Dying v. Paying

After the World War many a disillusioned U. S. citizen-soldier swore that the Government would have to drag him off the dock at Hoboken to make him go to another European war. In Britain much the same attitude developed. Widespread was the feeling that in another Anglo-French war against Germany and her allies, Britain should furnish a fleet, money and materials while France supplied the army.

In spite of the fact that the French Army (including reserves) is now more than twice the size of the German, the French have never cottoned to this idea. France's population is only half as large as Germany's, and in a prolonged conflict she would ultimately need man power as well as money and arms. Worried French Governments have long urged the British Government to pledge unqualified support in case of war. Last week in a House of Commons debate on a $2,900,000,000 arms appropriation for the coming year, France got that pledge.

Winston Churchill, arch-exponent of Anglo-French military cooperation, complained that the British attitude of "one ally should do the paying while the other must do the dying" was an insult to France. Up rose William Shepherd Morrison, Chancellor of the Duchy of Lancaster, who speaks in the House of Commons for Admiral of the Fleet Lord.Chatfield, Minister for the Coordination of Defense, surprisingly agreed with Mr. Churchill and said significantly: "Once involved in war we could not proceed upon a principle of limited liability." That statement, M.P.s believed, meant that Britain would send another expeditionary force to France in case of war.

Later, Foreign Secretary Lord Halifax, whose righteous, candid attitude has earned him the nickname of "Lord Holy Facts." told the Lords that Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain's statement of solidarity with France four weeks ago was made without "mental reservations of any kind." Lord Halifax reminded the Lords of one of the "most impressive" passages in Adolf Hitler's Mein Kampf, in which the Fuehrer berated old Imperial Germany for underrating British strength.* In an even plainer warning the Foreign Secretary referred to stop signs on British highways: "HALT! MAJOR ROAD AHEAD!" and implied that those nations that were crossing "major roads" without "halting" might soon find themselves confronted with a husky international policeman in the person of John Bull.

To round out the series of warnings to totalitarian nations that John Bull's full-sized helmet was ready to go in the ring, Prime Minister Chamberlain, in a speech in Lancashire, delved into Shakespeare's King John, pulled out this quotation:

"Come the three corners of the world in arms And we shall shock them."**

Some interpreters thought "three corners of the world" referred to the three aggressive anti-Comintern allies -- Germany, Italy, Japan. At any rate, the number of big bold British speeches last week was evidence that the Chamberlain Government (as well as others) were building a backfire against the possible fire of a big March international crisis.

Main question taken up last week in the arms debate in Commons was whether or not to double the Government's total borrowing allowance for rearmament from $2,000,000,000 to $4,000,000,000. (Of this year's contemplated armament appropriation, $1,150,000,000 will be paid for by taxation, $1,750,000,000 by borrowing. Probably no higher British income taxes will be imposed.) Bigger borrowing won 432-to-5, the five dissenters being confirmed pacifists.

The Prime Minister warned M.P.s (and the world) that continued astronomical expenditures for arms would mean eventual bankruptcy for all nations, but implied that Britain could stave off going broke longer than Germany.

-Wrote the Fuehrer: "In Germany before the war, in the schools, in the press and in the comic newspapers, one gradually created an impression of the character of the Englishman, and perhaps more even of his empire, which was bound to lead to the most disastrous self-deception. This nonsense gradually infected everything and the consequence was an underestimate which subsequently bought the bitterest requital. ... I remember how astounded were the faces of my comrades when for the first time we met the Tommy face to face in Flanders."

Before going to Munich last September to give Fuehrer Hitler his way about Czechoslovakia, Mr. Chamberlain quoted Henry IV thus: "Out of this nettle, danger, we pluck this flower, safety."

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