◆ SpookStack

- a SO ERE Geren eee Bae AD hi a Khe tie = aan. ». « Ne Pate vee ty C J aw 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 impressive 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 Churchill had been telling them about Ger- M™any’s rearmament program for more than four years. He had been telling them in speeches and in newspaper and magazine articles, many of which were published in the United States as well as in Britain. In November, 1934, speaking to his con- stituency, Churchill warned that “Germany,: ‘|rearming secretly, illegally and rapidly, will have overtaken us before another year has, passed.” A fortnight jater, on Nov. 17, he agserted 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 1934 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 syndicated newspaper article dated September, 1937—a year before Lindbergh's report—Churchill deflared: “As an inde- pendent Conservative ber I felt bound to give the alarm, w! five years ago, the vast secret process of rearmament, contrary to treaty, began to be apparent.” § Eight months previous be had written: “Still more difficult it is to guess how much the {British] Air Ministry will spend. The more they can spend the better. If they could spend three times as much this year, we should be far safer and happier, and there would be more chance of Britain being abie| to play an effective part in preserving peace.” . During all those years, while Churchill was trying vainly to inform i ot of Y , the $enace of Nazi airpower, Se land ipme of the same tiements who pew at temp} to build up Lindbergh as a prophet— 'were*denouncing him as a “warmonger,” & alarmist” |. _ CHICAGO DAILY NEWS SAIL - Ys