L.T. SUNOCO. THORSDAY. SEPTETCB:~R 7. 1959. GOOD EVENING EVERYBODY: Tonight's war news feathres the word - peace. It's a ( case of peace as an instrument of war, (Indications now come from] Germany that as soon as Hitler's armies have overrun Poland, or large part of it, the Nazi government intends to offer peace.^ This has been indicated all along as the Hitler plan;- crush Poland quickly, and then propose negotiations - possibly with Mussolini in the role of peace-maker. The argument would be, that with Poland eliminated in a hurry, the Allies would have no way of waging a war on Germany save by battering the powerful line of Siegfried fortifications. Can that German west wall be forced? If so, in how long a time? j The Nazis assume that, with Poland out of the fight, Britain and France might be inclined to think of peace — rather than fac€ a long and desperate struggle like the World War. The present warl to be called off in a few weeks - that might be tempting. So thin £ the Nazis But is Hitler miscalculating in this? Democratic nations are not so easily changed when once arousedDictatorships like Nazi Germany, Fascist Italy, or Soviet Russia, can change about quickly - a mere decision of the leaders, and the people will follow without much question. But in a democracyi the public counts for a great deal, and uhe public mind Isnft so easily swung for a dizzy right-about-face. It may well be that todays declaration by Prime Minister Chamberlain is of decisive importance. He gave Poland the most solemn assurance that Great Britain will not make peace on the \ basis of a defeated Poland, And that was broadcast to Poland. •) American correspondents in England, with the possibility of a German peace offensive in mind, have been sounding out British public opinion, talking to the man on the street. And they report that the British people are prepared for a long and bitter war. They*re determined to see it through. They have no illusions about a quick victory over Hitler*s Germany, The Polish war continues apace. Military experts are surprised LEAD - 5 at the swiftness of the German drives that are plunging deep into Poland^ Some say the Poles are reserving their strength, deliber­ ately retreating - to make their culminating resistance in the eastern part of their country, where long communications will slow the Germans. Whatever the ultimate strategy may be. Hitler*s mechanized fighting forces have achieved an impressive success - Warsaw, London and Paris adm t that much. |roday was the seventh day of battle, and in seven days the Germans claim to have occupied one- third of Poland, and that one-third the industrial area so vital to national resistance. Today the principal battle was waged to the north and west of Warsaw.^ The Poles say the fighting was on a line of from thirty to forty miles from Warsaw. The latest German dispatch is that Hitler’s mechanized divisions are within twenty- one miles. FRANCE On the western front, the hostilities are slowly developing into thundering battle./Even the Germans admit that ^11 is not quiet on the western front. Hitler»s Berlin has either been denying or playing down the French attack - presumably to influence German public opinion. But today tie Hitler authorities admit that theyfve evacuated large areas of J the Rhineland just te hind the line^) The tom of Saarbruecken, for example - deserted tonight. Berlin explains that the evacuation is a precautionary measure - they»re doing it, just as the French evacuated the immediate territory in the rear of their own Maginot Line. A (^The bulletins issued by the French general staff are stiff brief and vague — little information let out. it's apparent that artillery duel is going on between the Maginot Line and the Sieegfried Line/S)bhe-g-re«* Artillery fire — and skirmishing. And it *s apparent that the French forces have been cautiously pushing on across No Mco^s Land, seizing positions here and there. They report FRANCE - 2 they’ve captured advance machine gun positions, the German pill boxes out in front, in places the French have pushed half a dozen miles into Germany. The main French thrust is in the Saar Valley, —- the industrial area which provided Hitler with his first spectacular success. The most important announcement made in Paris has only indirectly to do with the fighting, but it’s one the French public will consider a major success. German reenforcements are being rushed to the Siegfried Line, so says Paris. French scouting planes have observed masses of German troops moving to the western front. This would mean, of course, that the fighting is becoming serious. But more significantly — it fits in with the French & ■ plan of forcing Hitler to withdraw troops from Poland to defend in the west. f: (I VvESTERP LATTE ( The Germans announced that Westerplatte has surrendered - that little place which has been to Poland what the Alcazar was to the Nationalists in the Spanish Civil War. Or you might call it - the Polish Alamo For a week, the small garrison in the Westerplatte arsenal near Danzig, has been holding out against the most intensive attack. Artillery fire, naval bombardment, airplane bombing, inf entry Today’s German .report declares that the place was finally so thoroughly blasted that German soldiers were in a position to make a final attack - whereupon the garrison surrendered, the Polish Alcazar or Alamo. SUBMARINE The submarine war is getting under w;ay - as was to be expected. Everybody knows, in the World War, the Kaiser1s Germany staked its existence on the U-boat campaign to starve Great Britain - and came perilously near succeeding. The Kaiser1 s Germany entered jfcjsexifai'ijf War with a mere dozen or so undersea craft, rather primitive sort. Today Hitler is reputed to have seventy-one U-boats of the most modern effectiveness. On the other side of the war ledger, the methods of fighting the undersea menace have been vastly improved and increased. At the end of the^op^pfvar, the British and Anerican navies had the U-boats fairly well checked, and today the British are using all the latest devices for the detection and destruction of subarmines - aircraft patrol, swarms of destroyers and submarine chasers, listening devices and depth charges. Today1 s news tells of^ste^eesto^ship suhk by * •gnafoTE-rmTTHiryssubmarine attack. The steamer ROYAL SCEPTRE wzm A large vessel bound for Calcutta was torpedoe^ off the U^US.i coast of Portugal.j S.S.CORINTHIA was attacked by a submarine. SUBMARINE - 2 J jp- but eludedAtorpedoes. The United States liner WASHINGTON radioed today that it was going to the aid of the British freighter OLIVE GROVE^ which ha*L called for aid - presumably because of submarine attack. ^In sinking the British freighter BOSNIA in the N * Atlantic, the German U-boat used humane methods, stopped the vessel, got the crew off, and then^torpedoed.^ The British are fighting back. The hunt for the U-boats is on. Today, the Ministry of Information in London announced various attacks made by British craft on German submarines - and one UTBoat may have been sunk. The London announcement fltaqiiaqaa is conveyed in these cautious words: "In at least one case, success appears probable." Yes, the submarine war is on, a dominant phase in the struggle between Great Britain and Germany. Today, in the House of Commons, Prime Minister Chamberlain spoke of the tragic sinking of the ATHENIA. Chamberlain said'- "No denials or inventions on the part of Germany will convince the public of German innocence of this crime, which profoundly shocked and horrified the world." And the SUBMABINE - 3 statement, that the sinking of the ATHENIA was virtually the beginning of the war between Britain and Hitler Vs Germany - the first blow struck ATHEiNIA A check-up today of the casualties of the ATHENIA indicate that a hundred and twenty-eight lives were lost. And even this is not a positive figure, for the British naval authorities believe that some survivors may have been picked up by vessels that have no wireless equipment. Most of the American survivors are at Glasgow in Scotland and Galway in Ireland — and they*re much concerned about how to get back to the United States. Todaji, our Ambassador to London, Joseph P. Kennedy, sent his son John to Glasgow to look after the Americans there — reassure them and tell them that the United States Government is sending a ship to get them. But that didn’t completely reassure them! "We want a convoy,” was the chorus with which one hundred odd survivors greeted Ambassador Kennedy’s son John. They crowded around him and shouted, "We must have a naval convoy. We won't go home without it,” They demanded that American warships be sent to guard them against another submarine attack on their way home. Xoung John Kennedy tried to explain. "American boats don’t need convoys, ” he reasoned. "We're neutral." he told them they’d be safer on one of our ships than on a British ship under convoy ATHENIA * 2 MI dor^t believe it”, cried a woman who was injured in the sinking of the ATHENIA, ”We canft trust the Germany na^y,” So unyielding was the clamor for a convoy, that John Kennedy had to give In to the extent of saving hefd go back to London and tell his father how the survivors felt about It, fTThe government,” he assured them, ”will give the question of a convoy serious consideration,” Meanwhile the State Department in Washingtonwas announcing plans for bringing home not only the survivors of the ATHENIA but also other Americans stranded in Europe, Secretary Hull stated today that the government was doing all In its power. There are three thousand odd Americans to bring back, and the plans are to send half a dozen American vessels for them. PRESIDENT ROOSEVELT sailed last night with a spectacular kind of illumination — I mean the liner President Roosevelt. Floodlights were focused on the masthead where the American flag was flying; brilliant beams playing on the Stars and Stripes. This to make it unmistakeable that the vessel is Yankee, make it clear to German submarine commanders, so they wonTt think the ATHEKIA - 5 ship is British and torpedo It - avoid a "mistake bombing". With spotlights on the American flag tonight, out there at sea, the liner is on its way across to bring back Americans. Tne sailing of the PRESIDED! ROOSEVELT was delayed for six hours because of* labor trouble 'fh® a , . * ine crew demanded, extra money to compensate them for sailing into the perils of war. DIES Ordinarily, the proceedings of the Dies Committee now going on v/ould hit the headlines. The Committee resumed its hearings after the adjournment of Congress. During the summer months joa. there would normally be a scarcity of news - plenty of space available to feature the doings of Congressman Dies and his grabbed, the space, and the Dies doings are relegated to %*?s=aaUE,^:x or me end of a broadcast. ¥et fchBjc got a headline A * A, A topic - the investigation of the Communist Party in the United that has caused speculation andpiscussion for years - Where does the Communist Party in the United States gets its money? Is it financed by the Red government of Soviet Russia? Benjamin Gitlow, formerly a member of the Executive Committee of the fc Communist Internationale, and Communist candidate for the vi pp_nT'f^-i riemcv in Nineteen Twenty-^our and Nineteen Twenty-Eight. doughty delvers int But along came war, and they've States. And today the Dies Committee spotlight was It certainly is, according to today's witness, he was comrades Today Gitlow testified that during the early years, the -- “IfiillTr DIES - 2 tv Communist Party here was financed by Moscow - but not with cash. Something more interesting. nAfter the party was formed,fT he told the Committee, Ttdiamonds and jewelry were sent to the United States and converted into cash.T1 Diamonds and jewelry, reminding us of those gixltiegxKyasegggfeg* glittering stories of kind of confiscation came the funds for the American Red Git low said Si.f.alay that it was because the Soviet government of that period had no money that anybody' would accept. wIn Nineteen Twenty and Twenty-One," he testified today, "every representative « of the Communist Party who went across to Russia returned wdth diamonds and jewelry in his possession to be turned into cash." Later on, the financing from Moscow was done with money, though Earl Browder, Communist candidate for the presidency, had previously testified that the American Ss: Stalinist Party was not financed from abroad - had not been, at least since NineteenThirty when he became the party leader. DIES - 2 RETAKE Communist Party here was financed by Moscow - but not with cash. Something more interesting. ’’After the party vvas formed,” he told the Committee, ’’diamonds and jewelry were sent to the United States and converted into cash»” Diamonds and jewelry, reminding us of those gii11 k ->:iglittering stories of Bolsheviks when they liquidated their class enemies. From this s . kind of confiscation came the funds for the American Red Gitlow said ay that it was because the Soviet government of that period had no money that anybody would accept. nIn Hineteen Twenty and Twenty-One," he testified today, "every representative of the Communist Party who went across to Russia returned with diamonds and jewelry in his possession to be turned, into cash." Later on, the financing from Moscow was done with money, though Earl Browder, Communist candidate for the presidency, had previously testified that the American Stalinist Party was not financed from abroad - had not been, at least since NineteenThirty when he became the party leader. Today, Yvttness Gitlow told of some tricky ways by which the < zi QQ Moscow financing was done - concealed. The official Soviet agency in this country is the Amtorg. It has, said Gitlow, some three hundred employees - aiid all of them are highly paid. They are secretly taxed, have to 'give up part of their wages to the Communist Party in the United States.^In other words Soviet cash came ever disguised as high salaries for a lot of Amtorg employe es^jf^G it low added that still other funds were obtained from ih money collected by Soviet travel agencies in the United States,^what they call nIntourist.Ty Jhey took in cash •) as part of their business, fittwfinstead of remitting it to Soviet Russia, ight be ^ turned it over to the American Communist organization. Clever ways for the American Reds to get Moscow gold without appearing to do" so^------- ^ “to A- 2 SCREW-BALL Today the cause of peace received a severe blow - tiU . they put f kifeosh on Screw-Bill dumber One. Peace in Europe was to have been established by a son of a V; is cons in Congressman, he is Newman Johns, progenty of Representative Joshua L. Johns. Newman, who calls himself nPatn, is a plumbing salesman* He remembered how Henry Ford sent across the famous Peace Ship during the World War, and thought hefd go Henry one better In this gmnrtiry war. HeM make A trnns-Atlantic airplane flight in the interest of peace. He declared himself this way:- X President ^oosevelt,M said he, ”attempted to stop the war and apparently team failed. So I thought I might as well take a hand myself and see what I could do through a good-will flight.” christened it - ttScrew-Ball Number One.” philosophy was;- ”A screwball started the war so a Screwball So he got himself a peace-making plane and Today, the Civil Aeronautics Authorities seized Screw-Ball Number One, and stopped the projected peace flight. They said it was a tiny plane, nothing more than a crate. In it were crudely instilled some tanks v/ith a capacity for a hundred and sixty-eight gallons of gas. Moreover, the vtould-he trans-Atlantic flyer has only a student pilot’s license and has < had only thirty-five hours of solo flying. They said that instead of ending the war, he’d only succeed wit making an end of himself. A So the sacred cause of European peace will have to do without Screw-Ball Number Onet