55,000 Nationalists marched in a victory parade through Madrid. Today was Nationalist Spain’s victory day, the first day in thirty-two and a half months that the entire nation officially was at peace, and it seemed that every person in Madrid turned out to celebrate. The war officially ended last midnight when Generalissimo Francisco Franco announced from Burgos: “La guerra ha terminado” – “the war has ended.” Actually, the war ended when Madrid fell last week and it was merely a question after that how long it would take Nationalist troops to occupy the rest of surrendered Republican (Loyalist) territory.
Fifty-five thousand Falangists in seventy banderas, or battalions of about 800 each, paraded through the city to the cheers of big Sunday morning crowds. Falling on Palm Sunday, victory day found reopened churches packed with crowds that reached into the street for lack of room inside, Bright spring weather brought thousands of persons into the streets and everywhere there were Nationalist flags, streamers, bunting, and posters. Twelve hundred squads of workmen were busy tearing down Republican posters and cleaning buildings marked with slogans. They also dismantled ponderous barricades at the end of every street. The barriers had been made with stones ripped from the pavements.
Cafés, which officially reopened two days ago, really had enough supplies for large scale service to customers for the first time today. All were packed. Madrid always was one of the world’s most enthusiastic café cities, and the lack of them was one of the hardships Madrilenos felt most during the war. Eggs were added to the rations of famished Madrilenos and they were told there would be bacon to go with them on Tuesday. A fleet of trucks last night brought 200,000 dozen eggs along with 20,000 gallons of milk, considerably improving the city’s food situation. The Auxilio Social, Nationalist relief organization which is handling all food distribution, began allotting small quantities of pork, mutton, and beef to families with food cards. Those with children received preference.
German attention was centered today on nipping in the bud what Nazis call Britain’s effort to surround Germany with enemies. Chancellor Hitler’s warning to Britain yesterday in his speech at Wilhelmshaven and to all others, especially Poland, who ally themselves with the French-British policy, was considered the opening gun.
The effort, apparently, was to force a non-committal attitude on Foreign Minister Josef Beck when he visits London, where he will arrive tomorrow for three days of consultations. The Nazi press hailed Herr Hitler’s speech has “a clear warning.” The Chancellor’s own newspaper, the Voelkischer Beobachter, warned that powers that participated in any “encircling” maneuvers were putting themselves in a “danger zone.”
“Neville Chamberlain only Friday, in the lower house, made known the astoundingly adventurous desire of his government and already on Saturday the Fuehrer had answered him,” commented the Hamburger Fremdenblatt. “Hitler’s speech, well worthy of wonderment, is, in the last analysis, the warning of a peace-loving people” addressed to the British people, who are “running the danger of repeating all the mistakes of the encirclement policy of the World War,” it declared.
Great Britain now must choose, the Hamburger Fremdenblatt declared, whether it wants to see the basis — what Herr Hitler called the “preconditions” — of the naval accord destroyed for all time by “mischievous wantonnes in circles that think in terms of yesterday and diplomatic intrigue.” Reports were current that Herr Hitler shortly would choose another Field Marshal for the army and might announce his decision on his birthday, April 20, along with a lengthy list of military promotions.
Polish Foreign Minister Joseph Beck left Warsaw for London for consultations on Britain’s efforts to extend the Anglo-French offer of armed aid into a reciprocal military pact. Polish officials warily insisted, however, that the London consultations “will not alter the basic principles” of Polish foreign policy, based on strict neutrality.
As Beck passed through Berlin that capital’s press was commenting that Chancellor Hitler’s speech of Saturday had been a warning to powers against participating in encirclement of Germany.
Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain tonight was preparing a speech to be delivered to the House of Commons tomorrow in which, it is expected in official quarters, there will be a strong reaffirmation, if not an amplification, of Friday’s pledge of armed British support in the event of German aggression against Poland. At least it is known that Mr. Chamberlain has been strongly urged to make such a statement, and those who have been urging it appeared confident tonight.
At the same time, it was learned, hope exists that final discussions with Rumania can be completed tomorrow in time for the renewed pledge to Poland to be reinforced by an announcement of a similar agreement to cover any aggression against Rumania. It may be that Mr. Chamberlain will be unable to give the Commons details of the British pledge in advance of the arrival in the afternoon of Foreign Minister Josef Beck of Poland, who is coming for a four-day visit planned long before Britain and Poland became tentative partners in a new European balance of power aimed against Germany. Nevertheless, Mr. Chamberlain’s speech is expected by those who ought to know to be at least as strong as was Friday’s.
Three reasons are given by those urging Mr. Chamberlain to be strong tomorrow. First, there exists at the British Foreign Office an important school of thought that — paradoxical as it is — makes Colonel Beck’s visit more important from the angle of a Polish guarantee to fight for Britain than from the aspect of the British pledge to fight for Poland. Officially Britain has made her position clear. What she wants to know now-and this will be one of the chief points of the coming conversations-is whether Poland will reciprocate in kind. Will she agree to make Germany fight on two fronts should Chancellor Adolf Hitler decide to attack Britain and France?
In France Premier Daladier and President Lebrun joined in urging unity on the nation. “If Frenchmen unite,” said the Premier, “there will be no war.”
Polish military officer and politician Walery Sławek, three times the premier of Poland, shot himself in the mouth at his Warsaw apartment. He died the following day.
Russia was believed prepared to join the Anglo-French bloc if it provided for collective security. As far as Russia is concerned, there are two points of difference during the present European tension from the attitude on previous occasions. First, there is a relative wealth of comment in the Soviet press, which formerly was most chary of expressing opinion. Second, there is an increasingly contemptuous tone toward France and Britain.
Today, there are articles on the international situation in Izvestia, Pravda and the army mouthpiece, Red Star. Izvestia’s is the best and most authoritative. It reviews the whole position from Munich until now with this main thesis: “The present state of affairs compels a twofold conclusion-that it is the consequence of Munich and proof of the complete failure of the so-called Munich policy.”
Izvestia sarcastically compares the Munich statements of Chancellor Adolf Hitler, Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain and others with the actual facts today, but its article ends with a flat assertion that is believed to represent the real Soviet viewpoint.
“If France and Britain are honestly determined,” it says, “to resist aggression and to stand for collective security, then they can count on the full support of the only country that bears no responsibility for Munich, has not been affected by the consequences of Munich, and unchangingly protects the interest of peace and the independence of nations.” (Meaning, of course, the USSR).
Pravda and Red Star strike the same note in minor tones. They do not trust France and Britain instinctively and think that yesterday’s editorial in The Times of London fully justifies their mistrust. (The Times remarked that the pledge did not cover “every inch of the present frontiers of Poland.”) But if the Western democracies do really mean to resist the aggressors, then Russia will meet them halfway.
Other repercussions from Germany’s recent activities were an electoral victory in Belgium for the moderate parties and a defeat for the pro-Nazis in the frontier districts, and a move toward internal solidarity in Yugoslavia, where the Premier had a preliminary meeting with the Croat leader.
The Belgian cabinet faced a prolonged crisis and the Pierlot ministry asked King Leopold III to dissolve parliament. In the national elections, no political party won a majority, but the number of Rexist (fascist) deputies fell from 21 to only four. The Catholic Party won a plurality in the Chamber of Representatives.
The Hungarian Government has proclaimed a general amnesty for all Carpatho-Ukrainians who had anything to do, either by spreading propaganda or by actual fighting, with resisting Hungarian troops during the occupation of Carpatho-Ukraine (Ruthenia). It is reported that former Premier Augustin Volosin of Carpatho-Ukraine, at present in Yugoslavia, has applied for permission to return and that permission has been granted. Protocols of the Hungarian-Slovak frontier agreement will be signed Tuesday. After the recent acute international situation Hungarians once again are turning their attention to internal affairs. It is expected that as soon as the anti-Jewish bill passes the upper house Parliament will be dissolved and new elections held. Since Nazi agitation has ceased, for the moment at least, the Premier, Count Pal Teleki, deems the time opportune to ask the nation for approval of his policies.
Maria Callas makes her stage debut as Santuzza in a production of “Cavalleria rusticana” by students of the National Conservatory at the Olympia Theatre in Athens.
U.S. Vice-President John Nance Garner is a sure enough candidate for the Democratic nomination for President next year. He is in that state of mind termed by the politicians “receptive” — “damned receptive,” said one of his friends in a burst of confidence. Developments of the last few days have convinced the political leaders that “Cactus Jack,” just turned 70 and “feeling fit as a fiddle,” according to his own testimony, is eager for the nomination, expects to achieve it and is in the fight until the last roll call of the convention.
Garner is far and away the leading candidate for the Democratic nomination. According to the Gallup poll he is running like wildfire, polling 42 percent of the straw votes, compared with Postmaster General James A. Farley and Secretary of State Cordell Hull, in second and third place with 10 percent each. Already the pilgrimage of Garner admirers to Washington has set in. The Vice-President finds himself pleasurably engaged a large part of every day in receiving delegations from all parts of the country desiring to pledge their support and get his blessing as Garner missionaries.
To every delegation the Vice-President says that he is not seeking the nomination and is not going to turn his hand over to get it, that he would prefer to retire to Uvalde, Texas, after his present term of service and go fishing, but that if he should be nominated, of course, he would consider it his duty to accept. So far, the Garner boom has developed spontaneously. There is no formal Garner for President organization. But one is in the making and also a Garner for President national headquarters. The Garner boom is centering at the moment in a suite of rooms at the Raleigh Hotel which has been maintained for years by Roy Miller, former mayor of Corpus Christi, Texas, who is the lobbyist for the Texas Gulf Sulphur company, the intracoastal waterway system and allied interests.
Two of the country’s most pressing domestic problems, surplus cotton and relief, will be debated and probably voted upon in the Senate this week, and its Foreign Relations Committee will begin consideration of suggested changes in the Neutrality Act, thus bringing under review important aspects of the country’s foreign policy.
No measures of great importance are scheduled for consideration on the floor of the House, but the Appropriations Committee probably will complete the plans for its investigation of the Works Progress Administration, and the proposal for an investigation of the National Labor Relations Board may make progress in the Rules Committee.
Cotton will hold the spotlight on Capitol Hill tomorrow as the Senate debates the Bankhead-Smith compromise bill providing for a redistribution to farmers at a price of 3 cents per pound of a maximum of 3,000,000 bales of the surplus cotton upon which the Federal Government has advanced loans and for a subsidy of 3 cents per pound upon cotton grown this year within crop quota limitations. This program, a somewhat complicated one, would involve government expenditures of about $225,000,000 this year and conflicts with the export subsidy plan advocated by President Roosevelt, which he estimated would cost $15,000,000 up to August 1 and between $60,000,000 and $90,000,000 annually in subsequent years.
Cotton Subsidy Advocated Although no specific legislation to solve the cotton problem is before the House at this time, Representative Marvin Jones of Texas, chairman of the Agriculture Committee, issued a statement today on which he suggested subsidization of the domestic use of cotton as one of the most “helpful steps” that could be taken now. Mr. Jones said it was not a question “of finding a plan that would work,” but of finding a “practical solution within the limited funds that will be available for the purpose.”
The U.S. military plans air war games along the New England-New York coast that will include 16 Navy vessels, 100 planes, and Coast Guard ships.
No laws can be written to outlaw Nazi propaganda without striking at freedom of speech in general, the board of directors of the American Civil Liberties Union declared in a statement released yesterday in answer to growing criticism of the defense of Nazi rights. Acknowledging the existence of widespread pressure for a declaration against “the alleged enemies of democracy,” and countering this pressure, the statement of the Civil Liberties board was issued to its members under the title “Why We Defend Free Speech for Nazis, Fascists and Communists.” The statement holds that the defenders of civil liberty are obligated to guard “without favoritism the rights of all comers” and that it is beyond the union’s function to “characterize movements as democratic or anti-democratic.” Any less liberal attitude, the union maintains, would “imply a distrust of democracy.”
Author Jacqueline Susann (20) weds Irving Mansfield at Har Zion Temple in Philadelphia.
Ralph Guldahl won the 6th Masters Tournament at Augusta, Georgia. Guldahl wins his only Masters title with a tournament record 279 (−9), 1 stroke ahead of runner-up Sam Snead
Joe DiMaggio gets five hits in one exhibition game as the New York Yankees win 15-2.
At Los Angeles, the minor league (AAA) Angels split a pair with Hollywood, losing 10–6 and winning 7–2. The second game win starts a Pacific Coast League record 19-game winning streak for the Angels.
The Argentinean government arrests a Nazi chief amid speculation of a plot to seize Patagonia. Authorities are not convinced by the German Embassy’s claim that the document detailing the seizure was forged.
The Japanese seizure of the Spratly Islands forestalls the French, who planned to claim the islands.
Tensions between the Soviet and Japanese governments reached the boiling point over fishing rights. Calmer heads prevailed and the two governments accepted a fishing agreement for a one-year period. The Japanese government also agreed to participate in an auction of the contested fishing areas on Soviet terms.
Chinese forces are attacking the Japanese in a three-way counter-offensive west of Hankow along the Han River according to military dispatches from Ichang. The Chinese were said to have established themselves on the cast bank of the river, the right column pushing toward Changkangwan, the central column toward Tafenchang after occupying Sanhochang and the left column advancing toward Sunkang after recovering Kuantuchien.
Meanwhile, a severe battle is in progress for Kaoan on the Changsha highway west of Nanchang. The Japanese in Shanghai said Kaoan had been taken. The Chinese charged the Japanese used tear gas and “sneeze gas” in advancing on the outskirts of Kaoan.
Japanese planes again bombed Sian, the capital of Shensi Province, today. Most of the residents had fled before the invaders arrived so the attack resulted in only twelve casualties. Chinese dispatches say the British mission church was demolished.
An important development toward stabilizing the north bank of the Yangtze River in the area opposite Nanking and Chinkiang was revealed today when the Japanese formally accepted the surrender of General Li Yen-po’s army of approximately 6,000 officers and men. The surrender brought the Japanese 4,500 rifles, fifteen machine guns and a large quantity of ammunition and supplies. The surrender should greatly hasten the suppression of guerrilla activities on the north bank of the Yangtze between the Tientsin-Pukow railway and the coast.
Japanese headquarters in the Wuning sector in northwestern Kiangsi report the burial or cremation of more than 7,500 dead as a result of the last ten days’ fighting. They declare the uniforms of the slain reveal that at least fifteen Chinese divisions had been engaged there. The Japanese estimate of killed, wounded, prisoners and deserters depleted this force by at least 50 percent.
Pursuing their advantage through the disorganized Chinese defense lines, the Japanese succeeded today in capturing Kaoan, thirty miles southwest of Nanchang. This victory puts the invaders importantly nearer Changsha, which is generally believed to be the goal of their drive.
Semi-official Japanese dispatches from the front declare that among the Chinese dead and wounded were found boys of 12 to 15 years, members of the Chinese Fifty-first Division, who were recently conscripted.
Born:
Marvin Gaye, soul singer-songwriter and musician (“It Takes Two”; What’s Going On”; “Let’s Get It On”), in Washington, District of Columbia (d. 1984).
Glen Dale [Richard Garforth], British rock guitarist (The Fortunes, 1963-66 – “You’ve Got Your Troubles”; “Here It Comes Again”), born in Deal, Kent, England, United Kingdom (d. 2019).
Lise Thibault, 27th Lieutenant Governor of Quebec, born in Saint-Roch-de-l’Achigan, Quebec, Canada.
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