The newspaper-reading world takes time out from wondering what is the truth of the war communiques issued by both sides and what they portend, to listen every now and again to what Signor Gayda, well-termed "Mussolini's Charley McCarthy," has to say about things. Signor Gayda can be relied upon to raise a laugh out of the most gloomy situation and to place the most novel interpretation upon the most obvious remark. Every now and again he thunders warnings to President Roosevelt, without noticeably affecting that gentleman's composure or policy. At intervals he utters the direst threats about what the Axis powers are just about to do; and in this connection his more recent statements have even passed over the Axis and become more confined to what Germany is going to do—which shows thi on one point at least, the helplessness of his own country and Il Duce. he has no illusions, His position is, of course, by no means easy. He has become the Charley McCarthy of a Charley McCarthy, since Mussolini has sunk i0 the level of a mere echo of what Hitler thinks and intends. Throughout Signor Gayda's latest effusion can be detected the guiding hand of Dr. Goebbels.
Signor Gayda has declared that the Axis powers will take reprisals against the United States because an American patrol boat which was engaged in picking up survivors of a torpedoed ship dropped a depth charge in order to warn the submarine which had tor-the ship to keep away. From the account of this incident given by the Secretary of the Navy, it would. appear it the American ship was engaged in an ved the rules of war and given the crew torpedoed vessel time to secure their own safety. Presumably the offence commited by the American ship was that it picked up the survivors and objected to any interference while it was engaged in this humane duty—nothing more. Yet Signor Gayda has taken this action as a cause for reprisals against America—an exceedingly foolish threat to' make, since if "reprisals" are taken, the next time an American ship drops a depth charge it will not be near the Axis submarine but definitely on it.
Meanwhile Signor Gayda has gone on to declare that the American occupation of Iceland has given European countries the right to take similar measures in the Western Hemisphere for the defence of the European Continent. How the Axis powers are going to do this, or what American country is going to ask them to walk in, he does not mention. Possibly these are military secrets which he does not feel at liberty to reveal. The point can be passed over in favour of his appeal for a united front against Bolshevism. He says:
While the German offensive develops against Bolshevism in order to free the European Continent and civilizadon from' one of its most insidious enemies, the offensive of the North American war-mongers advances against Europe with the obvious aim of making the European peoples slaves of the dollar and suffocating the national liberties and creative civilization. These warmongers now seek conquest of the outlying bases of Europe for the purpose of re-establishing around the Continent the encirclement policy begun by Britain. President Roosevelt's declarations to the press in which he said geographic conditions cannot hinder American defensive measures are the best proof of the aggressive intentions of the United States.
This remarkable conclusion seems to put into the mouth of President Roosevelt the excuses uttered by Nazi Germany whenever a new invasion was contemplated. It is easy to recall the accusations against "aggressive" Norway and Denmark, and the great reluctance expressed by Hitler when he was forced to invade little Holland and Belgium in order to forestall their "aggressions." Not only is this claim made, but also Signor Gayda trumpets again that the Nazis—with the help of a division of Italians which the Nazis can be relied upon to keep well in the rear—are waging a crusade against Bolshevism. Signor Gayda may not have realised what a complete wash-out this Nazi claim has proved; how it has deceived no one. In fact, the timing of President Roosevelt's announcement of the occupation of Iceland can be taken as a direct answer to the Nazis and Fascists that the United States, at all events, has not had wool pulled over its eyes by such a simple device. Then there is the question of encirclement which, in Signor Gayda's eyes, was begun by Britain, Was it fear of "encirclement" that caused Hitler to close the only open Axis frontier by making a treacherous attack on Soviet Russia? Insofar as President Roosevelt's aggressive intentions are concerned, Signor Gayda is again wide of the mark. The fact is that President Roosevelt has proved the greatest of all the isolationists, for he has isolated his country from the poison of Nazi-Fascism by deeds, not mere words. Signor Gayda is to be thanked for pointing this out, even though he mày have done so without meaning to. It is to be hoped that he will not allow many more days to pass before he again injects some comic relief into this tragic struggle. Men like him are worth big money.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.