The sun. [volume] (Newberry, S.C.) 1937-1972, October 24, 1941, Image 2
THE SUN, NEWBERRY, S. C„ OCTOBER 24, 1941
Washington, D. C.
AN INSIDE STORY
Word trickling back to the diplo
matic corps from Germany indi
cates that Hitler is beginning to
realize that the United States means
business, and that he made a tragic
mistake in not accepting the advice
of his more conservative diplomats
■who warned him of this in the first
place.
In fact, the inside story, which
now can be told, is one of the most
tragic of the war. Possibly if it had
not been for overweening personal
jealousies the war might even have
been prevented.
What happened was that when
Hans Dieckhoff, German ambassa
dor to Washington, returned to Ber
lin in 1938, he brought back a strong
report that the United States would
enter the war eventually if Germany
became the aggressor. He was
ready to warn that Germany faced
a repetition of 1917-18. But Foreign
Minister Von Ribbentrop would not
let him see Hitler.
Ribbentrop, probably the most
ambitious man around der Fuehrer
and a great friend of Himmler,
wanted to be the funnel for all ad
vice going to Hitler. Also he was
feeding him his own kind of aggres
sive advice, not the cooling caution
of Ambassador Dieckhoff.
In the same cautious school with
the ambassador were Baron Von
Neurath, recently ousted as gover- !
nor of Czechoslovakia because of
his moderate views; Hjalmar
Schacht, governor of the Reichs-
bank, now in virtual retirement;
and Capt. Fritz Wiedemann, Hitler’s
former commander and more re
cently consul general at San Fran
cisco. Even Field Marshal Goer-
ing was much more moderate than
Von Ribbentrop.
Czech Putsch Delayed.
It was Captain Wiedemann, who,
around May, 1938, chiefly persuaded
Hitler not to invade Czechoslovakia.
He was then Hitler’s military aide
and attended a meeting of der
Fuehrer’s inner advisers at which
general staff advised caution. Final
ly Hitler, exasperated, threw up his
arms and ordered them all out of the
room. But Wiedemann stayed be
hind, and finally persuaded his chief
to delay the march into Cezchoslo-
vakia at least until the fall of 1938—
which was done.
Later, it was Wiedemann and his
moderates who persuaded Hitler to
receive Chamberlain and Daladier
at Munich. But by this time it was
too late for Ambassador Dieckhoff
to tell his story.
Ribbentrop never forgave Wiede
mann for this. Also his vaunting
ambition would permit no rival close
to Hitler. So, shortly thereafter, he
got Wiedemann transferred to a dis
tant and relatively unimportant
German consulate in the U.S.A.
Later when Wiedemann was deport
ed from this country, it is signifi
cant that Ribbentrop once again
transferred him as far as possible
from Berlin—this time to Tientsin,
China.
The foreign minister of Germany
wants no moderates around.
• • •
ANYTHING CAN HAPPEN
Don’t be surprised if a U. S. war
ship disembarks a load of Nazi
sailors and turns them over to the
justice department to be tried on
charges of “piracy.”
It is even possible that in the
“haul” may be an armed Nazi raid
er or two that had been operating
down Brazil way.
Anything may happen these event
ful days since the President enun
ciated U. S. determination to main
tain freedom of the seas, and
branded Nazi submarines and sur
face raiders in American waters as
“pirates.” Armed Nazi ships are
prowling American waters and the
U. S. navy has its orders.
It can be revealed that neither
the justice nor war department
would be surprised if they had some
“pirate” seamen and “pirate” craft
to deal with soon. Both have been
quietly studying for a week the law
and precedents concerning such an
eventuality.
The war department enters the
picture because under the law all
war prisoners landed on U. S. soil
come under custody of the army.
However, the U. S. is not at war,
so there is doubt over the army’s
jurisdiction.
No final decision has been
reached, but the consensus of the
legal experts is that any. such
“pirates” should be turned over to
the justice department.
One suggested procedure is that
the Nazis be landed at a U. S. port
and then jailed by the justice de
partment as aliens without pass
ports. But most of the legal author
ities contend that the Nazis should
be dealt with squarely as buccaneers.
• * *
CAPITAL CHAFF
In a direct mem'- rship election,
the American New_ .per Guild has
overwhelmingly defeated the leftist
clique which for several years has
controlled the national offices of the
union. The entire group was cleaned
out and a militant anti-Red slate
elected.
Cordell Hull has a new car, a long
sleek limousine, but without either
radio or heater. Quoted at $2,615 for
the retail trade, the car cost the gov
ernment only $1,800. Also gas costs
only eight cents a gallon.
Press Conference a la Berlin
Berlin has its press conferences, too, but how free they are is another
matter. This radiophoto sent to New York via radio and to Chicago
via soundphoto shows Dr. Otto Dietrich announcing military achievements
claimed by the Germans on the eastern front, to foreign correspondents
in Berlin. Note large-sized war map.
A delegation from Capitol Hill confers with President Roosevelt on
changes in the neutrality law. L. to R., back row: Sen. Tom Connally
(Texas); Sen. Charles L. McNary (Oregon); and Rep. Luther A. Johnson
(Texas). Front row: Rep. Sol Bloom (N. Y.); chairman, foreign affairs
committee, and Rep. Charles Eaton (N. J.).
Some of the 589 fledgling fliers from Australia and New Zealand,
shown upon arrival at San Francisco on the Matson liner, Monterey,
bound for R.A.F. flying schools in Canada. Immediately after the group
disembarked, they took a boat for Oakland, Calif., where they boarded
a special train for Canada.
Just Good ‘Clean’ Fun
Heavy rains, which have paralyzed auto and street car traffic in
parts of Chicago, served to put the athletic field in excellent condition
for the annual sophomore-freshman pushball game at Loyola university.
Everybody had a lot of good “clean” fun until the frosh introduced
soft tomatoes into the battle. The frosh won out.
Trouble in Panama
Dr. Arnulfo Arias, who was oust
ed from the presidency of Panama,
in a coup which placed a regime
more favorable to the U. S. in
power. He fled to Cuba to save his
life, he claimed. Dr. Ernesto De La
Guardia assumed the presidency.
Chiefs Meet
First meeting of the U. S. and
British commanders-in-chief in the
Far East. British Air Marshal Rob
ert Brooke-Popham (left) flew to
Manila, P. I., to discuss Far East
ern questions with Lieut. Gen. Doug
las McArthur (right), U. S. chief in
the Far East.
Warm October
October has furnished some of the
hottest days on record in the na
tional capital. Cooling their tootsies
in Capitol plaza on one of these
record-breaking October days, with
the dome of the Capitol as a back
drop, are these girls from Balti
more, Md.
War and Religion
General Nogues, French resident
commander of Morocco, shown dur
ing a religious conference with na-
tiv. tribesmen, including Moussen de
Zaers, facing the general.
Eleanor Roosevelt
Kathleen Norris Says:
This Is Still a Man’s World
(Bell Syndicate—WNU Service.)
I held my first staff meeting at
the office of Civilian Defense and
I think it cleared up certain difficul
ties of procedure which are not yet
organized within the office itself.
I came back that day to the
White House for my usual personal
press conference. I had asked Dr.
Harriet Elliott, the commissioner of
the Division of Consumer Protec
tion, to attend, so as really to stimu
late a discussion on the whole ques
tion of the increased cost of living.
There is no question in my mind that
we must have some method which is
legal to control the rise in prices.
It cannot be done by voluntary par
ticipation alone, nor by the action
of community groups, because it
is too difficult for people in the com
munities to get information on
which they can act. I am happy to
know that representatives of con
sumer interests will be appointed on
defense councils.
More than this is needed, how
ever, particularly when you realize
that the snowball of rising prices
has rolled up very rapidly in the
past four months, and in some cases
this increase is higher already than
it was during the last World war.
We must profit by our former ex
perience and realize that prices
which go up must'eventually come
down, and the coming down process
is a very difficult one.
• • •
SOUTH AMERICAN VISITORS
At luncheon one day Miss Mary
Winslow brought two very delight
ful guests, Senorita Graciela Man-
dujano of Chile and Senora Ana
Rosa de Martinez-Guerrero from
the Argentine. Senorita Mandu-
jano, whom I have had the pleasure
of meeting before, has traveled in
many parts of the United States
since her arrival here last spring,
so she must now feel quite at home
in our country. She has just spent
some time in Maine and announced
to me that she had become a Re
publican.
Senora de Martinez - Guerrero
brought me an interesting scroll
signed by many of the women of
Buenos Aires who have joined to
gether to aid the women in other
countries who are fighting Naziism.
They call their organization “Junta
de la Victoria.” Senora de Mar
tinez-Guerrero, who is a very
charming young woman, has lately
been interested in building a hos
pital. I have long known that the
control and the management of the
hospitals in the Argentine are in
the hands of the women. I have
often wondered if the contact with
problems in the hospital would not
some day create a situation where
the women would wish to prevent
certain things instead of waiting to
alleviate them when they regch the
hospital stage.
Much to my interest, Senora de
Martinez-Guerrero said that she had
decided that the only way to do this
was through a more active interest
on the part of women in the govern
ment, and that she was beginning
to talk to other women along these
lines. This is interesting, not only
from the point of view of what it
might mean internally, but of what
it would mean in better understand
ing and co-operation between the
women of the Americas.
• • •
ARMY LIFE REACTIONS
At luncheon on the train one day
I found myself at a table with two
young army boys and we were
joined shortly by a young marine
who had just finished his Paris
Island training and was being sent
from Quantico, Va., to a new post.
The army boys came from Virginia
and New Jersey respectively, and
had spent some months in camp in
the state of Washington, and were
now on their way to a New Jersey
camp. All three were fine boys and
I enjoyed talking to them. The
thing which I remember most in
retrospect, however, as we talked
about their lives and need for their
present sacrifice, is that they unani
mously agreed that they did not
have enough information or enough
opportunity to talk about the larger
aspects of world affairs as they re
lated to their own individual serv
ices.
One of the boys finally said, “Well
the trouble is, when you get into the
army, the training is often the
same, day in and day out, and you
begin to think that the whole of life
centers in what you get to eat, and
when you get your pay.” I wonder
if perhaps one aspect of our officers’
{raining is not being neglected.
Should we include a course in the
art of encouraging conversation
among your associate; I Should we
remember that in both the German
and Russian armies there is a re
lationship between the officers and
their men which is not entirely of
ficial in character?
• • •
I have been sent a little brochure
from the Consumers Book Co-opera
tive, which they call Reader’s Ob
server. It is a helpful little pub
lication because it lists books in
various fields, and has an article at
the beginning, telling one about the
trend of interest in reading materi
al, and commenting on books in
many fields. I was interested to
find that a popular vote which they
have taken shows a great interest
in religious books, and secondly in
books that can be classed as educa
tion for democracy.
We love the same things, fond we talked of marriage and felt that ours was a
serious affair. Ours was a deep devotion and for weeks our secret love kept its in a
heaven of happiness.
By KATHLEEN NORRIS
HIS is still a man's world.
Women have made mighty
strides in thfe last hundred
years, to establish certain rights
for themselves and to do away
with certain hoary old injus
tices. But you can’t change
matters as deep-rooted as mas
culine privilege and superiority
in any one lifetime, and women
still have a long way to go.
One reason why the males can
assume the quietly-assured posi
tion of lordship is because many
a woman isn’t happy until she
has convinced some man that
he is little short of a god, and
that she is a complete fool.
About once a week I get a
letter from some woman who
is worried because she fears
Harry is looking at some other
woman, usually an office associate.
She neglects home and children,
grows critical and tearful, listens in
at the telephone, drops in at the
office, reads letters, becomes nerv
ous—in short, she does everything
she can to show Harry that she has
no individuality, no character, no
reserves within herself; that she is
just one more clinging vine, hang
ing on to the flawless male for com
fort, love, life, everything. Sweet
Alice who wept with delight when
Ben Bolt gave her a smile, and
trembled with fear at his frown, did
not disappear with the . Victorian
era.
A More Pitiful Girl.
Even more pitiful than this mar
ried slave, who cannot build a life of
her own, is the sort of girl who
writes me that because a boy told
her he would stop loving her if she
didn’t do what he asked; and be
cause she loved him so terribly, she
has wrecked her self-respect for life.
Believe me, although girls are
much more independent than they
used to be, and much careless talk
goes on about the very low per
centage of young women who pre
serve their chastity, it is an ex
tremely unpleasant and dangerous
thing for a young wife to have in
her background the memory of an
illicit love.
Besides the burning humiliation
of discovering that her generosity
has rather cooled than heightened
his ardors, the girl has another
price to pay. Her love for a man
doubles when once she has given
herself to him. She is plunged in
stantly in horrible misgivings for
fear she will lose him. And in each
successive instance her charm for
him lessens.
Oh, there are sirens, of course,
experienced married women who
can play fast and loose with a lover
until he is driven to distraction and
suicide. But girls of 18 and 20 know
nothing of these arts, and the boys
who take advantage of them know it.
A Tragic Experience.
This is “Madelon’s” letter:
“A boy, who is fine in every way,
and I had been going together for
a year,” she writes. “We love the
same things, and although I am only
19 and Phil three months younger
than I, we talked of marriage and
felt that ours was a serious affair.
Five months ago he talked to me of
the long time we should have to
wait until he is out of college and
making some money, and asked me
to seal our devotion and our engage
ment by giving myself to him.
“For some weeks I would not
hear of this, but he became sad, and
reproached me for not loving him.
PRICE OF INDEPENDENCE
For many years women have
struggled for freedom from stuf
fy conventions, for equality with
men, for the right to plan their
cion lives. Today they study
medicine. .They run for political
office. They fight side by side
with men on the battlefields of
the world. Then why should
they be tied down by what looks
like old fashioned standards of
morality? Lots of women, some
of them claim, have “gotten away
with" illicit love affairs. Young
girls risk their future happiness
in a moment’s carelessness. They
really mean to be good, but they
put can’t resist temptation. Read
what Kathleen Norris has to say
about thb price women pay for
the wrong kind of independence.
Finally he took another girl to a
picnic and paid so much attention
to her all day, although I was at the
picnic with my brother, that I told
him I would hold out no longer.
“Ours was a deep devotion and
for a few weeks our secret love
kept us both in a heaven of happi
ness, but then, in his anxiety to get
married, Phil told his mother of our
affair. He said she did not seem
shocked, but told him he must go
to a business college his uncle runs
in Springfield and take two shorter
courses that would fit him to earn
his living.
“Phil’s father is dead. Phil and
his mother then moved to Spring-
field, and although he wrote me four
times immediately, his letters then
stopped. I think now his mother
hoped all along it would be like this.
But She Still Loves Him.
“Anyway, Phil did not come home
for the long vacation; he and his
mother and an old school friend of
hers motored to California and had
a wonderful time. Now he is at
home; he has been here three
weeks. I telephoned him at once
and he sounded all right; later he
telephoned and said he would see
me soon. We then had a clam bake
on the river. He accepted, but did
not come, and sent me no explana
tion. Now I hear he is going with a
very rich girl here, taking her to
things and is at her house with her
brother all the time.
“If he told his mother about us I
am sure he would tell this girl,
Mimi, too, ahd I feel as though I
could not bear it. I suppose that
despite all this I still love him; cer
tainly there is no other boy in town
half as attractive. If I go out with
anyone else it seems to me so flat
that I hardly can make myself speak
or seem interested.
“My brother cut his foot this sum
mer playing tennis, and the doctor
gave me some tablets to soak in
water to wash it. He said they are
deadly poison. I have hidden three
of them, and I feel sometimes as
though that would be the way out
for me; only I would hate to give a
girl like Mimi the satisfaction of
knowing that I would kill myself.
Can you and will you help me?”
No, Madelon, my dear, I cannot.
But time will. Time will make all
this hot young flurry of passion and
jealousy and weakness and shame
like only a dream. It is a cruel
enough dream, and hard enough to
bear now, but get through the next
year somehow; get through the ago
nies of seeing him married to a
pretty, devoted and morally strong
er girl, and the worst will be over.
Then the future will hold for you a
soberer and a wiser happiness.