The Coolidge Examiner

Spain
The fate of Britain and France marched with Rebel Generalissimo Francisco Franco into Barcelona, tagging along as he pushed northward through the rest of Catalonia to shut off an important sector in the two and one-half year old civil war. No sooner had Loyalist President Manuel Azana fled to Paris than peace rumors began. The probability is that President Azana was ready to surrender, but not Premier Juan Negrin. His terms: (1) elimination of foreigners from Spain; (2) a plebiscite by the Spanish people to decide their future form of government; (3) no reprisals on either side. Those terms having apparently been rejected by the Insurgents, Premier Negrin prepared to fight to the finish in the large southeastern section of Spain his government still holds.

Anglo-French concern over the Spanish war may be expected to grow daily until that conflict is ended. As a last chance for peace with security, London and Paris jumped on the bandwagon for Negrin's plan, realizing these terms held a scant promise that Spain might emerge from the war as a sympathetic nation, rather than as a tool for Italy and Germany.

But it would obviously be foolhardy for the Fascist governments to accept peace with partial victory when a full victory is so near. That accomplished, France will have totalitarian neighbors on three sides (Spain, Italy, Germany) and will be ripe for plucking by Mussolini. It is significant that Italian territorial claims against France are being held up until the war is over. But the approach of this French-Italian struggle draws Paris closer to Britain each day. Before the house of commons, British Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain has promised full military support in case France is involved in war.