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ms. - . -lee hae ee we aba tr ee ke [aa OS se we oe x . “ a at a ay oe on wane Co re ea C J | ae : - Rowe Rtn IVE YEARS LATE. their attempt to build dp” Charles Lindbergh as an infallible prophet of mili- tary events, his admirers put great emphasis on his report, late in 1938, on the fropressive size and strength of the Nazi air force. It is emphasized repeatedly that he tried to tell the British that they were hopelessly out- classed in the air, and that the British re- fused to listen to him. Lindbergh was right in 1938, his admirers reiterate; ergo, he must be right today. There can be no challenge to the declara-, tion that Lindbergh was right in 1938; but what he tried to tell the British people was already old stuff. A man named Winston Churchill had been telling them about Ger- many’s rearmament program for more than four years. He had been telling them in speeches and in newspaper and magazine qarticles, many of which were published in the United States as well as in Britain. In November, 1934, speaking to his con- stitvency, Churchill warned that “Germany, : ‘lrearming secretly, Ulegally and rapidly, will have overtaken us before another year has: passed.” A fortnight lster, on Nov. 17, he asserted that it was necessary for Britain to: make berself the greatest air power in the| world in order to avert another war. Peri-' Odically, during the years between 1034 and 1938, be tried to arouse the British public to the menace of Nazi rearmament, and to goad the government to action. Compared to his efforts, the voice of Lindbergh was tiny and inconsequential. . In a syDdicated newspaper article dated September, 1937—a year before Lindbergh's report—Churchil! deflared: “As an inde- vast secret process of rearmament, contrary to treaty, began te be apparent.” | Eight months previous be had written: “Still more difficult it is to guess how much. would be more chance of Britain being able| to play an effective part in preserving peace.” . During all those years, while Churchill was trying vainly to inform th 1d of Y , the $nenace of Nazi inom chon OS HY 7 and ipme of the same elements who now at- temp to build up Lindbergh es 8 propos were“denouncing him as 8 = “warmonger,” “hysterical ee AGO DAILY NEWS S/S -