However, it is important to note that this was not an Axis move, it was an Italian move. Italy did not intervene to give Germany what she wanted; Italy intervened for peace. In so doing Italy took a stand at variance with Germany’s.
Further than that one cannot go, and, indeed, the official attitude is that “nothing is changed on the plane of Italo-German friendship.” The press continues its violent support of Germany, although at the same time it prints Polish official communiqués in full. The Polish diplomatic staff incidentally remains here and continues, apparently, on friendly relations with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.
There has been one war measure announced here today—starting today dance halls will be closed.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1939
CANADA DECLARES AUTOMATIC ENTRY
Prime Minister King on Radio Asserts Necessity of Step—Arrest of Nazis Begun
By JOHN MacCORMAC
Special to The New York Times.
OTTAWA, Sept. 3—On the principle that “when Britain is at war, Canada is at war,” first laid down by the great French-Canadian Prime Minister, Sir Wilfred Laurier, Canada automatically entered the struggle against Hitlerism at 6 o’clock this morning when the British ultimatum to Berlin expired.
Canada’s entry had been a foregone conclusion since French-Canada’s chief representative in the present government, Minister of Justice Ernest Lapointe, had told Parliament last March that neutrality would be impossible for the Dominion in practice if the mother country were engaged.
It became certain on Friday when Prime Minister Mackenzie King cabled Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain that his government would recommend effective wartime cooperation with Britain to the Dominion Parliament.
Today nothing still remained to be decided but the degree of Canadian participation. Events and the wishes of the British Government are likely to play so large a part in this that it is quite likely Mr. King’s recommendations to the special session of Parliament, called for Thursday, may not include the immediate dispatch of even a volunteer expeditionary force.
“Our first concern,” said Prime Minister King in a broadcast speech late in the afternoon, “is with the defense of Canada. To be helpful to others we must ourselves be strong, secure and united. Our effort will be voluntary.”
SUPPLY ORGANIZATION SPED
In the process of defending herself Canada will recruit new soldiers and train them. Later, if and when the British Government indicates the need for an expeditionary force and it becomes apparent that Canada is in no great danger of attack, there is no doubt that such a force will be sent.
Meanwhile, the Dominion will organize herself as a source of supply of food and war essentials.
At 9 A.M. the Canadian Cabinet met to put Canada for the second time in twenty-five years on a war footing. A 6-year-old girl leading a spotted dog was the only lay spectator. But as the hours passed crowds and camera men gathered.
ARMY CHIEF ARRIVES
They saw Major Gen. T. V. Anderson, Chief of the General Staff, in civilian clothes but with an empty coat sleeve to proclaim his trade, dash up in a motor car to join the Cabinet conclave.
Not until he had listened to King George’s speech to the Empire did Prime Minister King emerge. He returned in the afternoon to make his broadcast appeal to Canadians for a united war effort.
Already the streets of this capital were echoing with bugle calls, but they were a call to the colors by a local militia unit. From all over Canada come reports of active recruiting. The young men are joining up with as much readiness as in 1914.
The end of Hitlerism was the only issue in this war, Prime Minister King told the Canadian people.
ACTIVE NAZIS ARRESTED
The Canadian Mounted Police, reinforced by 500 former members, have started arresting active Nazis in Canada. They will be sent to internment camps if their numbers require such action.
The government reiterated, however, that the war would not be allowed to make any differences to United States citizens who wish to come to Canada, either on business or as tourists. Commenting on a report that Colonial Airways had asked New Yorkers flying to Canada to bring their passports, F. C. Blair, director of immigration, said this was totally unnecessary.
An appointment which met wide approval was that of Walter Thompson, publicity chief of the Canadian National Railways and chief press officer on the royal pilot train during the recent royal visit, as chief press censor.
Press censorship, delayed while the government awaited Britain’s declaration of war, goes into effect tomorrow and the partial radio censorship will become more stringent and widespread.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1939
AUSTRALIA AT WAR, RESOLVED TO WIN
Many Volunteer For Service in Commonwealth Forces as Units Are Called
Wireless to The New York Times.
MELBOURNE, Australia, Sept. 3—Prime Minister Robert G. Menzies announced tonight that Australia was at war with Germany.
The Prime Minister acted after he had broadcast a statement announcing that the Commonwealth would join Britain in war on the Reich. The proclamation declaring Australia in a state of war with Germany was signed by the Governor General, Lord Gowrie, at an urgent meeting of the Executive Council tonight.
Brigadier Geoffrey A. Street, Defense Minister, announced that the navy air force had been fully mobilized on a war basis and that a number of militia units had been called up for special duty, but that no immediate call would be made for recruits.
WAR PLANS ARE RUSHED
The Ministers, who had gone to Canberra for a meeting of Parliament Wednesday, immediately set in motion the last phases of the Commonwealth’s war plans.
Speaking over 125 national and commercial stations at 9:15 P.M., Mr. Menzies said:
“It is my melancholy duty to announce officially that in consequence of Germany’s persistence in her invasion of Poland, Britain has declared war, and as a result Australia also is at war.
“Britain and France with the cooperation of the dominions struggled to avoid this tragedy. They have patiently kept the door to negotiation open and have given no cause for aggression, but their efforts failed. We, therefore, as a great family of nations involved in the struggle must at all costs win, and we believe in our hearts that we will win.”
Mr. Menzies outlined the course of recent events in Europe and declared it would exhibit the history of some of the most remarkable instances of ruthlessness and indifference to common humanity that the darkest centuries of European history could scarcely parallel and demonstrate that Adolf Hitler had steadily pursued a policy deliberately designed to produce either war or the subjugation of one country after another by the threat of war.
“Bitter as we all feel at this wanton crime,” Mr. Menzies concluded, “this moment is not for rhetoric but for quiet thinking and that calm fortitude which rests on the unconquerable spirit of man created by God in His image. The truth is with us in the battle; truth must win. In the bitter months ahead, calmness, resoluteness, confidence and hard work will be required as never before.
“Our staying power, particularly that of the mother country, will be best assisted by keeping production going as fully as we can and maintaining our strength. Australia is ready to see it through. May God in His mercy and compassion grant that the world will soon be delivered from this agony.”
A steady stream of men is calling at military headquarters offering their services, but so far only militia personnel, coast defenses, anti-aircraft batteries and other units required to protect vulnerable areas have been called. Members of the citizen air force have been called and also certain members of the Royal Australian Air Force Reserve.
While German citizens will be liable to internment a large proportion of the refugees will be allowed liberty, subject to strict surveillance.
NEW ZEALAND COME IN
Wireless to The New York Times.
WELLINGTON, N. Z., Sept. 4—Governor General Viscount Galway this morning proclaim
ed that New Zealand was at war with Germany and would give the fullest consideration to British suggestions as to the methods by which the common cause might best be aided.
DIVISION IN SOUTH AFRICA
Special Cable to The New York Times.
CAPE TOWN, South Africa, Sept. 4—The Union Cabinet, scheduled to meet this morning, is reported to be split over the question of supporting Britain in the war with Germany.
There was a prolonged Cabinet meeting last night and it is understood that the members were divided seven to six in favor of cooperation with the British Commonwealth as opposed to neutrality.
SEPTEMBER 4, 1939
Editorial
WAR GUILT
The publication of the full exchange of messages between the British and German Governments from Aug. 22 and the terrible events of the last few days only serve to make it clearer than ever that the sole responsibility for the present catastrophe rests on the shoulders of one man—Adolf Hitler.
If this correspondence is published in Germany—and especially if, as seems more likely, the German end of the correspondence alone is published there—no doubt millions of Germans, with no outside sources of information, may continue to think that Hitler’s course was justified. They can do so only if their memories have forgotten the events of the last few years and wiped out the trail of broken pledges that Hitler left behind him in his series of diplomatic advances.
The correspondence reveals an ever patient and persistent Chamberlain, seizing upon every hope of pacific adjustment, and a Hitler finally determined to carry his threats to the point of actual war and stooping to new depths of brazen mendacity for the effect upon his own people. So reasonable and patient were the messages of Chamberlain and of the British Ambassador, that Hitler was driven to pretend that it was vital for Germany that the questions at issue should be settled, not merely in a matter of weeks, or even days, but of hours. To make this pretext look anything but ridiculous he coolly invented “killings” and “barbaric actions of maltreatment” (of the German population in Poland) “which cry to heaven.” It was precisely the technique adopted in alleging Czech persecutions a year before.
The only message from the German Government that is written in a tone of reason—though it still demanded return of Danzig and a German corridor through the Corridor—is the proposed “sixteen-point” settlement of the Polish question which the German Foreign Minister read to the British Ambassador at top speed at midnight on Aug. 30. It is now entirely obvious that this “offer” was never intended for serious two-sided discussion, but was merely framed as a propaganda document for the benefit of a German people already plunged into war. When the British Ambassador, hearing it for the first time, asked for the text, he was told that it was already too late, as a Polish plenipotentiary had not arrived in Berlin by that midnight as had been demanded by the German Government.
This demand had been handed to the British Ambassador only the evening before. The British, in their note two days previously (Aug. 28) had already informed the German Government that they had “received definite assurance from the Polish Government that they are prepared to enter into discussions.” The German Government could then have sent for the Polish Ambassador; but it demanded instead that within twenty-four hours after its note to the British (which made no mention of the later announced sixteen points) the Poles send an emissary “empowered not only to discuss but to conduct and conclude negotiations.” No doubt if the Poles had been willing or able to comply, this emissary would have been treated as Schuschnigg and others had been before him. This technique could not be used on a mere Ambassador, and Hitler apparently had little hope that he could work it again in any case, for he set a time schedule with which it was virtually impossible for the British or Poles to comply.
One internal evidence of the fraudulent character of the whole German negotiations is significant. In the sixteen-point proposal Hitler and von Ribbentrop declare their willingness to wait as long as twelve months—in fact, insist on at least that period—before the plebiscite to settle the fate of the Corridor. Yet in their messages to the British they declare that it is impossible to wait more than two days for the arrival of the Polish negotiator they had demanded!
Even after Hitler had launched his attack on Poland and bombarded open towns, the British and French held off from announcing a state of war for two days, advising the German Government that if it would agree to withdraw its forces Great Britain “would be willing to regard the position as being the same as it was before the German forces crossed the frontier” and would be open to discussion on the matters between the German and Polish Governments.
This time the record could hardly be clearer than it is.
SEPTEMBER 5, 1939
HULL ISSUES ORDER
NEUTRALITY EDICTS
Proclamations of Our Status and Arms Ban to Be Issued Today
Special to The New York Times.
WASHINGTON, Sept. 4—Following upon the heels of the sinking of the Athenia yesterday the United States took its first sweeping step to insure neutrality in the European war when Secretary Hull tonight issued an order drastically restricting travel by Americans to and from Europe.
Under the order, issued unexpectedly this evening, “imperative necessity” must be proved by any prospective traveler to Europe before a passport can be obtained. On return to this country the passport will be taken up and locked in the State Department. In no case shall a passport be granted for more than a six-month visit.
Minute details of the reason for a journey to Europe must be supplied, as well as of the identity of the applicant. Documentary evidence must be furnished as to the imperativeness of the trip. False or misleading statements will be punished by a fine up to $2,000, imprisonment up to five years, or both.
Secretary Cordell Hull, signing the Neutrality Proclamation, 1939.
DECISION MADE ON PROCLAMATIONS
Meanwhile President Roosevelt and his Cabinet decided that the United States Government would declare its neutrality in the war tomorrow in two proclamations, one setting forth the status of this nation as a neutral under international law and the other establishing an arms embargo against present belligerents as required by our neutrality statute.
The decision to this effect was reached at a specially called Cabinet meeting this afternoon, at which means for convoying American nationals safely home and for putting a ban on war-profiteering in this country were also discussed.
The order by Secretary Hull in regard to travel by Americans came after he had conferred with President Roosevelt. The restriction on Americans traveling to Europe was regarded here as a far-reaching move to prevent this country being drawn into the conflict through the presence of her citizens on foreign flag ships attacked by a belligerent.
That part of the departmental order requiring the return of passports to the State Department was taken as a definite step to prevent these valuable identification documents from finding their way into the hands of spies or other agents of foreign governments.
SEPTEMBER 7, 1939
HITLER ‘REPORTED’ AS MENTALLY ILL
Professor H. C. Steinmetz Says This Statement Was Made by a ‘Leading Physician’
By The Associated Press.
PALO ALTO, Calif., Sept. 6—Before a group of social psychologists, Professor Harry C. Steinmetz of San Diego State College repeated today what he termed “a report or calumny” that Adolf Hitler was suffering from a severe mental disorder and was under the almost constant care of an physician.
Professor Steinmetz said that the statement was made to him by “a leading American research physician, recently returned from Germany.” He did not name the physician.
The report “or calumny” said that Hitler’s affliction was paranoid manic depression. It is a supposedly incurable mental disease which causes its victims to have alternate fits of depression and elation, complicated by delusions that they are being persecuted.
Professor Steinmetz, addre
ssing a division of the American Psychological Association, made the remark in a technical discussion of what he termed increasing paranoid conditions.
He asserted that whole peoples or groups were being subjected to a sort of national paranoid infection—that is, in their collective thinking and acting, particularly under prolonged, unusual stress.
Erroneous beliefs, he said, became a center of paranoid infection, especially under social disorganization and tension. Such stresses, he added, might cause people to take refuge in delusions, in “rationalizations” or excuse making, or in “defense mechanisms,” described as mental tendencies designed to thwart expected trouble.
Such centers of infection, he added, could facilitate the spread of paranoid conditions among individuals, making their social organization progressively more dependent upon the very persons affected.
Features of paranoid conditions which he named included delusions of grandeur as well as of persecution; “retrospective falsification,” a chronic course through suspicion, retreat and defense to delusion, illusion and attack.
Discussing recent potential modifications of the definition of “paranoia,” Professor Steinmetz referred to the Oxford Group and “the bourgeois moral rearmament craze” as being “within the hypothetical classification of euphoric paranoidal delusion.”
SEPTEMBER 7, 1939
GERMAN INDUSTRIES PUT ON A WAR BASIS
Long Lists of Regulations Are Being Issued Daily
Wireless to The New York Times.
BERLIN, Sept. 6—The mobilization of Germany’s industrial organization is proceeding at top speed. Long lists of specific regulations for different industries are published daily. They are designed to turn German business life into a unified mechanism for the most efficient carrying on of the war.
The New York Times Book of World War II, 1939-1945 Page 14