THE EDITOR SAYS
Evjue, William T.
The Editor Says By WILLIAM T. EVJUE THE FIFTH column activities, revealed in Norway. Holland, and Belgium, have stirred and appalled the nations of the civilized world. The extent to which the...
...At its helm is a strong willed ruler...
...Equality for the illegitimate...
...The Gruszka referred to Is the Hon...
...They express the hope that the Allies will win the war and liberate them...
...The Adolph and Heinie letter states: "If you will, for the time being, banish all thoughts of malice toward Hitler...
...George Milton's crime was that he supported TVA...
...While the supporters of Hitler are shedding tears over the treatment given India by the British, the All-India Congress sends news to the world that they hope the Allies will win...
...He Is being played up in the Republican newspapers...
...Born in love or lust or for a bonus, all are equal, all alike, one folk, one Reich, one Fuehrer...
...We are being regaled by stories of Willkie's early liberalism when he and Paul V. McNutt were student liberals on the university of Indiana campus...
...ask Adolph and Heinie in Cuba City...
...Adolph and Heinie would soon land in a concentration camp...
...We believe that this country can make itself safe under the program outlined by Pres...
...The cover of the match book carries this statement: "Gruszka drinks at Keefe's, Mosinee, Wisconsin, Fourth and Main...
...The New Republic looks into Willkie's record In his Imperious sway as president of the gigantic utility holding company, the Commonwealth and Southern...
...Nothing, is a very liberal word to use in most cases, but in some cases their advancement is so slow and so feeble that we can call it stagnant...
...Has there been anything in life in Germany with its suppression, the regimentation...
...This letter in a little newspaper in the southwestern nook of Wisconsin is significant...
...Willkie's company not only paid inordinately high advertising rates to the Free Press but failed to collect power bills from the paper...
...The Wendell Willkie build-up Js proceeding apace...
...No previous Nazi adventure has elicited such outspoken criticism...
...The technique under which the Germans lay the groundwork in advance for effective destruction by parachute troops has awakened a realization of the lengths to which the unscrupulous and unprincipled Nazi war lords will go...
...The fifth column infiltration of German spies and the bribing of natives in the countries which the Nazis plan to attack, the dropping of parachute troops in the uniforms of Dutch, Belgian and French soldiers (a violation of an international law of long standing) and the use of bribery and sabotage to create confusion and disintegration in lands which the Nazis seek to conquer are quickly beginning to have their repercussions throughout the civilized world...
...It is representative of the most dangerous fifth column in this country today...
...Hitler, you all must admit, is a very intelligent man in some respects...
...It is obvious that the Hitler fifth rolumn technique will have the effect of making the German name suspect in every part of the world...
...These Nazi and Communist followers are today seeking to sow the seeds of disintegration in this country all to the end of showing that democracy is a failure and that Naziism or Communism should be substituted...
...But we are not simply concerned with the minority that is aligned with these ideologies and are working for them...
...What are these little countries doing to advance civilization...
...Meanwhile, here in the United States, we are indifferent to the great blessings enjoyed in a democracy and we seem indifferent to the fact that we may lose liberty, freedom, and human dignity in the new aggressions that have been let loose by the diabolical Hitler, his frank admission that force is the aim of the new Germany and that democratic concepts of freedom and liberty are simply sentimental rubbish...
...Hitler has quickly succeeded in making the world fifth column conscious...
...Since the Invasion of Holland and Belgium and the ensuing revelation of the co-operation which the invaders have received from planted and native fifth column supporters, this column has been surveying the American scene to ascertain if the ingredients of a fifth column are not present here...
...On the reverse cover is the statement that Keefe's serve "drinks with a kick...
...Prizes for the most fertile...
...The inevitable consequences of the Hitler creed that anything is right which promotes German might and the resultant repudiation of all the old standards of honor and decency are beginning to appear...
...A Capital Times reader at Hazel Green sends in a copy of Assemblyman W. H. Goldthorpe's sprightly Cuba City News-Herald containing an article on the war signed by "Adolph and Heinie...
...Well, it all depends on how minds impregnated with Nazi ideology define civilization...
...He lacks the co-operation of the world, and if he had it there would be no doubt as to what good would benefit...
...The Nazi warlords may think that the fifth column technique is a demonstration of the modern methods of cleverness, resourcefulness and initiative with which they have invested Nazi military strategy...
...Breed them, mothers...
...Even our own dear president has made a few mistakes...
...Ersatz, concentration camps,—all autonomy suspended at the edge of a Nazi bayonet, —compared with the life of peace, contentment and happiness enjoyed by the people in the little Scandinavian countries and in the low countries, Incidentally, it might be well to remind Adolph and Heinie, too, that under Nazi auspices, which they seem to love, they would not have the privilege of getting their views on the front pagi...
...They become very vindictive in denouncing the things that England has done in the past, but they seem to show little moral indignation over the brutal invasion and bombing of small and peaceful countries like Czechoslovakia, Finland...
...We will take our Gruszkas in stride and we will prefer anything democracy has to offer in preference to that which is offered by sinister gangsters of the Hitler, Goering, GoebbeLs, Streicher type...
...Powerful Influences in the Republican party are holding the utility tycoon in reserve as a dark horse to spring on the Republican national convention...
...It is represented by those who believe that what is taking place in Europe today is in the natural order of things and represents the march of destiny.—the idea that Hitler is a man of destiny and that perhaps Hitler and Stalin have the right answer and that we Americans are fighting for a worn-out cause...
...They usually preface their remarks by rather feebly stating that they do not condone many of the things that Hitler has done BUT,—then they go on to blame everything on the Versailles treaty and end by denouncing England and France rather than Germany...
...The dispatch follows: "Indian Nationalist newspapers condemn the German invasion of the Low Countries with an emphasis that proves the sincerity of the nationalists' opposition to Naziism...
...The letter in the Cuba City paper continues: "In Europe, as well as in the rest of the world, are a score of unprogressive countries...
...we will take democracy with all its weaknesses to the appalling thing that has been reared in Germany...
...Here we have a country, no doubt the most progressive, as well as the most aggressive nation in the world...
...FROM Hitler's "Mein Kampf": "We shall breed a new race out of an elite trained to hardness, cruelty, violence...
...Well, even so...
...What would happen to a Heinie or an Adolph in Germany today if either sought to get a communication in a Berlin paper praising the American system of democracy over the system in force in Germany...
...This recalls the member of the assembly who was found behind the bar as the bartender two years ago In a raid on a disorderly resort In Waukesha county where Illicit liquor was being sold...
...For our part, we would prefer the way of life, the culture, and the civilization, that have prevailed in countries like Finland, Sweden, Norway, Denmark, Holland, Belgium and Czechoslovakia to the "civilization" which has prevailed in Germany during the years under Hitler...
...The communication contains a justification of the Hitler aggressions and one wonders why Gold-thorpe violates the orthodox newspaper tradition by printing this "vox pop" on the front page...
...THERE are many who indirectly seek to justify Hitler by pointing to the past delinquencies of England and who contend that England's past record is just as bad as Hitler's...
...Tennessee electric ]x>wer boycotted the advertising columns of the Chattanooga News and poured money into the advertising columns of a specially created competitor the Free Press...
...This member from Milwaukee county served in the last session of the legislature...
...Included In this buildup Is the effort to take the big utility stain off Willkie by setting him up as a real ltoeral at heart...
...They are wasting their efforts, using up the natural resources, which are becoming more vital as time goes by...
...Norway, Denmark, Holland and Belgium...
...Under the heading "How Liberal Is Mr...
...What are these little countries doing to advance civilization...
...The letter in the Cuba City paper reflects another contention of the Nazi ideology that small nations are an excrescence and that there is no justification for their existence...
...Here in the United States, Adolph and Heinie exercise their rights (the rights which are called sentimental rubbish by the Nazis) to extoll the virtues of the Hitler philosophy of government...
...We are also being told that Willkie recognizes that there is much merit in some of the new deal legislation and that he does not oppose many of the things that have been done under the Roosevelt administration...
...the New Republic places another aspect on Mr...
...Roosevelt against any threat from across the ocean...
...Tennessee corporations are forbidden by law from contributing to political campaign funds, but Willkie's Commonwealth and Southern gave $20,000 to the taxpayers association which was nearly the total it received from all sources...
...The masses will be uniform, with arms that rise and fall rhythmically, voices that cry hoarsely, rhythmically, 'Sieg Heil!' First the men from Mars, and then the masses...
...Willkie is being given access to the radio with increased frequency...
...Well, perhaps democracy dors have some weaknesses and take some queer turns...
...The utility pattern of using money to attain its ends is always the same, whether engineered by Willkie, Instill, or Byllesby...
...The extent to which the Nazi war lords have used treason and sabotage to their own ends in the countries which they are invading has awakened a determination among the democracies of the world to deal sternly with traitors who are willing to destroy their own countries in order to serve the gods of their ideology in either Berlin or Moscow...
...The real fifth column in the United States today is an unseen, intangible enemy in which are the internal seeds of disintegration and demoralization...
...It is the old strategy of seeking to divert attention from a criminal by smearing the district attorney...
...of a newspaper if their views were at variance with the powers that be...
...Congress spokesmen point to the number of small European nations whose liberty and freedom have been destroyed and emphasize that their sympathies are entirely with these peoples...
...Willkie's "liberalism...
...The dispatch came from Simla and discussed the position of the All-India Congress leaders on the war...
...Now, then, we are ready to take an unbiased look at the European situation...
...It can be put down at once that there are thousands of people in the United States who are more loyal to Nazi and Communist principles and Ideologies than they are to those concepts which make for the essence of Americanism...
...When Chattanooga was about to vote on a municipal power plant, a citizens and taxpayers association appeared headed by a man afterward hired by willkie's company as an attorney...
...Anthony Gruszka, Republican member of the assembly from Marathon county...
...We do not believe that the active Nazis and Communists in the United States constitute a real menace as yet...
...A reader in the northern part of the state sends in a paper match book given out by a tavern at Mosinee for advertising purposes...
...In Germany, the Nazi warlords have succeeded in impregnating millions of people, particularly the youth of the country, with the holy fervor of the Nazi cult and have made these millions fanatics in their devotion to a new creed...
...While some All-India Congress leaders reiterate their political grievances against Britain, they assert that the menace of Nazi domination is a matter of serious concern to India...
...Last night I came across a dispatch in the New York Times from India which should interest those who have been using India in their campaign of justification for Hitler...
...He is the star speaker at big dinners arranged by Republicans...
...The bad record of public relations in some of the Commonwealth and Southern subsidiary companies is discussed...
...supermen, leading masses...
...There is the story of the Willkie-Consumer's Power Co., in Michigan which paid fat legal fees to a member of the state senate "who by odd coincidence, was working hard to prevent the passage of bills that would have aided publicly owned power...
...Hitler is thinking, we believe, and our opinion is as good as the next one, about the advancement of the civilization as well as his own country...
...Then there is the Chattanooga story describing the manner in which the Willkie Tennessee electric power comi>any destroyed George Milton's liberal Chattanooga News...
...On them we shall found a new Reich that will last for a thousand years...
...Willkie...
...Widespread satisfaction has been voiced that The Netherlands and Belgiums are resisting the invaders...
...We are more deeply concerned with the emotional attitude of thousands of Americans who because of racial background seem indifferent to the brutalities and aggressions of the Nazi war lords and even go so far as to rationalize the acts of Hitler...
...The British record in India and during the Boer war are the favorite topics of those who seek to rationalize Hitler by asking the world to look at England's past culpability...
...He has his faults, of course, but who hasn't...
...The supermen will be ingenious, treacherous, masterful...
Vol. 10 • May 1940 • No. 21
