THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES.

Auckland Star, Volume LXXI, Issue 310, 31 December 1940, Page 7

THREAT TO THE UNITED STATES.

TRIPARTITE PACT. \ ! Roosevelt Rejects Policy j Of Appeasement. United Press Association.—Copyright. WASHINGTON', Dec 30. "Never before has our American j civilisation been in such danger," j said President Roosevelt in a fireside radio talk to the American nation. "For on September 27, by an a:rroe-; ment signed in Berlin, three ]><\ver- j ful nations, two in Europe and one j in Asia, joined in a threat that if the United .States interfered -vvi;h or! blocked the expansion programme of I these three nations, which i≤ aimed' at control of the world, they would! unite in ultimate action against the United States. "Does anyone seriously beliexe we need, fear attack while a free Britain remains our must powerful naval neigh-! hour in the, Atlantic?" Mr. Koo*ovelt j asked. "Docs anyone seriously believe, on the other hand, that oould rot. easy if the Axis Powers wort- our neighbours? If Britain goes down. the. AxiPowers will contrcil the continents of Kurope, Asia, Africa. Australasia ami tli<high sea*—and they will W in j J"v-:ti<':i to bring enormous military and naval resources against this hemisphere. '•In view of the nature of this undeniable threat, if can Ik? asserted properly and categorically that the I'nited States has no riant nor reason t<> encourage talk of pi-ace until the. day lias come when there is a clear intention on the part of the aggressor nations to abandon all thought of dominating or conquering the world. "At this moment the forces of the States leagued against all peoples living in freedom are being held away from our shores. The Italians and the Germans are blocked on the other side of the Atlantic by the British and the Greeks, and by thousands of soldiers and Bailors who were able to escape from the subjugated countries. The Japanese are being engaged in Asia by the Chinese in another great defence. '"In the Pacific is <Jur fleet. '■Some of oui people would like, in believe the wars in Kurope and Asia, are no concern of ours, but it is a matter of most vital concern to us that the European and Asiatic war-makers should not gain control of the oceans leading to this hemisphere. Nazis' Tactics. "Would Germany hesitate to say. to any South American country: *\Ve are occupying you to protect you from aggression by the United .States'! Belgium to-day i.s being used as an invasion base against Britain, now fighting for her life. Any South American countryin Xazi hands would always constitute a jumping-oIT place for a German attack on any of the other Republics in this hemisphere. "Analyse for yourselves the future of other , places c.ven nearer to Gennanv. If the Nazis won. could Ireland hold out? Would Irish freedom be permitted as an amazing exception in an unfree world? "There are those who say the Axis Powers would never have any desire to attack the Western Hemisphere. This is the same dangerous form of wishful thinking which has destroyed the powers of resistance of many conquered peoples. "The plain facts," Mr. Roosevelt continued, "are that the Xazis have proclaimed time and again that all other racee are their inferiors, and are therefore subject to their orders. The most important of all the vast resources of wealth are in this hemisphere, and the most tempting loot in the world. "Let us no longer blind ourselves to the undeniable fact that the evil forces which have crushed, undermined and corrupted so many othere are already within our gates. Your Government knows much about them, and everv day is ferreting them out. Their secret emissaries are active in our own and neighbouring countries. They seek to stir up suspicion and dissension and cause internal strife. They trv to turn capital against labour " and labour against capital. They try to reawaken long-slumbering racial and relirrious enmities which should not have a place in this country. They are active in every group, promoting- intolerance, to exploit for their own ends our natural abhorrence of war. "These trouble-breeders have but one purpose—to divide our people into hostile groups, to destroy our unitv and to shatter our will to defend ourselves. "The experience of the past two voars has proven beyond doubt that no nation can appease the Nazis. Xo man can tame a tiger into a kitten by stroking it. There can be no appeasement of ruthlessness. There can be no reasoning with an incendiary bomb. We know now that a nation can have peace with the Xazis only at the price of total surrender."