Inside Out

To Fascist Spain the New York Times sent able, experienced Correspondent Thomas J. Hamilton. For two years Hamilton watched and noted well. Last week his book on Franco's Spain, Appeasement's Child (Knopf; $3), was published.

Heroics and Death. Hamilton reported that in three years of civil war, at least 1,000,000 Spaniards lost their lives (more than the British Empire's total losses in World War I). More than 300,000 Loyalists escaped, and 500,000 more rot in Franco's jails. For these sacrifices, Franco gave Spain:

> A relentless campaign of revenge against all former Republicans and their relatives.

> Inefficient transportation, idle factories, high taxes, famine. Material conditions and morale of the people went down each year. "The Government propaganda authorities had to withdraw the posters showing Franco in a heroic pose, with arms crossed over his chest. ... To stand with arms folded is the symbol of unemployment in Spain, and too many disillusioned Spaniards had scrawled over the poster: 'And so are we all.' "

> An upper class even wealthier than before the civil war, particularly conspicuous in miserable Spain. While the poor queued up for their daily ration of uneatable bread, "the wealthy continued their pleasant custom of stopping off on their way home from Mass to consume some of the admirable Spanish eclairs or mille-feuilles. . . ."

> A Church restored to even greater power than it had under the monarchy.

> A decree restoring all land occupied by peasants during the war, legally or otherwise, to former owners.

> Censorship "without a parallel anywhere in the world. . . . Only rarely was I permitted to send anything except the bare text of official announcements. . . ."

> Newspapers which hewed determinedly to the Nazi line.

Hitler's Spain. An all-embracing Nazi influence in Spain is documented by Hamilton, and he flatly affirms what previously was mostly logical guessing: that Spain is an Axis military base. "There can be no question of the fact," Hamilton declares, "that Germany is already using Spain as an advanced base of military operations . . . the deserted coast of Galicia, with its many small harbors, provides superb opportunities for fueling U-boats. ... In 1942 even heavily armed convoys were getting through to Malta only with severe losses. Most of the planes which inflicted them seemed to be based on Sardinia, but the Balearics also certainly were used."

Caudillo Franco, warns Hamilton, is by no means just another Spanish dictator. "He is a ... Fascist, with unshakable imperialist aims and an intransigence toward the democracies which, unlike Hitler, he has never attempted to disguise. . . . His community of purpose with Hitler and Mussolini has been strengthened by the fact that only the overthrow of France, England and the United States will permit Franco's regime to attain its ambitions in Africa and Latin America. These ambitions are a part of Franco himself and were not wished upon him by Serrano Suner or anybody else. . . ."

At home, the German Ambassador was given the place of honor at all ceremonies. Such dignitaries as Heinrich Himmler were given state receptions. Abroad, "the Nazi and Falangista propagandists are working together." In South America (where Hamilton spent three months last year) the influence of Fascist Spain "is being thrown solidly against us."

Allied policy toward this Spain in which the Nazis call the tune and Franco happily plays the Fascist fiddle has been one of cautious appeasement. In July 1939 the U.S. gave Franco a $13,350,000 loan to buy cotton, his most urgent need. When the cotton arrived, the Franco press gave it a couple of lines, praised it as a "work of the Caudillo."

More recently, former U.S. Ambassador Alexander W. Weddell informed the Fran co regime he had word that a "hostile" demonstration of students was to be held before the U.S. Embassy. "No extra guards were provided, however, and even the two usually stationed in front of the Embassy were absent when the gang came up. . . ." They booed the U.S., threw stones at the Ambassador and at the U.S. emblem over the Embassy doorway. At a dinner that night, Weddell agreed with other Americans in Madrid that he had no choice but to demand an apology and to ask for his recall if it was not forthcoming. When Weddell was able to see Franco a week later, his instructions from the State Department in Washington were, not to ask for an apology, but to offer Franco a $100,000,000 credit.

Correspondent Hamilton insists that this is all wrong, says that Franco will respond only to tough talk and action by the Allies, and that "opportunity to apply pressure has always been considerable." Biggest weapon we have in Spain, says Hamilton, is the Spanish people. But "the common man of Spain will fight for us only if he knows that he is also fighting for himself and his hungry children. . . ."

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