Fascist Influences In The Americas

Southland Times, Issue 23544, 25 June 1938, Page 6

Fascist Influences In The Americas

Although peace-time spying is fairly common in European countries it is difficult to believe that the indictment of 18 Germans in the United States will lead to the disclosure of a widely ramified and effective organization. A certain amount of interest in the military equipment of a technically advanced country may be inevitable; but the facts reported so far from New York suggest an ineptitude quite different from the skill and resourcefulness usually associated with German espionage. The central figures of ’the case are not impressive; and the methods of the four Germans now under arrest seem to have been amateurish and rather ridiculous. It is difficult to avoid the conclusion that the real issue in the United States today is not the growth of espionage so much as the activities of the Gestapo, or German secret police, in relation to German-born citizens of America. The escape of Dr Griebl and other witnesses could scarcely have been carried out so smoothly without official or semiofficial co-operation, and doubtless many good Americans find it easy to believe that interference from outside has been growing steadily. In 1935 Herr Hitler became disturbed by the evidence of ill-feeling in the United States and informed German Americans that they must not organize themselves in Nazi groups. The same order was repeated early this year; but on both occasions the American Nazis gave few signs of obedience. It is possible, of course, that Germans in the United States respond to a democratic atmosphere and are more independent in their actions than they might be in the Fatherland. But it is also possible that orders announced officially and publicly are slightly different from those received through confidential channels. In any case, Nazism has its adherents in the United States; and a message printed this morning recalls an allegation by the Rt. Hon. R. B. Bennett in the Canadian House of Commons “that a German named Gerhard had been secretly organizing Nazis throughout Canada.” The spread of Nazism in North America may be more imaginary than real, although >it must be admitted that there is evidence of a certain amount of activity. Much of this .play-time fascism may be merely a local, isolated and quite spontaneous growth, rooted in emulative instincts and thriving on the magnetic attraction which comes from every large-scale demonstration of organized force. But there can be no doubt that the position in South America is much more serious. In Costa Rica, for instance, there is a German school which receives 75 per cent, of its revenue from the German Government. Admittedly, the leaning towards fascism in Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina, Peru, Ecuador and elsewhere in South and Central America is not merely a leaning towards Germany. Italian and Japanese interests are also actively at work. But the objectives in all cases are comparatively the same. According to a staff correspondent of The Christian Science Monitor who recently visited these countries, the aims of European fascists in Latin America can be summarized as under:

1. To obtain Latin-American resources. At present the method, is to undercut the trade of other nations. 2. To expand the world frontiers of authoritarian government. 3. To strike a blow at communism. 4. To discredit democracy, and to weaken the. influence in Latin America of democracy’s chief champion, the United States. 5. To obtain colonies and population outlets. Japan at present is the most interested in this. Germany and Italy are temporarily keeping most of their nationals at home.

These are among the real reasons why American opinion responds so easily to rumours of espionage. It is not the fear of spies, with all that it connotes of stolen blue-prints, sabotage in the machine shops and bombs under the coastal batteries, that disturbs the public mind. If war comes to the world it will be slow to cross the Atlantic and the thought of gas and air attacks does not oppress the people with the nervousness that creeps through England. But the growth of fascism in South America, and its interaction with European politics, is a present danger with unmistakable manifestations. Trade relations can be affected; the isolation of the North American continent (CONTINUED AT FOOT OF NEXT COLUMN)

is no longer a reality while the political decadence of the old world reaches out towards the new. And the United States is specially vulnerable to disruptive tactics based on the racial divisions of a young and cosmopolitan nation. The spy scare now occupying public attention will be treated seriously, not only because it is sensational news, but also because intelligent Americans are becoming aware of a threat to the Monroe Doctrine that cannot be answered by battleships, and that seems to lurk even within the nation itself.