t.x JOOD 2VENIHG EVKittBuiy. xhi= has been n day, not merely of news, bnt of history. As it happens, I am broadcasting at a place fitting for the recital of events so great with meaning for the world___ and for our own nation. 1 am talking, not only to the radio audience, — -*v -t£jf ^ gJ;".. At ^ but also to the National J •- TtvJL^ "1^ <2L congress of /mericrn aviation gathered at a time when national defense is so dominant a question of the dry. And defense in this age of ours merns supremely--- sky defense, aviation. C » ^ 1-•'->< d t^Z 1 > wv ^ si -- wa lonight, especially, the word of history is-- aviation. At this moment the battle of Flanders is predominantly an affair of the sky-- the jillied flying forces striving with tremendous a.ir action to cover the retreat of the allied armies in Flanders. London reports waves of bombing planes over the battle area striking with an ifteessant rain oi high explosives at the advancing (Jerman columns, bombing, m cLine-* gunning. Huge swarros of H. A. F, planes in a rerr guard action. LondcfTeports that the R. A. i. is striking deep end far — air-raids on gre^t German cities: ___ Busseldorf, Cologne, ^-Introduction Hamburg and Bremen. The air *» seeking to protect retreat on the ground. i'or retreat it is. as the battle of Flanders approaches an end. The British, their left flank left open by the Belgian eurrend^^A themselves in a desperate posit ion the British minister of information. Alfred luff Cooper. a radio broadcast to the British people and said "it will be necessary to do our utmost to withdraw our armies from the position they now occupy." , __t from London today that the British There was one repor \n thp lost in northern -e^T-ee would defend itsel- to tne _ expeditionary force wouxu , the ?rench time to consolidate their lines France, to give the j-rencn for the defenseXof the rest of France. on the Aisne and Somme— for th , ante that the British will try to But other stories in l . . ..... . take it hack to hnglenk hy ship. evacuate their nni^ , \ a aegpera.te and almost impossible ,, this seems a aes^ex London states that this \5? ‘lushed with victory, r're UliUtJX th-’ trap as rapidly as they orni By what ch nnc closing in on the trap ti-r only °ne harbor is „ w a (r0v Apparently oru.y ports can the B. 3-lntro du otion free of Uazd control tonight, j^aris reports that is a small a: have not captured Dunkirk. But that is a small a: port, which moreover^!s in ilames from Nazi air bombardment. Earlier today, there were British rumors that the allied northern army might launch a desperate, last-minute drive to break thro; gh the encirclement. There was talk of the often reported tremendous French offensive from the south to smash open the trap. But this seems to be in the discussion no more. The B. E. F. may make a stubborn stand to give the French a chance to dig in further Eouth, and then try to escape across the channel as best they can. Always facing the possibility of the dread alternative of--- surrender or annihilation. London speaks of the crisis as of the utmost gravity. a plea aimed at Nazi expect' ctrtions that France may drop out of the war. Luff-Cooper pointed out that Germany succeeded in driving a wedge Between the British and French armies. of the war 4 -lntroduction. And then he added: “Do not, 1 beseech you, help her repert ttat success by hammering n wedge of prejudice between our two grent peoples,'’ 5- ADD WAR Speaking with tense urgency, huff-Cooper told the British not to put the blame on the French, the French not to put the blame on the British, He told his countrymen that any Britisher who says, "the French let us down,” is doing Hitler propaganda. frfre ocvAet story— y^ragrrph.^—At to-not so »«»ood^ .he story of the surrender of Belgium ern be pieced out tonight by putting together the latest of the dispatches rnd a dramatic story it makes. King Leopold decided to capitulate as long as three days ago—Saturday. A London account tells of the trip by air that General Weyg&nd, the supreme commander, made to the Allied forces in the trap, fhis happened on Saturday. General Weygand flew to Bruges and conferred with King Leopold. London reports that Leopold told the supreme allied commander that the Belgian army could not hold out any longer unless it got substantial help from the French and British. He stated that his troops were down to their last bit of food supply* For four* days they had been subsisting on meagre rations of biscuit. And they were down to their last rounds of ammunition. Many of the Belgian troops had fired their last cartridge. These are the statements reported to have been made by the Belgian King, and are part of the picture of huge military forces isolated ^-Leopold <ma out o :;'* their mnin supply lines blocked, unable to get anything save by way of a couple of small channel ports which -.'ere under irightful Lrermrn air attack. un that same Saturday, four members of the exiled Belgian (xoiernment in laris flev/ for a conference with Leopold, fhis was revealed by Belgirn foreign Minister Spaak this rftemoon. He relntes thrt the King proposed to his ministers the capitulation of the Belgian arntf. The ministers rejected the idea angrily. They urged Leopold to leave the army, and flee to London. Leopold refused. He said he would not follow the example of other heads of nations and run away. 4 He’d remain with his army. And, he added, the army would have to surrender. The ministers protested hotly, the mefiting bro^e up with a flare of anger, and they flew back to i; j is. Leopold thereupon opened negotiations with the German command. There are reports that he tried to make terms an agreement that the Belgian troops would stop fighting but occupy the positions they held. But Hitler demrnded — unconditional surrender, nnd^Leopold yielded. o-Leopold oo occurred the event of errly this morning, the event so disastrous for the trapped Allied army. The exiled Belgian Government immedirtely disavowed the surrender, and proclaimed Belgium still at war and. fighting. Then they proceeded to t depose the Xintf, Leopold no longer their monarch. j>rime Minister Heynaud of Frrnce poured the vials of scorn on the son of hero King Albert, 'contemptous spokesmen of the allied nations are denouncing him for hrving hetrryed the Allies, and so are the newspapers of France and Great Britain. f^But not the British Government. Today the Prime Minister, V before the House of Commons,-spoke of the Eelgien surrender in these terms: -'•! h^e no intention to suggest to the Churchill, "that we should attempt at this moment House," SQid to pass judgment on the action of the King of the Belgians in his capacity as c ommander-in-chief of the Belgian am SECRET V.EAPQN Today's news as some of you know by now relates that at Roosevelt Field, Mew iork, A german refugee made a disclosure to aeronautical engineers. He declared the secret weapon about which hitler brags is a tank-carrying airplane; a fleet of two hundred giant planes, each to carry a thirty-ton tank. V.hen the plane lands, the tank is simply lowered to the ground, and goes speeding on its deadly mission. The plane then flies back and fetches another tank. When the aviation engineers at Roosevelt Field heard this, they quickly pointed out to newspapermen that the tank-carrying airplane is nothing new. It is, in fact, an American idea that dates back five years. It was suggested when an airplane built by an American designer, Vincent Burnelli, actually carried a full sized automobile slung beneath Its cabin. 1 myself remember that experiment. For it was my sponsors, the Sun Oil Company, who staged the spectacular stunt; to dramatizi a test of the starting power of Blue Sunoco in intensely cold weather. If today’s story, be true, and the new secret weapon of the Germans is indeed a fleet of tankpcarrying planes, we can only say it’s a rather old American idea. ^U do IA. There is a Soviet Russia may join the Allies against Nazi Germany . ~?he reasoning heing^-—that btalrin,- \ \ \ iCted t\e war to a long drb^n out exhausting affair which Nw \ \ \ \ woul\lerve w^^tern Europe an easy ph,ey for Bolshevism. Nh^, he's a^aid that Itezi Germartv may defert\ the AllieV and not be\ exhausted at all pokev at Stal\nA Such Hit lerNflushed wixh victory may trke a \ \ is Vhe line ofVumor, mbit's encode ged » neXritislN^estures in\he directi\ of the Apyiets. n.t M. ■.«» to sa .boat it! ( mm .ffiotoi organ of th. 0o-»l.« party, print, an «**»* against p.opl. .pr.nbW ~or, ,Mt btalln nay «• «‘“* hi,lor.y. Sorlet p.p.r «h. oharg. again.. -» « certain gr.»P= at a.«ani.» Int.n.otaaP,. "Ph... groa,,.' +v,rt the Soviet-dermon friendship Iravdn said, "spread rnmors thrt the , that r Soviet-Sermrn v;ar was inevitable." would not endure and t + interesting-- the following: The Bolshevik comment . ^ „ „ ^rrvda ■'connect these people with -- "Various threads, sa} s +,nns « so, the official Soviet the British and-American leS<' 1 2-3ussia. newspaper ln^Ts the Gtalin-fight-Hitler-rumors to the mrchinations of the British. Oh, yes-- and the Americans. —Sitting around me and before me, here in the National Press Club Auditorium, are many of the leaders of the orld of aviati'n, members of both Houses of Congress, and many .veli-kno .n members of the Washington Press Club. Among th m is one man who certainly ought to be an authority on this problem of national defense which is uppermost in our minds. In fact, he is the Chairman of the House Military Affairs Committee. Last year it wa£ Congressman ".ay of Kentucky who pushed through the National Defense Program friiai the President. Congressman May is one of the half-dozen busiest men in Washington right now. But, I seem to have him in a moment when he is relaxed, and I* 11 get him to tell us the latest concerning defense How about it. Congressman May? Will you tell the crow ■:d here at the National Aviation Forum, and the radio audience? C0ii6RESSi/,A,M MAY - 2 AAY:- The question of ho* to pay for the giant defense program received an answer today - an answer sponsored by Congressional leaders and the White House. The Administration will ask Congress to do fcx two things for the purpose of raising money for argtKjafcx armament. Firstly — enact special national defense taxes to the tune of between six hundred million and seven hundred million dollars a year. Tnat much extra taxation for a period of five years. Secondly, raise the legal limit of the national debt by three billion dollars. The debt limit is now fixed at forty-five billion. The public debt itself stands at something more than forty-two billion and seven hundred million. Raising the limit to forty-eight billion will leave a margin of about five billion — the government able to borrow money within that margin. This program for financing defense was decided upon today by a conference at which the principal figures were Senator Pat Harrison, Chairman of the Senate Finance Committee, Corg ressman Robert L. Doughton, Chairman of the House Ways and Means Committee, and Secretary Morgenthau of tne Treasury. CONGKESSMAfl UAY - 3 Their decision was communicated to the President, and he said okay. T hus powerfully sponsored, the proposal will go to Congress. It will be my job, my duty, to push this program through the House of Representatives. And, I think weTll do it within the next few days. WHITE HOUSE Here1 s the latest from the V/hite House: The President has, under tne National DefenseAct, as a Commission under the National Defense Council, just appointed the following Edward R. Stettinius of U.S. Steel, in charge of industrial materials; William S. Knudsen of General Motors, in cnarge of Industrial production;Sidney Hillman, middle-of-the-road Labor mogul, in charge of employment; Chester Davis in charge of farm productions; Ralph Budd, transportation; Leon Henderson, raw material prices; and Harriet Elliot, Dean of V*omen at North Carolina, will have charge of consumer protection. These people who are going to play such a vital part in coming events in this country will meet with the President on Thursday. And now back to New York and Hugh James.