, symbolic logic in the position of Senator Borah, leader of the Republican isolationists, and his defense of the Soviet regime over a period of many years...
...many are widely shown here...
...There is the pressure of Berlin newspapers, magazines—and newsreels...
...Diverging militaiy strategies are merely reflections of diverging cultures...
...Only a veritable revolution in the Republican Party could alter the situation...
...every large city with a German population sees these films regularly...
...YOUTH'S IDEAL AMERICAN TPHE life of Lou Gehrig represents the essential America...
...They never exhibited a unity of control and an effectiveness of purpose comparable with that of their Teuton enemies...
...The Western nations accepted Liddell-Hart's conception of the allegedly decisive advantages of defense, not because they were intellectually convinced by the strength of the arguments offered, but because they yearned for some suitable rationalization of their deepest and most fervent desire: to be let alone and never again fight a large-scale war...
...But Lou Gehrig's career from the sand-lots of Hell's Kitchen to the high place which he filled so well is the sort of American epic which will not soon pass away...
...IF you permit your opponent to choose the time * and place for the military conflict, you necessarily give him also the added and final advantage of fee choice of weapons...
...In the first pla?e, the Pope is speaking to all men—of all nations, races, colors...
...AND they icalizcd that modern technical de-vices and inventions, revolutionary meth Jof masked and open penetration, constantly transform yesterday's new weapons intothe jonk of tomorrow...
...crete political terms...
...The ancient prophets and Jesus Christ gave us much more satisfactory characterizations of cruel kings, unjust judges and the heartless rich...
...Theirs is the military theoretician whose imagination was great enough to scoop the European masters of modern strategy by almost forty years...
...France's expenditure of billions of dollars for defensive armament made Hitler's attack not more difficult, but easier in fact...
...In the meantime it seema imperative to keep the body of tkl nation alive in order to imprt* its health...
...The bestializing of family life by the dictators is denounced in sharp and bitter terms...
...What he denounces is soul-destroying statism...
...Hull place the democratic promise of a world of associated nations cooperating in peace and freedom...
...This is a preview of his new world order...
...Hammelt: I have received a letter and the Call in Defense of Culture from Mr...
...Lot me say at once that I am appalled...
...This is a thoroughly hopeless task...
...His character combined the attributes which we most admire...
...Hitler realized years ago that modern science has made offensive warfare irresistible...
...After outlining the difficulties which will face the nations at the close of the war and suggesting international measures for meeting them, he speaks of "a peaceful brotherhood of nations" as the ideal for which we strive...
...THE regrettable miscalculation of defensive * possibilities is as little evidence of lack of brains on the part of the Western nations, as the realization of the attacker's overwhelming superiority is evidence of any great German wisdom...
...Secretary Hull's formal statement to Quo Tai-Chi, Foreign Minister of China, gives the assurance that the United States, in it* desire to build a freer and safer world after the war, will cheerfully forego its extra-territorial privileges in the great Far Eastern republic...
...Of twenty Ah ret women W were given training other tM> the vsual educational sad **t*j adjustment courses, in , tlrfs * stance office routine, COf*0...
...To the end the Allies fought defensively...
...With this one idea he has conquered the continent...
...There are now twenty million citizens here of German descent, i.e., with at least one living parent or grandparent who was horn in Germany and emigrated here...
...During the past ten days—starting with the address of . President Roosevelt—there have been signs that British and American leaders are at last aroused to the need of something more than defense...
...From the eighteen sixties onward the Germans have acted according to their own time-table and with objectives lying far beyond the scope of the individual moves...
...Eden's address is devoted to an outline of the British attitude toward the Arab nations and a promise that they shall have support in their striving for unity and progress...
...My dear Mr...
...It was partly for his character, for his influence over his fellow players and over the public...
...There is constant pressure for the unity of the German people, the great "re-awakening of culture, the glorious pride of conquest...
...that if you cannot become the proletarian dictators of this country you do not care whether or not you will become Nazi slaves...
...Anthony Eden, the British Foreign Minister, followed the...
...Why do you camouflage—camouflage any...
...By Willi Schlamm Where the News Ends EVEN the "first-est" among the America First people eagerly agrees with you on one point: America must arm for defense...
...there are about six to seven of direct German origin living here...
...The popes have spoken sharply against Communism, but their statements on Fascism and Nazism have been suspiciously ambiguous...
...Down to the time of the first World War, every action was successful and every objective was attained...
...Moses or any other man imbued with his educational purpose can teach them anything new...
...His picture of the order for which we fight is sketched about the idea of security at home and abroad...
...It is vain to maintain a military or naval force whose power is not equal to assuming the offensive goon or late...
...Poverty Major Factor In Prison Case Hlstflt From G. ROSTI To the Editor: Poverty continues to be • environmental factor in the (Sw histories of women sent to pris* the Women's Prison Associstt* of New York, and the l*m"g Hopper Home declared in A* ninety-sixth annual report f** lished this week...
...He refrains from opposing the terms democracy and dictatorship, but his descriptions of two antithetical systems are...
...which cannot, first or last, go out and assail the enemy and hurt him in his vital interests...
...They are: war with possible suvjval of national independence, and non-resistance with positive loss of independence...
...The interference of the state," it is added, "in the field of labor should be such as to respect and safeguard- its: personal character...
...America has lost a supremely useful citizen...
...Moses sees it, the Republican Party will die unless it cleans house and becomes an enlightened, socially visioned, internationally minded, albeit conservative party...
...But there are calm statements of general principles which sharply undercut all of the' pretentions of Mussolini, Hitler and Stalin...
...It is the combination of all these new elements for attar!: which negates the general principles upon which the wars of by-gone decades have been waged...
...The fine modesty with which he played baseball and the greater game of living made him the ideal for the young in years and the young in heart...
...Tragically the combinations are now otherwise...
...THE POPE AND THE DEVIL JT is well that Pope Pius speaks out in what is essentially a solemn encyclical on the totalitarian threat to civilization...
...The Allies finally triumphed by sheer weight of numbers and the advantages of geographic position...
...Maltz...
...Public opinion in the democratic world has not yet recognized this fact...
...No nation can possibly bear that burden...
...Moses declares...
...Hoover was a counterpart to the Chinese tariff wall with which the Bolsheviks surrounded Russia...
...Mr...
...With this same simple idea he hopes to grab the rest of the world...
...Even enemies of the German Reich give its scholars and leaders credit for thinking in terms of world domination...
...He opens his address with reference to...
...Yet if ever there was a gentleman, this man was one...
...Isn't it time to clamp down on this...
...For the first time in history, even the best defensive armament is no match for offensive armament...
...Industrial technology, military science and political theory have been developed as aspects of a single organism...
...In a specific sense I am referring to the showing of Nazi propaganda films in this country...
...Man is "not a mere slave or official of the community...
...attack, than the manufacture of a still stronger machine for attack...
...If my surmise is correct, and you were to defend such a posi...
...Alfred Thayqr Mahan wrote in his hook, Lesson* of the War With Spain: "Mere defensive war means military ruin and, therefore, national disaster...
...And just as the top floor will .not under such conditions be there for air-conditioning after a few moments, so little will you be able to "defend your culture," democratic or Otherwise, as long, as you conceive of our present dangerous world situation as one in which "peace and democracy" are coupled, and "war and fascism...
...Others, primarily Americans, have invented the modern weapons, but Hitler discovered them...
...The mad dieam of conquest and totalitarian mastery' of the world has been dreamt before...
...c^Qe tiers To the Editor American Writers' Congress Hit as Camouflage for Anti-Defense Forces From Dr...
...This country is not going to follow an embittered, venomous...
...Since the days of Bluecher, the land of the Hohenzollerns has been an area of low barometric pressure, a storm-center endangering neighbors in all directions...
...You further state that your "lives and your work" are at stake...
...Next must come bold and consecutive military and naval moves...
...While the rest of the-world stagnated under the influence of defense theoieticians like Liddell-Hart (one of the most interesting cases of mass suggestion in history...
...The Bolsheviks took Russia out of the structure of world economy and the Republicans—as far as they could—did the same with the United States...
...unmistakable...
...And if you open them again bravely to utter your own ideas you will be silenced in their so thorough final manner...
...Its involvements in Spanish affairs, its attitude with regard to developments in Austria and, even, in Germany, were not clearly in line with what we have aright to expect of a great Christian institution...
...It is hopeless because under the ever-changing conditions of modern technique, a compieta system of armament, fit to match any tt *U possible assaults, would have to be newly constructed every two or three years...
...We, who thus far have been willing to defend ourselves by aiding someone else to fight our battles, are thrilled to find ourselves at the point of stepping out boldly on the stage of world politics and world power...
...The Republican Party, like the Russian Communist Party, contributed immeasurably to the spread of economic autarchy, which in Germany found ultimate expression in Hitlerism...
...We see no prospect of such a revolution...
...Together they fanned that mad post-war economic nationalism which proved such a great contributing factor to the present conflict...
...The F'resident gave strong hints of taking the initiative both in thought and action...
...Cultured nations, you see, like well-bred individuals, constantly feel the urge to discover some intellectual justification for a type of behavior which is, in reality, caused by nothing but underlying wishes and emotions...
...Every week newsreels of the Goebbel's Ministry of Information are flown to the Americas via London and Rio de Janeiro...
...People who hesitate and wait and defend, deserve the defeat which is their inevitable lot...
...The papal broadcast sent over the air waves last Sunday is couched in general terms...
...Starting from the President's earlier statement of the "four freedoms" as our obyfective, he takes a long step beyond the defensive position of fighting to preserve the Europe of...
...And Wilson, who proved that at least one democrat and one Anglo-Saxon could think in world terms, failed to win the leadership at Versailles...
...1938...
...Were, on the other hand, jrosjr 118 writers singly or together l» work out a social scheme wherein communism and democrat would combine, I believe it author would be hailed a« * greatest prophet since Jesue isi exert an even greater influence...
...Eden and Mr...
...He was honored by the great and adored by the millions, but his head was never turned...
...What he praises is freedom and justice and the opportunity of the individual to strive and to develop...
...ETTIE STETTHEIMER To the Editor: The following is a letter sent to the League of American Writers in response to its call for the "American Writers' Congress...
...The findiap* based on 341 women given B°sW the association after their rshs* from prison...
...But there was a sureness, a consistency, a -thorough mastery about his performance that made him unique as an athlete...
...dcvel°Pmeht 0f au tne energieSf physical and spiritual, of individuals in their free organizations...
...In possession of complete information of iU prospective victim's defense measures, the totaji-taiian aggressor does not waste money and energy for similar, parallel measures—from to* beginning he arms primarily against the selected few weak points which can be found in any defensive system...
...WARNING TO REPUBLICANS JN a trenchant article in "Liberty," Robert Moses, New York's brilliant park commissioner, a Republican, warns his party that "it will write its death warrant" if it "fails to align itself with the large majority of our citizens who believe that there is no compromise with Hitlerism and Stalinism, if it turns to isolation or appeasement...
...But wouldn't it be smart to find out whether there is such a thing as arming for defense...
...We are, at least, moving forward into a campaign of propaganda, of the organization of thought, of marshaling our world forces about a set of ideas...
...Certain of the great Roman church's actions-|ind failures to act have exposed it to a good deal of suspicion with relation to this threat...
...Appointed by Mayor LaGuardia as a member of New York's Parole Board, he set himself to work assiduously for the welfare of underprivileged boys...
...Let no one suppose," he proclaims, "that . . . we intend to return to the chaos of the old world...
...By keeping the United States out of the League of Nations, it helped make impossible a speedier and less painful reconstruction of the world after the last war, thus facilitating the work of the Bolsheviks in stimulating and deepening the destructive^ centrifugal forces unleashed by that war...
...I knew that your League included the more radical among authors but I did not know what, as a group, you were after in con...
...The potential , victim, however, must prepare for all eventualities...
...shall we allow- a huge section of our peoples to be agitated against other American minority groups...
...The present generation of Germans, cn the other hand, does not detest war...
...1 am led to this inference by considering that (1) it is probable that you know what some of the realities of our situation are as well as I do, and yet yodr formulations do not touch them, (2) that you attack the fascist but not the communist dictatorship, and (3) that your list which includes many I respect as authors and one whom I greatly regard, also includes many who are said to be communist sympathizers...
...The more a nation invests in "defensive measures," the weaker she will find herself it the hour-of conflict...
...He condemns the "error that the proper scope of man on jsarth is society, that society is an end in itself...
...uiinamciit for defense...
...Yet the stimulus of cultural heritage and ethnic pride is powerful...
...Tell that to those of yonr' taMStse 99ff friends who are at least willing to agres SI...
...tion, I should deplore your judgment which so terribly miscalculated the relative .power of HI two despotisms propagandise in our country but 1 should » spect your honesty...
...And, therefore, "the right to organize the labor of the people belongs, above all, to the people immediately interested...
...Neither did the military experts outside of Germany...
...I do not think it honest to use the term "peace," because the state it has heretofore described has been liquidated by Hitler's successes...
...Death cut him down at the beginning of this task which offered opportunity to him and fine leadership to the youth of the city...
...In mentioning Dakar, the Azores, and the Cape Verde Islands, he pictured the democratic forces moving boldly on their.own initiative in ¦ worldwide campaign...
...This nation was built on minority and racial tolerance...
...I see convincing evidence that there no longer is defensive armament...
...fault-finding, mumbling cabal of political hacks who have little to offer to their contemporaries and less to young voters," Mr...
...And here I wish to make my main criticism...
...0From Manhattan, from Hell's Kitchen, from lately arrived immigrant stock he came...
...Every institution which stands for Christianity must speak and act in clear words and deeds against brutali-tarianism—no matter what its name or particular forms...
...This doubtless breaks all records for continuous national dynamism...
...They remain collectively "a symbol of appeasement, isolationism and defeatism," to use a characterization applied to Senator Tobey of New Hampshire...
...Sttmmlant tor Thinking People From ERNEST KERPBN To the Editor: While on many points I aw fully in agreement with 7* editorial policy, I neverthels* think that your informative terial is a good stimulant f* thinking people...
...In the war from 1914 to 1918, they retained the initiative up to the very end...
...Others have had as sure an eye and an arfti as strong...
...The Mayor said: "The boys have lost a friend...
...Against thb picture Mr...
...Not from the Midwest or the Far West or -the deep South came this national, idol...
...Though he remarks sharply that the military and political terms for peace "will be designed to prevent repetition of Germany's misdeeds," he pledges his nation to "an order where each member of the family shall realize its own character and perfect its own gifts...
...No inhibitors prevented them from facing the truth about a war they'weie educated to welcome from the bottom of their hearts...
...This must begin to funcnbtN at the right timej at the moment of your own choosing, at the ^'ight place, and with superior power...
...The rest is known...
...signing, domestic scien**, keeping and beauty cun^u5fl but two utilized their sew saw- ¦ The association msnst**** home at 110 Second A«SS*J where former prison lllB*>tSI *** cared for, and has repiSSSBJ***'^ at the State Prison f<* and the Women's House*** tention...
...The Hawley-Smoot tariff enacted under Mr...
...It is carefully cultivated by Axis agents...
...when'the attacker strikes from a totally unexpected direction (and that is exactly what he does), the attacked collapses apathetically...
...As Mr...
...But his Holiness leaves no doubt as to which side the church is on...
...thing at all...
...For the only sense I can make out of your expressed philosophical puzzle is that you are unwilling to fight for our democracy in its present form...
...In 1899...
...This man represented the democratic ideal...
...Moses suggests that if the Republican Party wants to survive as a political force it "must make its choice between being a party of opposition and* a party of objection, between being a party of principle and one of prejudice, between sour fault-finding and constructive criticism, between petty local bickering and national statesmanship...
...HULL AND EDEN ANTHONY EDEN charges the Germans with violating the peace of Europe five times within the century...
...I think, however, that those who formulated this "Call" arc disingenuous, and in asking myself what object it is that this cloak of words serves it Seems likely to me that it serves as a camouflage...
...And then it would have been wiser to sMve yourself the trouible of preparing any armament at all...
...Here follows his clearest denunciation of the totalitarian concept of life...
...I have read both carefully and I hope you will read this letter in return...
...It now can apply only to surrender or death...
...And the Germans down to the taking of Crete still had the initiative and moved according to their own calendar...
...In this respect I do not mean the crude Deutsche Weckruf, the Bund papery which is printed in sloppy fashion t« give the impression of litffe pro-Nazi influence among Germans...
...If this statement of your aims is not disingenuous, you are after something so chimerical that in its pursuit you are endangering our lives as thoroughly as you would be were you on the top floor of a house on fire insisting on discussing means for better light and air instead of putting out) the fire...
...We doubt whether Mr...
...Four or five theatres show these newsreels in New York...
...IJITLER, on the other hand, has read so few * * books that, unencumbered by any compact knowledge of histcry or traditional military science, he could freely sense a revolutionary opportunity and make full use of it...
...When he was again and again voted the most useful man in his league, it was not exclusively for his prowess with bat or fielding glove...
...and he engages in this task with the full pyramided power of his whole nation, Thus he becomes irresistible...
...This is the basic law of totalitarian strategy...
...This is indisputable...
...from the proud old American stock...
...So, with the League of Nations fading to its death, the democratic allies have remained rich and prosperous but divided and purposeless on the great stage of world affairs...
...Because a pacitist trend needed intellectual justification, it was a simple matter to convince the Western nations of the validity of a fundamentally false doctrine—the doctrine of "defensive defense...
...Hoover and the other isolationists leading the Republican Party would have this country continue along the old path...
...As regards domestic policy, Mr...
...These revolutionary changes in the> art of war are not based upon any single weapon nor upon any single branch of modern technique—the airplane, the tank, the radio, the streamlined propaganda methods behind the fronts...
...They have learned nothing and forgotten nothing...
...Moses admonishes the Republicans that the great majority of his party accept the foreign policy of Wendell Willkie rather than of Landon, Taft, Fish, Lindbergh and Hugh Johnson...
...The last short and tragic chapter in his life reveals the quality of the whole...
...Asks Prohibition of Nazi Films Flown Here Weekly from Berlin From RALPH MARSHALL To the Editor: Isn't there a limit to some fools' shouting "civil liberties," when some actions of self-preservation must be taken...
...Hitler has coerced and enslaved fourteen European nations...
...He insists upon the concept of the common good, upon the right of the individual to sufficient property so that he may be able to develop his physical and spiritual qualities...
...This is not enough, but it is something...
...but for the first time in history, its realization is made feasible by the development of modern techniques...
...Hitler's only original idea is his grasp of this concept...
...When the assault started, the French nation had saddled herself with such a heavy mortgage that nothing could have persuaded her to scrap this colossal investment and start all over again...
...His was a success story of which America may be proud...
...Prints are widely distributed in many South American cities...
...The overwhelming majority of these are democratic...
...True, taie suffers for unpopular beliefs, but have brave men not won the respect of the world by doing so throughout the history of mankind, as a first step toward converting it...
...Such a nation, through the material expenditures and the inescapable social strain engendered by years of heavy armament consti uction, is already seriously disintegrated long before the enemy launches his military attack...
...Under modern conditions, there is no other defense against an opponent, who has declared his intention to...
...This offered our civilization a wonderful rationalization of the desiie for peace at any price...
...He learned the American way of life in the crowded rooms and on the swarming playground and on the sand-lots of one of New York's toughest and most polyglot sections...
...President's lead by suggesting, at least in outline, the world order which his government places over against that created by Hitler...
...The first part of "Mr...
...Fascists and isolationists rise up, and speak their pieces, and 'Communism is not illegal...
...Thus, they were really open-minded in such matters...
...And after the victory—except ,for the constructive concepts of President Wilson—they had no theory of world control commensurable with the military power which they found in their hands...
Vol. 24 • June 1941 • No. 23
