July, 1939
T H E K I N G ' S B U S I N E S S
253
Views and Reviews of Current News By DAN GILBERT W ASH INGTON , D.C., and SAN DIEGO, CAL IFORN IA
TH IRD TERM TALK: Washington columnists and commentators are almost falling over one another in a wild stampede to attach their names to the definite pre diction that President Roosevelt will be a candidate for a third term. During the past several months, one after another of the nation's best-known political analysts has come to the conclusion that the President will be an active candidate in 1940. The President’s radio speech before the national retailers’ a sso cia tio n clearly pointed in this direction. Many interpre ters thought the address was deliberately calculated as the opening gun of the 1940 campaign. Boldly, Mr. Roosevelt champ ioned and demanded a continuance of the New Deal ’Tend-spend” policy. The probability that Mr. Roosevelt him self will run in 1940 is increased by the manifest failure of all efforts to groom a New Deal standard bearer as his successor. The publicity "build-up” of Harry Hopkins has collapsed in the same fashion as did the earlier "trial balloons” launched on be half of Robert Jackson, Henry Wallace, and other Brain Trust favorites. If Mr. Roose velt should not run, the Democratic nomin ation would almost certainly go to a conservative. The President is said to be determined to risk defeat himself rather than to let that happen. DEMOCRACY’S DILEMMA: After fran tic efforts, which humiliatingly involved the fawning of the British lion before the Rus sian bear, Great Britain seems finally to have lined up Soviet Russia in a vague sort of “united front" against the Rome- Berlin axis. That the Soviet-British tie-up cannot long endure under provocative strains is a foregone conclusion. The attempt of the leader of the "demo cracies” to work shoulder to shoulder with the Soviet Union in an “anti-dictatorship front” presents difficulties and incongruities which foredoom it to failure in the long run. Some of these have been pointed out by Sir Philip Gibbs, famous World War correspondent, in his new book, Across the Frontiers. He thinks the British wooing of Red Russia is as ridiculous as it is fantastic. Of the British diplomats, he writes: "They are allying themselves with the most autocratic power today. For the defense of free speech they are allying themselves with those who deny it. For the sake of ‘liberty’ they look for aid to a new tyranny of iron discipline. It is this association with communism which has been one of the causes of the abdication of intelligence, the death of liberal ideals, and the resurrection of violence.”
WAR LINE-UP: Were war to break to morrow, Germany could count on the sup port of only Hungary, Estonia, Latvia, and possibly Finland. Rumania is not sure: Jugoslavia tends to lean toward the demo cracies. Even Franco's Spain and Mus solini’s Italy are far from “in the bag” for Germany. Evidences continue to multiply that, despite all efforts to jack it up, the Rome- Berlin axis is breaking down. On the sur face, Mussolini and Hitler continue to be the “perfect pals,” but mutual distrust is intensifying underneath. Rumors persist that, in case of actual conflict, Italy would “run out" on Germany as she did in the last World War. HITLER’S PROPAGANDA BOOMER ANGS: It is now clear that the Nazi propagandists seriously overplayed their hand in extravagantly advertising Ger many's alleged “air supremacy.” The bal lyhoo worked at first; it was doubtless the determining factor in buffaloing England in to accepting the "peace of Munich." The threat of Nazi terror from the air drove public opinion in the direction of "appease ment.” But the inevitable reaction is now setting in. Current magazines, in both America and Britain, are puncturing the pretensions of the overwhelming superiority of the Nazi air fleet. There is even a growing tendency to pooh-pooh the whole idea as unfounded hysteria. Sober analysts concede that the Nazis are supreme in the “quantity” of
their air fleet, but many of them seriously question that the Nazi "quality” would stand the test. Military experts, further, point out that the next war would be no more likely than the last one, to be won on the sheer superi ority which the Nazis may have in the air. Major George Fielding Eliot, foremost American military expert, recently issued an article contending, "Germany Can’t W in.” He frankly predicts that, in the case of a war this year, Germany would be speedily vanquished. With the democracies growing skeptical of the power of the Nazi military machine, it seems obvious that Hitler will have to develop a new strategy if he is to win Danzig, and otherwise advance his cam paign of expansion. ROUT OF ECONOMY BLOC: The so- called "economy” bloc within the United States Senate showed signs of accomplish ing something early in the season. It stood fast, against the President himself, and despite the compromise later effected, suc ceeded in slashing $50,000,000 from the W.P.A. appropriation. Had it not been for the President’s persistence, the original slash of $150,000,000 would have remained. When the Senators showed a determina tion to slash the budget drastically, they caused considerable dismay among Admin istration chieftains committed to the policy of Mr. Eccles that an imbalanced budget is a blessing in disguise. After some waver ing, the Chief Executive openly aligned [Continued on page 260]
(Acme)
G ERM AN AIR POWER Pictured here ere e group of recruits being sworn into the Nazi air force, surrounded by Nazi war planes. Just what is the real power of the German air units is a debatable question.
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