Washington, Nov. 2.
Secret movements by U.S. naval forces in the Eastern Caribbean stirred the. capital's interest as it was learned that the entire neutrality patrol from Key West. Florida. was at sea, while 1200 Air Corps officers and men arrived in San Juan, Puerto Rica, on Thursday by the military transport Hunter Liggett.
Officials of San Juan admitted the arrival of a squadron of U.S. naval patrol planes, while a number of warships was observed off San Juan, steaming east on Friday.
Unofficial circles speculated over the possibility of the naval forces being concentrated near Martinique and Guadeloupe, French Guinea, in readiness to occupy them immediately in the event of the Vichy Government's collaboration with the Axis which might be considered by Washington as an impairment of French sovereignty in these territories.
It was suggested that the neutrality of Italian and German sea raiding operations in the South Atlantic or in the Caribbean approach to the Panama Canal.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.