852.00/5392

The Consul General at Barcelona ( Perkins ) to the Secretary of State

No. 289

Sir: With reference to my despatches Nos. 217 and 228 of February 4 and February 12, 1937,65 both entitled “American Ambulance Unit in Barcelona”, I have the honor to enclose herewith photographs of a second American ambulance unit, as published in La Vanguardia of April 3, 1937. This unit, which recently passed through Barcelona is described as the “Benjamin Franklin Corps” of the “Medical Bureau—American Friends of Spanish Democracy”. There is also enclosed, with English translation,66 the text of an article appearing in the same paper and describing the visit paid to the President of Catalonia by Dr. Friedman, the leader of the unit, Mrs. R. Weiner, Chief Nurse, and other members of the unit.

A further article, appearing in La Vanguardia of April 11, 1937, reports the arrival of the third American ambulance unit at Barcelona headed by Surgeon Donald H. Pitts.

A survey of the facts can leave no reasonable doubt that these expeditions have been sent to Spain, not from purely humanitarian motives, but with the primary purpose of assisting one of the opposing parties to win the war. It is doubtful if a single responsible member of these American units would be willing to perform humanitarian work upon the other side. I venture to suggest that they are lending [Page 285] more effective aid to the “Government” than would an equal number of American citizens bearing arms; for the “Government” badly needs medical help, whereas it has, at least in Catalonia, almost unlimited reserves of man power. I have but to look from the window as I write to observe crowded streets full of men of military age, who have never been to the front and who have given little display of any enthusiasm to go there.

Such relatively small contingents as may come from America, either as hospital units or as groups of volunteers, obviously will not weigh heavily in determining the final outcome of the Spanish civil war. But they do advertise the fact that organized groups of Americans are leaving the United States to help what their opponents call the “Bed” or “Communist” cause. Their arrival here tends to create the belief that there is a bit of a sham about the “complete neutrality of America” and, to that extent, their participation in the war affords excuse for Fascist states to continue their aid to the “Rights”.

The statement issued by the Department and published in its press release, No. 389 of March 13, 1937,67 sets forth a position which, in the light of my experience here of some eight months, appears unassailable in its reasoning and indispensable if the United States is to maintain a “complete neutrality”. I therefore regret any modification of that position on the ground that the work of the Ambulance units is an humanitarian one.

I am well aware of the official composition of the “American Friends of Spanish Democracy”; for I have a circular, dated March 26, 1937, listing the officers and committees, and making an appeal for funds “to turn the tide against the foreign invaders”. For some years, I have known quite well the Chairman, Bishop Robt. L. Paddock, a man of the greatest sincerity and unselfishness. But I venture to suggest, if the Bishop conceives that there exists here any of the processes and safeguards of democratic government, that he is uninformed and misguided. Whatever may be the ideals and hopes of President Azaña and certain other liberal leaders, the deplorable fact remains that, in Barcelona and Catalonia, there is no assurance of security for life, liberty, or property. Private assassinations continue, unpunished. Priests and many former property owners are in hiding for their lives. Private property is confiscated under various processes of “socialization” and “collectivization”. No one is immune from sudden arrest. The “Government” is unable to guarantee any reasonable degree of personal protection or even to send out of the country many persons whom it would be glad to see escape to liberty and safety abroad.

The Chairman and the distinguished individuals upon the Committee [Page 286] of the “Friends of Democracy” do not countenance these things, but it is to such a situation that they are unwittingly giving their support. I do not wish to give the appearance of not being “neutral”; least of all, of having a sympathy for the “rights”. The exploitation under which the Spanish people have suffered was, it seems to me, bound to produce a revolution. I cannot envisage the triumph of the reactionary elements as having any other ultimate effect in Catalonia than the creation of further provocation to revolution; for I doubt whether the Spanish “rights”, in the event of victory, will learn from experience and be prepared to accord reasonable living conditions to the masses.

As I see it, we do not have a clear cut issue of right and wrong, but the deplorable existence of excesses on both sides and the complete absence of what we understand by democratic government. The choice at the moment may be briefly described as the alternative between “tyranny” and “chaos”. I have no wish to question the formation of the opinions and beliefs undoubtedly held in all honesty by the “Friends of Spanish Democracy”; but it seems to me a matter of regret that these liberal minded people should be expending their energies in a foreign field where their glimpses of the truth are but partial instead of devoting those energies to problems in regard to which they are in a position to be more precisely informed.

Respectfully yours,

Mahlon F. Perkins
  1. For despatch No. 217, February 4, see p. 477; despatch No. 228, February 12, not printed.
  2. Not printed.
  3. Department of State, Press Releases, March 13, 1937, p. 139.