CONGRESS Secretary of the Navy Frank Knox took the stand this afternoon at the hearing by the House Foreign Relations Committee* *n^, began his testimony immediately after Secretary of War Stimson had concluded his own. The Secretary of the Navy demanded that this nation give " J/ Great Britain what he called unstinted help. He developed that theme in a question-and-answer exchange. Representative Hamilton Fish demanded — does the United States possess the world1 s -------- the American fleet greatest Navy? The Secretary replied *— yes* teMtodbcMmrfxxxxxx A is unquestionably the strongest in the world. The Congressman tried to draw from the Secretary that even if the Axis powers won, their combined fleets would not be as great as our own. But Knox would not admit that. He said he foresaw, not so much an immediate and direct danger, as an indirect menace. "No navy," vtc^r said he, "will, attack our shores at once. The penetration will come A in a different way." And he indicated— by way of South America. The Axis powers, if victorious, would, make a. pas^ at the great continent to the South. Then came the important question;— aboot the po.er the CONGRESS - 2 Omnibus bill to Aid-Brita^n would giv-e -to ■ the President t&JL A power to transfer any part of our navy to some other nation. T^e secretary was asked did he believe the strength of our fleet would be impaired if any of its ships were turned over to the British. He replied Yes. He said he thought the navy could not u afford to give up any of its units. Nevertheless, said Knox, he was against any amendment of the Aid Britain bill which would prevent the President from transferring warships to Britain, said he was opposed to any such amendment unless, as he expressed it, nYou will put in an amendment to prohibit the 1 I President of the United States from going out on Pennsylvania Avenue and Standing on his head." The reference to "standing hia- head" was xx derived from a statement by the President himself. At his press conference earlier today he ridiculed the idea that he might give away the United States navy. V.hy prohibit him from doing that? fou might as well forbid him to stand on his head, which he has no intention of doing." Secretary Knox declared that no man is more devoted to American defense than President Roosevelt. CONGRESS - 5 He described the Presidential affection for the navy with this figure of speech, "The apply of his eye,*' The Stimson testimony which preceded that of Knox, touched upon a number of important points. He stated the President is not trying to get this country into war. And he pointed to the past history cf tne White House. "History,** he said, "show s no President who rushed this country into war.*1 Secretary Stimson was asked whether Britain, to defeat Germany, would need more man power than Britain has. Obviously meaning — would American man power be needed? **l!d rather not speculate publicly on that,** responded the Secretary of War. Under further questioning he admitted that Great Britain lias less C.QNG,RESL,-_4 man power than Germany, but refused to concede that a land campaign would be necessary to beat the Nazis. Then came an important point — the possibility that Hitler might get the British fleet. Secretary Stimson declared that London has given this country what he called nThe strongest possible assurance^ — assurance that the British fleet will not under any circumstances, be surrendered to Nazi Germany. tkat ((. "But.* he added. *you never can tell about the future. I feel it!s A important’,^ said he, "to prevent Great Britain from being brought to the breaking-point — where it might violate all law." t One sensational bit concerned a report that the United States might k* buy the British navy, if Britain loses. In a pinch we might acquire the British fleet. Secretary Stimson retorted with ridicule —, /liiet<3 never heard of any such nl consider that,n said he, na fantastic and preposterous suggestion — like the suggestion that the President might give away the navy." The Stimson testimony closed on a grave note — the statement that the supreme crisis for Britain may come in the next C3NGRES- 5 r sixty or ninety C v y. < w-v ^ ^ BL —C7V\ CT\^/~>^. tc ta t : • . v -» v1^ __(c O ^ O The committee had before it b a fori made ormal statement^by John Bassett Moore, the famous authority on international law. In a letter he told the committee today that the lend-lease program of all-out-aid to Britain would transfer the war-making power from His v Congress to the President, ThiC opinion is put in these words:- nThere can be no doubt,” states John Bassett Moore, nthat under the guise of certain phraseology, the pending bill assumes to transfer the war-making power from th‘e Congress, in which the Constitution lodges it, to the Executive. This is evident upon its face,” he concludes. The hearings of the Foreign Relations Committee continue to be punctuated with bickering and argument — controversies among the members. This is a ttnmx sign of the tenseness with which 'w-crv^ia Congress regards the bill which wtli permit the President to lend vast armament to Great Britain. DIPLOl/iATS In Washington there has been a lucky break for the Inaugural; a ticklish problem is solved — automatically, by sheer luck. The problem arose out of the fact that the entire diplomatic corps will be there when President Roosevelt is a inaugurated for his third term. The diplomats of the nations at war will be together — this for the first time since the outbreak of the conflict in Europe. They will be in the stand reserved for the diplomatic corps. So what if the Acting Head of the British Embassy should find himself sitting next to the Nazi Charge d»Affaires on one side — and the Italian Ambassador on the other? Of course, you’d think the answer would be simple — juggle the seating arrangements. Avoid placing belligerent representatives next to each other — envoys of the Axis power and Japan, and Britain, and the conquered nations and Greece. Unfortunately, however, you can’t do anything so plain and sensible — because of diplomatic tradition, protocal. Rigid custom governs the seating of diplomats - order of seniority. The one longest in Washington has the first place, the second longest has seat number two, and so on. So that might tangle the belligerent diplomats altogether with the grave peril of what the Wliite House so DIPLOMATS - 2 1 expressively calls "unhappy incidents." Such was the ticklish situation that confronted the protocol expeits of the State Department, — when the lucJfiy break was noted. It just so happens, by sheer coincidence,ttiat if you list the diplomats in the order of their seniority in Washington — no two representatives of rival powers of war come next to each other. In seating them strictly according to protocol, the hostile envoys will be separated fr&m each other by at least one neutral diplomat, from some South American Republic, Afghanistan or Persia In the Mediterranean the British report a heavy bombing attack against the island of Malta. The Nazi dive bombers at work again. a. Berlin claims that this air raid on Malta included ------ -iCz crvyjp anothe* bombing of the aircraft carrier Illustrious — we had n - ------ ---- A. a rather brief bulletin about this last night. According to the Berlin version the Illustrious^, damaged by air attack at --------- sea^took refuge at Malta. The Nazi dive bombers went after the big ship again and Berlin today maintained that the Illustrious was out of action for the rest of the war, beyond repair. The Royal Air Force hit back with another raid against a German dive bomber frwTg base at Catania in Sicily• A A bulletin from Cairo states that Nazi War planes, in their Mediterranean operations have lost heavily. The R.A.F. many destroying some sixty of the dive bombers, of them on the ground U U-L lU • \ f) London charges today that when the British captured the Italian airdrome of El Aden in Libya they found a number hx of squares of canvas marked with the identification signs WAR - 2 ol the Royal Air Force. From this it is inferred that the Italians intended to use the Royal Air Force markings on xtalian planes — making them appear to be British, during air raids. Such a. practice is definitely not according to hoyle. SIAM In a remote corner of Asia there1s a war, which -fa** we^almost lost sight of — over-shadowed by the larger events of the European conflict. The French in Indo-China are fighting what appears to be a bitter and determined struggle with Siam. This has been going on for some time, and now appears to be developing into a sanguinary affair. Today’s a story tells of/Siamese gala cavalry charge against machine guns. The Asiatic horsemen rushed at a gallop in old-fashioned style, while the French machine-gunners cut them down,. In spite of the deadly hail of bullets, the Siamese cavalry troops kept Ov\ We’re told that French warships yesterday sank two Siamese fighting craft. Siam has a couple of modern cruisers in addition to various smaller ships of war. We are not told of what sort were the two that were usdcx sunk LIJJOK Tonight we have an old story — in reverse, the other way round. In Prohibition days the bootleg wa^ was to smuggle A liquor from Canada into the United States. It h£9 a long grim history, whiskey smuggling southward across the border. But things have changed since then, and changed so much that now the story is — rum-running from the United States to Canada, Today at Detroit the Federal Grand Jury indicted thirty-three persons, members of what is called the biggest bootleg ring the Midwest has ever had, bigger than any of the A darkly legended days of Scarface A1 Capone. In the seven months of operation they are said to have defrauded the United States out of taxes in the amount of‘two-and-a- half million dollars. not counting the taxes out of which Canada was defrauded. The Canadian taxes are the key to the whole thing. The wartime levy on liquor in the Dominion is so high that these latter-day rum runners, found it fabulously profitable to do a wholesale smuggling job. T^e indictment today charges that the liquor was manufactured by illicit stills in Chicago, was run across the border into Canada by a fleet of thirty-six gx trucks on the roads. LIQUOR - 2 and four vessels on the Detroit River. Prohibition days in reverse — the other way round. CnINESK lore^bieak China town has many a tale to tell, but none more*t>.Lcrcu* and slant-eyed than one we have this evening. lesterday there was *s~ a disastrous fire on Doyer^Street, in the heart of China town. T^o buildings burned down, rookeries of old. The police say the buildings were more than a hundred years old — ramshackle fire—traps. They were swept by flame*, and three lives were lost. It was a case of arson, the fire deliberately set. Today the crime was confessed by a Chinese named George Low#, whom they also call nCharlie the Bum.n &dd for a Chinaman to be called — the Bum. The slant-eyed Celestials of Chinatown may gamble at fantan and er not fight Tong wars, J5ut bumming and pan-handling are^among their faults. They said Charlie the Bum had gone w'hite-man — because he begged on the streets and slept in hallways. Chinatown regarded that as something reprehensibly Caucasian. So Charlie the Bum was not popular. Last summer, as a story in the New Yoxk Evening P0st tells us, he took to sleeping in the hallway of one of the shabby buildings on Doyer Street. The Chinese who ran the tenements CHINESE - 2 chased him aviay. Again and again Charlie the Bum curled himself in a dark corner to sleep, v;as rudely aroused, and driven out. with abuse in fluent Chinese, It made him angry and bitter. (X As time went on he nursed th» grudge, and determined to have his A revenge Last M0nday he set a fire in the hall of the building from which he’d been oufcted repeatedly. The blaze was promptly discovered, and extinguished. Yesterday Charlie the hum tried it again, and this time succeeded with such flaming effect that tonight he is a $x±mm prisoner charged with arson and homicide. SHAW Here’s something to catch the fancy — the v.ildest of the love letters of George Bernard Shaw. It appears now that they will at last be published. In London today the will of Mrs. Pat Campbell was made public. In it the celebrated British actress directs that a volume be printed, a book to be called - ’’The Love Letters of Bernard Shaw to Mrs. Patrick Campbell.” It is known, of course, that Shaw, the Irish master of mordant wisdom and irony, wrote sentimental letters to the actress who starred in many of his plays. Some of them were published in the memoirs of Mrs. Patrick Campbell, written shortly before her death. Here’s an example of the Shavian unshaven romantic at his most fluent, ”1 hope you have lost your good looks,” he wrote to 8k the actress. ’’For while they last any fool can adore you, and the adoration of fools is bad for the soul.” Said Shaw:- ”Give me a ruined complexion, a lost figure, sixteen chins, a farmyard of crows’feet, and an obvious wig. Then you’ll see me come out strong,” so wrote George Bernard Shaw. Of course the Roman poet Catullus said the same thing long ago. Then, when she published those few epistles shortly before she died, Sirs. Pat SHAW _ 2 Campbell wrote: nHis wildest letters I do not give.,, But in the will published today she directs — that those wildest love letters of Bernard Shaw shall now be given. Give all. Tell all. And now, Hugh James will give all, tell all.