AMERICA AND THE WAR
Meeting of Presidents.—In the course of an unreported tour of United States production plants and military bases, President Roosevelt on April 20 crossed the Mexican frontier and at Monterey engaged in conferences with President Avila Comacho of Mexico. At the state dinner that evening both Presidents in brief speeches pledged fulfillment of the good neighbor policy and continued cooperation in the war against the Axis powers. President Roosevelt declared that both Mexico and the United States “recognize a mutual interdependence of our joint resources,” and “know that the day of the exploitation of the resources and the people of one country for the benefit of any group in another country are definitely over.” This constituted not only a neat definition of imperialism but a clear-cut renunciation of that policy in our relations with countries to the southward.
On the next day the two Presidents crossed to American soil for luncheon and a review of training activities in the naval air station at Corpus Christi, Texas. As a result of the conferences, it was decided to set up at once a joint commission of economic experts to study the balance of international payments in its effect on Mexico, and in the light of its results to formulate a program of economic co-operation. The work of the commission was to begin by May 1 and end on or before June 15.
Martinique Agreements Ended.—In a message dated April 26, the American State Department notified Admiral Georges Robert, Vichy High Commissioner in Martinique and Guadeloupe, that the United States was ending forthwith all existent agreements relating to the French Antilles, and had ordered the withdrawal of its Consul General at Fort de France. Naval observers would be left in the islands to guard against breaches of neutrality, and a subordinate consular official would also remain. The action, which followed an exchange of proposals and counterproposals, was based on the unreadiness of the Robert administration—alone among all the governments of the French colonial empire—to cut loose from the Axis-dominated Vichy regime. Admiral Robert, in a truculent reply of May 1, protested at the rupture of relations but agreed “provisionally” to accept the continued presence of naval observers. In an earlier note of mid-April he had expressed willingness to join with the United Nations, but only on seemingly impossible conditions—(1) that his action should not involve the necessity of rebellion against the French Government, and (2) that the Allies “permit” the French, instead of remaining in factions, to "form a unity under one authority vested with sovereign rights." It appeared that Robert, who alone among French colonial officials received his appointment from the pre- Vichy Government of France, might be seeking special recognition or reward for himself as the price of a shift of allegiance. Withdrawal of food supplies would perhaps bring about either a change of mind on his part or a governmental upset in the islands, where the popular sentiment is strongly anti-Vichy. It is stated that more than 1,000 seamen have left the islands for service with the United Nations, though about 3,000 still remain. The 105 aircraft at Martinique are now obsolete, and the demilitarized naval vessels are not of great value, but the 140,000 tons of merchant shipping, including eight tankers, would be a most useful accession to the Anglo-American transport fleet. There is also a question about the present disposition of the $250,000,000 in gold which was brought to the islands in the Beam when France fell.
MORENO QUITS ARGENTINE POLITICS.—On April 17 Rodolfo Moreno, Governor of Buenos Aires province and at one time considered as a candidate for the presidential nomination in Argentina, resigned from his position and retired from political activity. His retirement resulted largely from conflicts with President Castillo, who ended Signor Moreno's prospects by selecting Senator Costas as the Government-backed Conservative presidential candidate in the election set for next September. Moreno returned in 1941 from his post as Ambassador to Japan, and in more recent months had adopted a strongly anti-administration and anti-Axis line of policy.
INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCES
Food Conference in May.—The United Nations Conference on Food and Agriculture was set to open its sessions on May 18 at Hot Springs, Virginia. Press and radio reporting was to be restricted to official communiques and attendance at the more formal sessions, though there was a possibility that reporters might talk with delegates during recess. Forty-three nations were to send representatives, including all the American countries except Argentina. The head of the American delegation was Marvin Jones, former Congressman and chairman of the House Agriculture committee but now on the staff of Stabilization Director Byrnes. Other United States delegates were Assistant Secretary of Agriculture Paul H. Appleby, Assistant Secretary of Commerce W. L. Clayton, Surgeon General Thomas Parran, and Murray D. Lincoln, executive secretary of the Ohio Farm Bureau Federation. The conference was to consider a post-war world-wide regulation of food production and distribution as a means of aiding recovery from the war and fostering a renewal of international trade. This would presumably involve the creation of a World Agricultural Adjustment Administration to control production of the chief commodities.
Refugee Parleys Ended.—The Anglo- American conference on refugee problems ended its two-week meeting at Bermuda on April 29. The text of the final joint statement revealed no specific recommendations but indicated that each proposal had been subjected to two tests—(1) whether it would interfere with the war effort, and (2) whether it could be carried out under war conditions. Important decisions were reached, and if these were approved by the Governments concerned, they might lead to relief for a considerable number of refugees. The chief problems under consideration were shipping available, food and supplies, and the form of international organization to be set up. There were three American and three British delegates, the American representatives being Senator Lucas of Illinois, Representative Sol Bloom of New York, and President Harold Willis Dodds of Princeton (chairman).
NORTH AFRICA
Control in Tunisia.—Immediately upon the fall of Tunis and Bizerte, General Giraud on May 7 named General Charles Mast as Resident General of France in Tunisia. General Mast, now in Lebanon recovering from an injury, was former French military attaché at Tokyo and last December was deprived of citizenship by the Vichy Government. He took a prominent part last year in the negotiations with the American representative, Robert D. Murphy, which led to the organization of pro-United Nations aid in Africa. In the Tunisian province where General Mast will establish control there is a population of about 300,000, of whom 60,000 are French and perhaps 65,000 Italians. Some 30,000 Jews in the province have been released from Nazi oppression.
French Factions Seek Unity.—Up to May 10 the long planned political entente between General Giraud and General de Gaulle had not been consummated, though both leaders appeared eager to get together. In reply to General Giraud’s urgent invitation, General de Gaulle stated in early May that he was ready to proceed to Africa, but he thought the meetings should take place in Algiers as the “capital of the empire,” and he preferred also that the two generals should include other men in their negotiations. At bottom, the difference in the political set-ups proposed by the two factions was one involving different shades of political opinion, that of General Giraud being the more conservative, and that of the Free French calling for a complete clean-out of all men of Vichy antecedents. In the “executive council” which would be set up in France on the entry of United Nations forces, General Giraud wished to include colonial governors such as Nogués and Boisson, whereas General de Gaulle sought representation rather for the radical leaders who have carried on the underground opposition within France. Proposals and counterproposals had been made on both sides, with General Catroux acting as Fighting French representative and mediary between London and North Africa.
Before the fall of Bizerte and Tunis the forces of General Giraud in Africa were strengthened by the arrival of Vice Admiral Emile Muselier, former commander of Fighting French naval forces, who had at one time commanded the naval base at Bizerte and could give useful aid and advice in operations against it.
NORTHERN EUROPE
Davies Goes to Moscow.—On May 7 it was officially announced that Mr. Joseph E. Davies, former Ambassador to the Soviet Republic, would go at once to Moscow with a special message from President Roosevelt to Premier Joseph Stalin. The purport of the message was not revealed, but it was understood that Mr. Davies’ negotiations would be limited to its subject matter, rather than to a general survey of Soviet relations with the western allies. It had been generally assumed that the main purpose of Mr. Davies’ mission would be to arrange for a meeting between the President and the Russian Premier. M. Litvinoff, the Soviet Ambassador at Washington, also planned a return to Moscow in May.
Soviet Break with Poles.—On April 25 the Soviet Foreign Office announced its decision to discontinue diplomatic relations with the Polish Government in exile and to request the withdrawal of the Polish Ambassador, Tadenz Romer, from Russia. The Soviet complaint was that the Poles had taken up false Nazi charges regarding the Soviet treatment of Polish prisoners and had sought to use these as a means of "wresting territorial concessions at the expense of the Soviet Ukraine, Soviet White Russia, and Soviet Lithuania." The specific cause of trouble was a Polish request for a Red Cross investigation of the Nazi Charge that at Smolensk, before the evacuation in 1941, the Soviets had put to death about 10,000 Polish officers and men. There was also some complaint concerning the withdrawal of about 70,000 Polish troops organized in Russia, though the Poles stated that the Soviet Government had not provided these troops with arms and their withdrawal was based on an arrangement between the British and Soviet Governments. On the other hand, the Poles continued to be concerned over the welfare of 8,700 military prisoners and large numbers of Polish refugees still in Russia.
The Poles and Russians were brought together in July, 1941, largely by British influence, and the treaty with the Polish Government in Exile signed at that time was hailed as a historic event. In it the Soviet Government recognized that the Soviet-German partition of Poland in 1939 had lost validity. Stalin at that time had also expressed his desire to see "a strong and independent Poland after the war" and this desire was reiterated by the Soviet Premier, in response to a press inquiry, on May 3 of the present year. Even though the Poles might be justified in their suspicion of Russia's intention to push Polish frontiers back in the post-war settlement, the raising of territorial problems appeared in0Pportune at this time, when the re-creation of a Polish state of whatever size is solely dependent on a United Nations victory and the continued achievements of Soviet arms. Patching up the Polish- Soviet dispute thus presented a task for British and American diplomacy, which had been instrumental in first securing their co-operation. It was due no doubt to British influence that the statements of Polish Premier Sikorski, following the break, were mild in tone and joined the Soviets in condemnation of Nazi propaganda and the “perfidious wooing” to which, he said, the Poles had of late been subjected by the Nazis.
American Envoys Quit Finland.—Late in April the American State Department withdrew six members of its consular staff at Helsinki, Finland, leaving the offices there under a single chargé d’affaires, Robert M. McClintock. The action was generally taken as indicative of a further deterioration in relations between the United States and the Government of Finland. It was stated that, some three weeks before, the United States had made informal offers to act as peace intermediary between Finland and the Soviet Republic. This offer was at once referred to Berlin, where it was greeted with ridicule and with threats that if Germany were “sold down the river” she would herself seek a separate peace with Russia. The United States legation at Helsinki was closed last July and Minister Schoenfeld departed in the following December. Today Finland is faced with the practical certainty that if Germany is defeated, the Soviet Republic will retain all the Finnish territory taken over in 1940.
Sharp Swedish Protests.—In the last week of April the Swedish Government sent a sharp note to Berlin protesting against attacks on Swedish vessels and stating that Swedish warships had been ordered to “intervene against ships of the warring powers laying mines or firing on vessels within Swedish territorial waters. Earlier in the month the Swedish submarine Ulven was mysteriously sunk with 33 men, and on April 16 the Swedish submarine Draken was fired upon by the Altkirch, a German armed vessel. Although Swedish popular sentiment is friendly to the United Nations, it is 95 per cent in favor of keeping out of the war. At the same time, Sweden has refused a $25,000,000 credit in the renewal of its trade agreement with Germany, and there is increasing opposition to the use of Swedish railways for transport of German troops and equipment to and from their posts in Norway, supposedly while the troops are “on leave.”
AXIS POLITICS
HITLER SEEKS SUPPORT.—With increasing pressure on both the African and Russian fronts, Herr Hitler in April went into what appeared to be a series of "pep talks" with his Axis henchmen. On April 11 it was announced that the Führer had just ended a four-day conference with Premier Mussolini, presumably relating to defense measures in Italy. No doubt Signor Mussolini wanted help even more than his German master, and it was announced shortly thereafter that 500,000 Italians working in Germany were to be brought back home. Later, on April 19, the Führer conferred on the Norwegian situation with Vidkun Quisling, Josef Terboven, the Nazi Gauleiter in Norway, and Heinrich Himmler. Whatever the outcome of the consultations with this trio, it could promise no good for Norway, where there has been a rising tide of opposition to Nazi rule. Conferences were also held with Nicholas Horthy, regent of Hungary, from whom Hitler was reported to have secured pledges of opposition to a United Nations invasion of the Balkans. On Horthy's return, the Hungarian Parliament was suspended sine die.
In Bulgaria in early May there were reports of "grave decisions" to be made by King Boris and his pro-German cabinet, who had withdrawn from the capital. In Sofia itself there was widespread rioting on May 5, in which crowds were machine-gunned by the police. These "socialist" riots were directed chiefly against the Government mobilization measures and the evacuation of civilians from coastal areas for purposes of defense.
Peace Feelers from Spain.—First evidences of possible Axis peace moves through the medium of Spain were given by Foreign Minister Count Gomez de Jor- dana’s announcement on April 16 that Spain was ready to offer her good services in the interest of “a speedy and just peace,” and that other neutrals and the Vatican would no doubt add their aid. Later there were also reports that German emissaries in Madrid had sought, though in vain, to make contact with United States Ambassador Carlton Hayes. News of these advances were met in Washington by repetition of President Roosevelt’s terms of “unconditional surrender.” As diplomatic representative at Madrid, Berlin in April sent Dr. Hans Dieckoff, of familiar memory in Washington, to take the place of the late Hans von Moltke. Ribbentrop’s Under-Secretary, Baron Ernst von Weizsaecker, was named as the new German Ambassador to the Vatican.
FAR EAST
Japanese Cabinet Shifts.—In late April came the announcement of a further governmental reorganization in Japan which released four members of the ministry. General Tojo himself took over the post of Minister of Education in addition to his present duties as Premier and War Minister. Of chief significance was the release of Foreign Minister Masayuki Tani, a career diplomat who had been a consistent supporter of the militarists. In his place Tojo selected Mamoru Shigemitsu, Ambassador to England in 1938 and before that the Japanese representative in Moscow. The shift suggested speculation as to whether Japan anticipated negotiations with England and America, or perhaps would attempt the role of mediator in the war between Soviet Russia and Japan’s Axis partners.