CENTRES OF ESPIONAGE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25881, 27 June 1945, Page 5

CENTRES OF ESPIONAGE

AXIS FIRMS IN LATIN AMERICA STEPS FOR ELIMINATION WASHINGTON, June 25. Telling the Senate military subcommittees of the State Department’s campaign to stamp out Axis spearheads in Latin America by supplanting enemy control of business enterprise with friendly ownership, the Assistant Secretary of State, Mr William Clayton, said there were 104 spearheads in Argentina against which no action had been taken so far. Four others were in process of elimination, but none had been eliminated completely. Brazil, on the other hand, had eliminated 48 spearheads, was eliminating 70, and had none against which no action had been taken. Haiti had eliminated 25, Chile 2?, and Ecuador 19. Mr Clayton explained that the ■ spearheads are companies which are known centres of espionage or other aggressive activity. Elimination means that the company has been liquidated, seized and operated by the local South American Government, or sold to nonHe added that German economic and political penetration in this hemisphere had largely been dealt a blow which was probably fatal, and the prospects were reasonably bright for the substantial elimination of the remainder. Mr Clayton said: “What we worry about are the persons hiding ' Nazi flight of capital or loot, including art treasures, which are easily convertible into cash and used for espionage, propaganda, armament research and development. The Germans also exported scientific and managerial personnel in order to save potential strength for another war.” Mr Clayton anticipated that the Allies would claim German investments, even in neutral countries. The Allies would seize all German-owned patents on inventions developed before and during the war, thereby removing the main inducements for other nations to make cartel arrangements with the Germans.

Mr Clayton said Britain and America had sent industrial experts to Germany to acquire all technological information .available for use in the war against Japan. '