Less than one month after Con-grossman Ludlow's proposal "was voted into the dusty pigeon holes the Rules Committee whehee st will ver americ, Admiral Leahy appeared before the House Naval Affairs committee to support the Administra tion's national defence programme, Ais expert definition of what the de= fence of America involved was a revelation (0 the horse and buggy school, "In defending our territory ili war," said "Admiral" Leahy, we cannot assume an altitutle of passive defence and simply beat off an attack at one place and tater at another. In such 8 case we should "see our coasts blockaded, our outlying possessions seized, our commerce (both coastwise id forelyn) driven off the seas and would undergo the costly experience of finding the war Tasting! Just as long og the enemy willed it—that is until he had obtained every objective and everything he wanted, "The only. way that war anice begun can be brought {0 a successful conclusion is by making the enemy want fo stop fighting—by injuring him so badly that he is ready to quit, Prompt ud effective injury to an enemy 4 distance from our shores, isthe only correct strategy to be employed."
The President in his national defence message had previously Laid down a similar prineiple—"adequate defence means that for the protection not only of our coasts but also of our communities far removed from the coast, we must keep any potential enemy many hundreds of miles away from our continental Himits:
Contemporaneous German Change The United States, as has already been suggested, was so busy placing, self beneath the sign of the, Blue Eagle in 1933 that it failed atthe time to appreciate the full significance of contemporaneous movement Germany where the people were being placed under the sign of the:
Swastika. But five years later it has been realized that the event created a change in the world situation which the United States must recognize.
But for the resurgence of a military Germany, President Roosevelt. would hardly have been found stating In his national defence message, "We cannot assume that our defences would be limited to one ocean and one coast, and that the other ocean and the Other coast would with certainty safe. We cannot be certain that the! connecting link, the Panama Canal, would be safe. Adequate defence affects, therefore, the simultaneous defence of every part of the United States of America."
Admiral Leaky in his_ testimony before the House Naval Affairs Committee was even more explicit. "There ig now In existence an Italian-Ger= man-Japanese anti-Communist protocol which must be taken into consideration by America's sea defence," he said." "The initiation of at least one powerful armament bloc of three nations cannot be questioned." He then gave the members of the committee statistics of the naval strength of various nations together with the combined naval strength of the German-Japanese-Ttalian. "arm ment loc."
While Congressmen maintain that the United States should follow a alley of isolation, or more ally "stay away from Europe, State Department realize that Europe will not stay away from the Western Hemisphere.
Influences In South America 'The political Influence of Ttaly and the commercial influence of Germany have grown enormously during' the past year. The situation in Brazil might be taken as an example. Last /summer Mr. Hull supported a resolution for the loaning of six destroyers!
Brozil_on the grounds. that "Brazil is apprehensive of the desire of some nations For raw materials Jand is seeking to build a modesi navy of her own."
hint that European aggression' jeould nog be ruled out of account could searcely have been given clearer terms by a responsible minister of state, "Mr, Hull added, "it the governments of other American countries find it necessary. to turn {to foreign governments for assistance salt is. preferable that such assist-nee should be extended by the United States."
At that time German commercial penetration was worrying the State Department and successful. negoti ions had just been concluded which strengthened the commercial agreement between Brazil and the United States and were accompanied by sguarantée that "barter" arrangements with Germany would not be carried such an extent that German trade increased above the 1935 figure.
Brazilian Dictator 'Then in November Braail entered' the news again when. President] Gelullo Vargas established a diet (orial form of government. The Press attributed this to Fascist influence: and pointed out that the Latin-'America's admiration for the most Prominent man of Latin blood in the World to-day, Mussolini, was_almost bound to affect the constitutional Dubie, theories of the Latin-American Re-
In February of this year an TItalian publication, *Corriere Diplomatico Consolare," boasted that "seven Latin-American countries are proceeding decisively towards stabilization upon the principles laid down by Premier Benito Mussolint's fascism." The seven countries referred are Brazil, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivi Paraguay, Uroguay and Venezuel If the essential feature of the Fascist stale were personal rule this would but only in Brazil are theories of government upheld which depart from the recognized pattern, of Latin-American military dictator ships as yet, European Arms Sales Recently the Administration observed that the tendency of Latin-American governments to rely on'foreign policy. Adjustments in Am-other-countries for military assistance has increased since the effort was made last summer to check the tendency. In January for example two old cruisers were sold Venezuela in return for crude all, a transaction believed to be part of a more extensive "deal."
Paraguay bought a large consign ment of Talian military planes and Ecuador also bought armaments from
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.