DRASTIC MOVE

Timaru Herald, Volume CXLIX, Issue 21992, 18 June 1941, Page 5

DRASTIC MOVE

U.S. CLOSES NAZI CONSULATES National Welfare Was Threatened . SJ Telegraph—Press Association—Copyright LONDON, June 16. The United States has dealt the final blow at the Nazi element in the United States. In a swift and drastic move, it Was announced that all German consulates were to be closed down and the staffs are to be removed from United States territory.

This dramatic statement was made by ihe Assistant Secretary of State (Mr Sumner Welles) in Washington. He said that this

action bad been token against German consular staffs and other German agents whose activities were detrimental to the welfare of the United States. Mr Welles added that this did. not imply a break in diplomatic relations with Germany or with the German diplomatic staff in Washington.

The Note sent to the German Embassy In Washington declared that It was known that there was a great deal of activity in the consulates and other establishments, which was outside the , ordinary activities of the consulates, and was rendering an immediate threat to the welfare of the United States. The German Government was therefore requested to remove the German Library of Information in New York, the German Railway and Tourist Bureau, and the Transocean News Service. All the German consulates and their staffs are expected to be removed before July 10. , , Among those affected by the United States Government’s decision is Captain Fritz Wiedemann, the German Consul-General in San Francisco, who was formerly aide-de-camp to Hitler. The announcement by Mr Sumner Welles came as a bombshell at a cress conference in Washington, at which the official German New. Agency was represented. . . There are 24 German consulates throughout the United States, the largest being in New York, where there are five consuls and five vice-consuls. These organisations were being used against the United States and Were centres of Nazi propaganda dissemination. British newspapers give prominence to Mr Roosevelt’s action in closing down propaganda centres, Which is Welcomed by the entire press. “The Times” states that the greater understanding and co-operation between Britain and the people of

America has beeri one of the noblest and most enduring victories of the war. It had linked Britain and America in the united defence of a common civilisation. w . A message from Rome states tnat United States assets in Italy were frozen from to-day. Persons seeking to withdraw funds from the banks were and fifty-two Gemans With consular status and 42 employees of the Library of Information will be subject to expulsion. Police were detailed to guard the German Consulate in New York when a crowd gathered, after the publication of the order. The State Department, in its note, called for the closing of all German Consulates and agencies by July 10, and directed all German Consular officers, agents, clerks and employees of them of German nationality to be removed from American territory. Washington comments are to the effect that Italy’s retaliatory freezi <t of United States roets is pv iy academic, since the existing currency restrictions in Italy, and similarly in Germany, have already prevented Americans from withdrawing their investments there. A message from Rome states that the Stock Exchange slumped as a result of the United States freezing of Axis credits. Some war stocks declined 40 points More Espionage Than Last War The State Department advised the Senate Judiciary Committee that more persons Were now engaged in espionage and subversive activities in the United States than during 1914-18, therefore legislation giving the President authority over the entry or departure of aliens was desirable in the interest of national defence.