France And Spain

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXII, 23 January 1939, Page 4

France And Spain

Notes on the News

The former Premier of France, M. Leou Blum, is demanding the opening of tlie Spanish frontier. “We are face to face with Italy, who is only waiting for General Franco's victory to start her colonial race against us,” he said. In "Current. History” last November, M. Leon Blum wrote: "From the very start of the Spanish Civil War the totalitarian dictators intervened on behalf of the rebel generate. Their intervention was not acknowledged, but it was real. Had the French Government intervened, ou the other side, she would have been acting far more legitimately, for she would have been assisting the regular Spanish Government But France did not intervene. "The French Government furthermore attempted to stop the intervention of the totalitarian Powers in the Spanish war. She proposed non-interven-tion agreements, and used her influence to secure their acceptance I*3’ all the European States. She voluntarily renounced her freedom of economic intercourse, ns applied to war materials, in an effort to insure the efficacy of the agreement and to obtain the adherence of other nations to it. Moreover, she deprived the regular Spanish Government of freedom of omme-cial *uterBut ‘H Duce openly corresponded with rebel leaders, openly proclaimed his desire to promote their victory,; openly placed the strength of *lie Fas-j cist tate at their serSvice.” M. Blum, detailing Italian and Ger | man intervention in Spain in support ! of General Franco, and mentioning that French popular feeling was in favour of actively assisting the Spanish Government, gave the following reason for pursuing a policy of non-intervention: "The French Government did not wish to suggest a divergence of opinion and conduct from that of Great Britain, since the Anglo-French alliance remains the most important influence for European ueace.” Guam Island It is reported that President Roosevelt has approved a measure for establishing bases in the Pacific, particularly at Guam Island. Guam lias an area of 203 square miles, and 18,000 inhabitants, nearly all natives. Largest of the Marianas, it lies in tlie midst of Japan's mandated islands of the Marshall, IVlew, Caroline, and Marianne groups. It is 30 miles long, ami four to 8$ miles wide. Besides being a port for air travel, it is a naval station and has a powerful Government radio station. It was discovered by Magellan in 1521, belonged to Spain after 1(590. and was acquired by the United States in 1898. Guam Is 1500 miles from Manila, in the Philippines, and 5053 from San Francisco. Mr. Henry Stimson Mi*. Henry Stimson is heading a committee of prominent Americans to promote legislation to curb the sale by American firms to Japan of war materials such as scrap iron oil, steel, and trucks. Mr. Henry Lewis Stimson, a former Secretary of State in the United States Cabinet, was born in New York in 18(57. He was educated at Yale. Harvard and St. Andrews (Scotland) Universities, and was admitted to the Bar in 1891. He was Republican candidate for the governorship of New York in 1910. and from 1911 to 1913 he was Secretary of War in the Cabinet of President Taft. In 1927 he was the special representative of the President of the United States in Nicaragua, and in 1927-29 he was Governor-Geueral of the Philippine Islands. President Hoover appointed him Secretary of State in 1929. In 1930 and 1932 he attended the London Naval Conference and the Disarmament Conference respectively, each time heading the American delegation. His name has been given to a policy that is followed by the United States in foreign affairs —namely, a policy of refusing to recognize annexations or treaties between countries that are the fruits of force. Thus the United States does not recognize Japan's seizure ot Manchuria, and insists on the conditions of the Nine-Power Treaty being adhered to.

If Franco Wins I M. Daladier, French Premier, quoted Signor Mussolini’s undertaking to ! Mr. Chamberlain that he would withI draw all forces from Spain after the war and resect ‘lie status quo in the Mediterranean, ns an argument for France still pursuing the policy of nonintervention. Eight months ago a writer in an overseas journal gave a forecast of what Is likely to happen if General Franco Tins he Civil War in Spain. “A Franco Government in Spaiu.” he wrote, “would at once make an open :>r secret alliance with Italy, giving that country certain rights in Spanish Morocco and in the Balearic 1* I lands. These agreements need not alter the status quo in the Mediterranean ! which Mussolini accepted in n special j treatv signed with Great Britain in | 1037 rreiterated in 19381. They need only provide for Italian help in develop ing Spain’s defences. Spain will be bankrupt for a generation no matter who win* the civil war. What could be more natural than an Italian loan to help General Franco make hte country safe against Communism? “Germany would concede first pin*** to Italy in the Balearic* but would ask to share in the development of Spanish Morocco. German air and naval bases in Spanish Morocco and in the Canary Islands would be of great ! advantage in any war with France. . .. “Should Franco win. his government would find itself pledged to deliver its most valuable raw materials to Ger- , many and Italy fo r years to come.” ; Italy Warns France J lu view of France’s decision to maintain the policy of non-intervention in Spain, it is interesting to uote that last | March a mass meeting of workers i yelling “Action, Action." and demand- j lug that the Government support the Spanish Republicans, was held in Paris. The Communist group in the Chamber of Deputies at the same time passed a resolution that, “in view of non-In-tervention. which is imperilling the • security of France, international law must be re-established and freedom <*f trade accorded to loyalist Spain, whose frontier should be opened to enable the entry of defence material.” Thousands of workmen agreed to support active interveutiou by France. In the same month a warping to France not to intervene on the side of the Spanish Government unless she was prepared to face a major war was con* ( tuiued in an editorial in the Italian newspaper, “Tevere.” “If France moves a finger across the frontier there will be a general movement,” it stated. “If France seizes this occasion for a coup, let her be ready to face other coups.” Signor Mussolini said, in a speech: “We are for peace, but if necessary we , will fight, and if we fight we shall wiu.”