Large Appeals, Small Rations

France's sly little Vice Premier Admiral Jean Franc,ois Darlan felt it necessary to assure the French people last week that the Vichy-Nazi collaboration was in no way dishonorable. Making his first radio address to the nation, he unwittingly pictured himself as a high admirer of Adolf Hitler and an accomplished demagogue.

He declared that Hitler "did not ask me to hand over our fleet to him. Everyone knows--and the English better than anyone--that I will never hand it over. The Chancellor did not ask me for any colonial territory. He did not ask me to declare war on England. . . .

"Germany began the war alone and judges herself able to end it alone against no matter what coalition. At no moment in the conversations [with Hitler] was there any question of France abandoning in any way her sovereignty. France freely is choosing the road she is taking. . . . On the result of the negotiations [with Germany] directly depends the future of France. It is necessary for her to choose between life and death. The Marshal and the Government have chosen life." When it was over it seemed apparent that Admiral Darlan had put more weight on the word "sovereignty" than it could possibly bear. If it was his intention to conceal France's rapid motion toward de facto Axis partnership and full-fledged fascism, the mounting evidence made it impossible. For it remained clear last week that Germany, far from being "alone," was enjoying a good part of France's agricultural and industrial output and the military use of French-controlled territory in Syria and Morocco. Moreover, if the Nazis had not got the French Navy, they apparently controlled the perhaps even more helpful French merchant marine.

Since the Armistice the British have captured 450,000 tons of French shipping; the De Gaullists have seized 43,000 tons; 57,000 tons have been sunk; the Germans have confiscated or detained 250,000 tons; and 170,000 tons have been held in neutral ports. Some 1,430,000 tons remain under Vichy's nominal control. But for months all French cargo lists have been submitted to the French-German Armistice Commission, and reputedly the Nazis have been taking their pick.

Last week London sources said that heavy French shipments including oil, rubber, lead, wool and foodstuffs have been moving from U.S. Gulf ports into Nazi hands. The goods have been shipped to Martinique, thence to Dakar or Casablanca on the West African coast, thence to North African ports, thence (running the British blockade) to Marseille. The British Government announced last week that it had obtained copies of an order by Admiral Darlan to French merchant captains to scuttle their ships rather than submit to British capture--the order including descriptions of the best German-tested scuttling methods.

From Britain also came reports that twenty firms in Unoccupied France were making aircraft, tank parts and other war materials for the Nazis, that Nazi torpedo boats were using the lower Rhone River, in "Unoccupied" France, to reach the Mediterranean.

Last week many of Vichy's new fascistic laws were approaching practical application. Called for June 4 was a meeting of Government, industry and labor representatives to write a labor charter "putting an end" to class warfare. Regional reorganization of France was well under way, including the ousting of mayors or local councils displeasing to Vichy. Dustings occurred in 478 municipalities.

Sfirete detectives, French Legion members (veterans of both World Wars) and Vichy police have comprised an informal French Gestapo to spy and inform upon anti-Vichy tendencies. Vichy's drive to put Jewish businesses under non-Jewish supervisors continued, with more than 265 enterprises added to the list, including a Normandy textile mill and dyeing plant owned by French-Jewish Novelist Andre Maurois, now in the U.S.

French public opinion concerning the Vichy-Nazi collaboration remained hidden by censorship. In the House of Commons last week Foreign Secretary Anthony Eden appealed to the French people over the heads of Vichy, gave them the somewhat belated warning that if Vichy assisted in Germany's war, Britain-would feel free to attack the Unoccupied as well as the Occupied Zone. But it seemed likely that Frenchmen in general would have been disgusted, if not downright nauseated, by any large appeal, British or French.

The immediate, obsessing need of the French public was food--not exhortation.

Vichy announced that meat would shortly be scarcer than ever (present ration-eleven three-ounce meat meals per month) and enforced fixed menus and prices on all restaurants to end "the scandalous contrast between long lines of persons on the sidewalk waiting for victuals, which frequently turn out to be hypothetical, and the sight of those favored by fortune sitting at well-served tables in restaurants de luxe"

Le Temps reported that since the fall of France the nation has suffered a wave of alcoholism, adding that "unless the fight against excessive drinking is pursued with energy, it is certain that efforts for national reconstruction are due for a definite check."

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