Golden Bullets

The biggest game behind Europe's political scenes today is being played by bull-necked French Premier Edouard Daladier and hawk-beaked British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain. Their goal is to win over to the side of Democracy, by means of financial favors, those countries which, impressed by Adolf Hitler's adroit bluffing show of power, last year decided, or almost decided, to line up with Nazi Germany.

Last week Rumania, having recently been sewed up by Britain and France with offers to buy her oil at good prices, abruptly broke off the flirtation with Germany which last year carried King Carol almost into Adolf Hitler's camp, and gave Rumania briefly a violently Jew-baiting pro-Nazi cabinet.

The Rumanian Government newsorgan Viitorul burst out defiantly last week: ''Rumania is not Germany's vassal, nor is she a substitute for Germany's lost colonies!" Viitorul accused Germany of systematically buying Rumanian raw materials on credit, then turning around and selling them at cut rates for gold on the world market, thus adding to Germany's hard cash reserves, leaving Rumania holding German promises to pay. This game the Nazis have been playing all over southeastern Europe and in Latin America for several years. Said Viitorul: "We cannot afford to tie ourselves solely to Germany, wherefore we welcome Britain's efforts to gain ground!"

Statesmen Daladier and Chamberlain are also shopping for Turkey as an ally of Democracy. London reported last week the imminent prospect of a formal military alliance between His Majesty's Government and that of Dictator Kamal Atatuerk, a hard-drinking but clear-headed Asiatic general who was pro-Soviet during the years when Moscow made that worth his while, has lately been pro-Nazi, is now emerging as the great Mohammedan champion of Democracy. Kamal Atatuerk has now received a $30,000,000 British loan, dispatches confirmed last week, and Turkey has agreed to spend 100% of it buying armaments "Made in Britain." France has chipped in with a loan to Alexandretta on terms pleasing to The Turkish Dictator.

Most delicate Daladier-Chamberlain finesse now being attempted is to detach from the Rome-Berlin Axis the dictatorial Government of Portugal, the country which has been Generalissimo Francisco Franco's chief source of transshipped munitions and troops all during the Spanish Civil War. This summer the Portuguese have been adroitly bargaining with Britain and Germany, haggling to see whether Democracy or Naziism would bid the higher. Portuguese ports have been alternately infested with British and German warships on "goodwill missions." According to London dispatches last week, a major bargain has now finally been struck by Portuguese Dictator Antonio Oscar de Fragoso Carmona not with Hitler but with Chamberlain. The Germans had offered to sell armaments to Portugal and make immediate deliveries, but on barter terms--Portugal would have had to pay promptly in goods. The British outbid the Germans by offering Portugal armaments on credit--the sort of "loan" to a useful little ally which in Europe is often simply not repaid.

Last week the German Government showed its growing irritation at all this by flaring out sharply in a safe direction, against Brazil. Most of the Latin American states have long been as vexed as Rumania at the sharp German practice of buying huge quantities of raw materials on credit or with blocked marks, then selling these goods for cash at dumping prices, often in direct competition with the producing countries. On June 30, the Brazilian Government ordered the Bank of Brazil to cease buying blocked or aski marks, thus forcing Germany to pay in genuine currency for any Brazilian goods Germans want. Angrily the German Government decreed last week the complete suspension of German purchases from Brazil and the whole Nazi press joined in flaying the U. S., Britain and France for trying to strangle Germany by "economic encirclement." According to this Nazi version, "dollar diplomacy" is now fighting the Reich in Latin America, while Germany's "natural trade with eastern Europe" is being killed by Britain and France "with golden bullets."

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