Newspapers / Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids, … / Sept. 12, 1941, edition 1 / Page 1
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Special Edition THE ROANOKE RAPIDS More News — More} Advertising — More | Paid Subscribers J \_zy VOLUME TWENTY-SEVEN ROANOKE RAPIDS, N. C. FRIDAY, SEPT. 12,1941 EXTRA! 1 The text of President Roosevelt’s message broadcast to the Nation over radio on Thursday, Sept. 11th, is as follows: My fellow Americans: Th'e Navy Department of the United States has reported to me that on the morning of Sept. 4 the United States destroyer Greer, proceeding in full daylight towards Iceland, had reached a point southeast of Greenland. She was carrying Ameri can mail to Iceland. She was flying the American flag. Her identity as an American ship was un mistakable. She was then and there attacked by a sub marine. Germany admits that it was a German submarine. The submarine deliberately fired a torpedo at the Greer, followed later by another torpedo attack. In spite of what Hitler’s propa ganda bureau has invented, and in. spite of what any American obstructionist organization m ; prefer to believe, I tell you the blunt fact that the German submarine fired first upon this American destroyer without warning, and with deliberate design to sink her. In Defense Waters Our destroyer, at the time, was in waters which the Government of the United States had declared to be waters of self-defense—surround ing outposts of American protection in the Atlantic. In the north of the Atlantic, outposts have been established by us in Iceland, in Greenland, in Labrador and Newfoundland. Through these waters there pass many ships of many flags. They bear food and other supplies to civilians; and they bear material of war, for which th'e people of the United States are spending billions of dollars, and whick, by congressional action, they have declared to be essential for th'e defense of their own land. The United States destroyer, when attacked, was proceeding on a legitimate mission. If the destroyer was visible to the submarine when the torpedo was fired, then the attack was a deliberate attempt by the Nazis to sink a clearly identified American warship. On the other hand, if the submarine was beneath the surface of the sea, and, with' the aid of its listening devices, fired in the direction of the sound of the American de stroyer without even taking the trouble to learn its identity—as the official German communique would indicate—then the attack was even more outrageous. For it indicates a policy of indis criminate violence against any vessel sailing the seas—belligerent or nonbelligerent. This was piracy—legally and morally. It was not the first nor the last act of piracy which the Nazi government has committed against the American flag in this war. Attack has followed attack. A few months ago an American flag merchant ship, the Robin Moor, was sunk by a Nazi sub marine in the middle of the South Atlantic, under circumstances violating long-established interna K-■■■■ I———— ■■ i —— Merchants Association Here Heartily Endorses The President's Speech A hastily called meeting of the Roanoke Rapids Merchants Association was held in the I Municipal Building at 10 o’clock this morning. In addition to the regular membership the meeting was attended by a number of leading citizens of the city and heads of the major industrial enterprises. C. C. Shell, president of the Association, opened the meeting with a few fitting remarks, discussing the gravity of the international situ ation and President Roosevelt’s address of last night in which he set forth his policy of meet ing the menace to American life and freedom. The meeting teas well attended despite the short length of time available for calling it and the fact that Friday is one of the busiest days of the week with local retailers. Practically every man present at the meeting was called upon to speak a few words in the open forum discus sion. It is said that they expressed themselves “to the man” as going on record of endorsing the foreign policy expressed by President Roosevelt in his radio speech Thursday night. A resolution was unanimously endorsed to send a telegram to the President and copies of same to the two North Carolina Senators and the Congressman of this district. The full text of the telegram appears elsewhere in this special edition of the Roanoke Rapids Herald, which is being distributed to the entire mailing list of the newspaper and thousands of extra copies printed and distributed by hand to residents of this section, sponsored by the Roanoke Rapids Merchants Association. tionai law and violating every principal of hu manity. The passengers and the crew were forced into open boats hundreds of miles from land, in direct violation of international agreements sign ed by the governments of nearly all nations in cluding the government of Germany. No apology, no allegation of mistake, no offer of reparations have come from the Nazi government. In July 1941, nearly two months ago, an American battleship in North American waters was followed by a submarine which for a long tiimi sought to maneuver itself into a position of attack. The periscope of the submarine was clearly seen. No British or American submarines were within hundreds of miles of this spot at the tima, so the nationality of the submarine is clear. Torpedoing of Seaaa Five days ago a United States Navy ship on patrol picked up three survivors of an American owned ship operating under the flag of our sister republic of Panama—the S. S. Sessa. On August 17 she had been first torpedoed without warning, and then shelled, near Greenland, while carrying civilian supplies to Iceland. It is feared that the other members of her crew have been drowned. In view of the established presence of German submarines in this vicinity, there can be no rea sonable doubt as to the flag of the attacker. Five days ago, another United States mer chant ship, the Steel Seafarer, was sunk by a German aircraft in th<j Red Sea, 220 miles south of Suez. She was bound for an Egyptian port. Four of the vessels sunk or attacked flew the American flag and were clearly identifiable. Two of these ships were warships of the Americaa. Navy. In the fifth case, the vessel sunk clearly carried the flag of our sister republic, of Panama. uur reel on urouna In thte face of all this, we Americans are keep ing our feet on the ground. Our type of demo cratic civilization has outgrown the thought of feeling compelled to fight some other nation by reason of any single piratical attack on one of our ships. We are not becoming hysterical or losing our sense of proportion. Therefore, what I am thinking and saying does not relate to any isolated episode. Instead, we Americans are taking a long-range point of view in regard to certain fundamentals and to a series of events on land and on sea which must be considered as a whole—as a part of a world nattern. It would be unworthy of a great nation to exaggerate an isolated incident, or to become in flamed by some one act of violence. But it would be inexcusable folly to minimize such incidents in the face of evidence which makes it dear that the incident is not isolated, but part of a general plan. Part of ISasi Design The important truth is that these acts of in ternational lawlessness are a manifestation of a design which has been made clear to the American people for a long time. It is the Nazi design to abolish the freedom of the seas, and to acquire absolute control and domination of the seas for themselves. For with control of the seas in their own hands, the way can obviously become clear for their next step——domination of the United States and the Western Hemisphere by force of arms.. Under Nazi control of the seas, no merchant ship of the United States or of any other American Republic would be free to carry on any peaceful commerce, except by the condescending grace of this foreign and tyrannical power. The Atlantic Ocean, which has been, and which should always be, a free and friendly highway for us, would then become a deadly menace to the commerce of the United States, to the coasts of the United States, anil to the inland cities of the United States. (Continued on Page 2)
Daily Herald (Roanoke Rapids, N.C.)
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Sept. 12, 1941, edition 1
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