NOT PERTURBED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXVII, Issue 23619, 1 April 1940, Page 10

NOT PERTURBED

ROOSEVELT'S REACTION ADVISES TAKING WITH SALT " OBVIOUS PROPAGANDA" By Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright (Roceivecl March 31, 8.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, March 30 Commenting on the Berlin release of documents relating to Poland, Mr. Boosevelt said: "Propaganda from Europe should bo taken with a grain of salt—on second thoughts, with two or even three grains.". He indicated that he was not even slightly perturbed, and plans no special conference with Mr. Bullitt, who is at present in Washington. Senator Key Pittman, chairman of the Foreign Relations Committee, described the German assertions in the documents as "unmitigated falsehoods circulated to create dissension within the United States." Count Potocki's Wonial Count Potocki, Polish Ambassador to the United States, said: "This is obvious propaganda. I have never conversed with Mr. Bullitt on the subject of the United States' participation in the war." Mr. Cordell Hull, Secretary of State, said formally: "No member of any department would give the slightest credence to the charges." Ho added that the allegations did not represent the policy or thought of the United States at any time. Members of the Senate Foreign Committee echoed the unbelief. The case received a sensational display in the newspapers. Typical headlines were those of the New York Daily News: "Germans' Lie." Report on Propaganda Officials are preparing a complete report on German propaganda affecting the United States since the outbreak of war, says the Washington correspondent of the New York Times. Officials of the State Department think the first .public reaction to the Nazi White Paper on Mr. Bullitt will be resentment against the Germans. While rumours persist that Mr. Clarence E. Pickett, a prominent Quaker, may be appointed Ambassador to Germany, it is felt in diplomatic quarters that the .White Paper makes the oxchange of Ambassadors unlikely, and also eliminates the scant prospect of a peace move by Mr. Roosevelt. The New York Times, in an editorial, curtly dismisses the documents .as "coming from a safe-breaker who asks credence for his word about what he found when he opened the door." The Herald-Tribune says derisively: "The attempt to prove that Mr. Roosevelt, Mr. Kennedy and Mr. Bullitt really started the war is comparable with Molotoff's simultaneous attempt to blame the war on foreign imperialists. For the President and his Ambassadors to find, themselves in the company of the savage Finns, the war-mongering Czechs and the aggressive Albanians does not prove complete moral turpitude." AMERICAN AIRCRAFT ALLIES' RECORD ORDER OFFICIAL SANCTION NEEDED (Received March 31, 5.5 p.m.) LOS ANGELES, March 30 The Anglo-French purchasing commission has ordered 3500 warplanes at a cost of 200,000,000 dollars, the largest order in history. It is still subject To the sanction of the War Department. The order is reported to include 800 Douglas light attack bombers, 800 twin-engined Lockheed pursuit aeroplanes, 400 other Lockheeds, 1 1000 Cur-tiss-Wright pursuit aeroplanes and 500 Bell pursuit craft. AIRCRAFT ENGINES AMERICAN PRODUCTION WASHINGTON, March 29 Aircraft engine manufacturers have assured the Government that they will speed production to permit the industry fully to take advantage of Allied orders. Officials expect a production rate of 28,000 to 30.000 engines annually within the year. February aeronautical exports were beloAv the December and January high level, but 20-1 per cent above February, 1939, being 20,600,000 dollars. The chief purchasers were: —France, Australia, Britain, Finland and Canada. PROMISE BROKEN NAZIS AND VATICAN (Received March 31, 5.5 p.m.) VATICAN CITY, March 30 The Papal Nuncio at Berlin has informed the Vatican that the German Government refused him permission to visit German-occupied Poland in order to examine the religious conditions there. It is understood that Ribbcntrop, in his recent interview with the Pope, promised that these facilities would be granted.