The Charlotte News

Friday, March 21, 1941

TWO EDITORIALS

Acid Test Is Now Being Applied to Congress

The true quality of the men in Congress emerges more clearly as the British Aid Fund Bill goes forward.

It must be clear to all those who are not blinded by egotism, partisan and personal spite, hatred for Britain or pro-Germanism, or fanatical pacifism, that the Lend-Lease Bill has committed us. Hugh Johnson, a bitter foe of the Lend-Lease Bill, says as much in recent columns. Senator Taber, a strong opponent of the Lend-Lease Bill, said as much Wednesday. Either we must now give Britain enough aid to win or we will face trouble.

In the light of that policy it is interesting to observe that in the House only 55 men were found who were still willing to follow the leadership of Ham Fish and try to obstruct it, whatever the cost. The rest, 366 of them, followed the lead of Joe Martin, who echoed Senator Taber.

In the Senate Senator George (who probably forgot his resentment against the "purge" when the showdown on aid to Britain came) promises passage of the bill by Monday night. Those two hysterical and bilious Democrats, Wheeler and Bennett Clark, are still cackling their will to block aid if it means ruin. But Republican Senator Taft, one of the most energetic opponents of the Lend-Lease Bill, says:

The day of the bitter-enders and obstructionists appears to be about over.

Having decided on its course, the Congress seems to be closing ranks.

Nazi Victory in Yugoslavia May Turn Out Illusory

What is going on in the Balkans area is, of course, a titanic diplomatic duel between the Nazis and Great Britain.

Object of the Nazis is to save Italy, force Greece and Turkey to surrender, to get control of the Dardanelles and the Eastern Mediterranean, to make it impossible for Britain ever to attack Germany from the backdoor. British objectives are the exact opposite.

The Nazis hope to accomplish their ends without a fight. The British do not mind if the fight is joined provided they have time to bring up sufficient forces, since it will mean that, unless Hitler scores immediately by blitzkrieg--highly unlikely in view of the nature of the country--a considerable part of the German power will be drawn away from the West.

The Nazis scored first with a total occupation of Rumania and Bulgaria. But the British meanwhile won time to begin to land a powerful expeditionary force in Greece, and to bolster Greek and Turkish morale. And also to impress Russia to the point that the latter is supposed to have given the Turks the go-ahead to wink and is known to have warned Yugoslavia not to join the Axis.

Now, on the face of it, the Nazis have scored again, in the Yugoslavian case. But it remains to be seen whether this victory is real or illusory. What the Yugoslavs have agreed to is merely the passage of war materials through Yugoslavia to the Italians in Albania and to the Nazis in Bulgaria. Nazi occupation is definitely refused.

This cannot be satisfactory to the Nazis. What they want is the occupation of the country in order to strike Greece by the easiest route and go directly to the aid of the Wops in Albania.

But even the mild concessions on the part of Yugoslavia already threaten that country with revolution. An attempt at Nazi occupation seems certain to precipitate disorders like those which occupation brought to Rumania. It took the Nazis, doing their level best, three months to bring Rumania under sufficient control so that they dared to advance further.

If it should take that long to bring Yugoslavia under control, the victory would surely be a Pyrrhic one. For in three months the British will have had time to arm far more powerfully by means of the aid from America which is Hitler's greatest dread. And would be in position to make an advance into Greece and Turkey either impossible or one of the costliest in blood ever undertaken.

There ought not to be too much wish-thinking about this, obviously. Nevertheless, the decision does still clearly hang in the balance.