AMERICA STIRRED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LX, Issue 281, 26 October 1940, Page 7

AMERICA STIRRED.

TOTALITARIAN MENACE

MORE DEFENCE MEASURES

WASHINGTON, Oct. 24

President Roosevelt, in a speech, said foreign propagandists "who seek to divide" us with their strategy . ot terror have a reply in characteristically American . terms—preparations for' the defence of the Western Hemisphere.'' The United States, he said, Wr,s not afraid to be resolute in its will for peace, while simultaneously preparing for the defence of the two American continents and the ocean highways of those continents. President Roosevelt paid a tribute to Britain's stand against Germany. He said the democratic system was undergoing a fearful test, but the structure of the democratic faith was more enduring than marble and more precious than all man had built. He insisted that Democracy was essentially strong, and issued a warning that the dictators were quick to take advantage of the weakness of others. The Attorney-General (Mr R. Jackson) announced that grand jury proceedings have been instituted against Manfred Zapp. head of the German Trans-Ocean News Service, for alleged violations of the Foreign Agents Registrations Act. ELECTION CAMPAIGN. The President returned to Washington to-day after his election speech in Philadelphia last night. He repeated that he would stay within 12 hours of Washington at the present critical stage of world conditions. Tnc forthcoming Presidential election is taking first place in the United Btates, even before news of Hitler's ta.ks. Mr Wendell Willkie, the Republican candidate, in a speech to-day described President Roosevelt's speech at Philadelphia as being like the American defence system, "either obsolete or on order " The President had a conference with the Secretary of State (Mr Hull) on the latest developments in Europe and the Far East, and they then summoned the Army Chief of Staff (General G. C. Marshall) and the Assistant Secretary for War (Mr Patterson). At Boston Mr John C. Metcalf, a member of the Dies Committee investigating un-American activities, told university students that the sooner America gets rid of the entire consular services of Germany and Italy the better for the defence programme.

He said that if the evidence of the Government files were made public American people would demand the severance of diplomatic relations with Germany and Italy. ALB. CORPS EXPANSION

The Army announces a huge expansion of the Air Corps to permit the defence of the hemisphere. The present four wings will become 17 and tho present 25 combat groups will become 54. Tho plans include an increase to 18,000 warplanes late in 1942, threefold the. present personnel, plus an increase of the annual .output of trained pilots to 12,000. The Secretary to the Treasury (Mr 11. Morgenthau) stated that Britain and America were pleased that almost every aircraft factory was ahead of schedule. The Secretary' for War (Mr H. L. Stimson) confirmed to-day that the warplanes sent to the Philippines included 110 originally ordered by Sweden and then requisitioned by the United States Government. He made it clear that the planes were being sent not for training, but for combat. Mr W> C. Bullitt, the former United States Ambassador to France, in a speech in New York to-day, declared that no nation on earth could appease the Nazis, because they sought domination over the earth. If Britain fell it would be America's turn next. INTEREST IN PACIFIC.

The former commander of the navy m the Pacific, Rear-Admiral Yarnell, writing in a forum in the New York Herald-Tribune, declared that, apart from the commercial stake of the United States in the Pacific, "we are politically interested in the fate of Australia and New Zealand. We are interested in the preservation of the Pacific status quo." The President of Colombia (Senor Santos) in an interview, said : "Britain will not be conquered and will save, the world from the abominable prospect of a totalitarian future. My faith in Britain is unbreakable. I believe the Americas must enter the war sooner or later to save their own existence."