interest of the Axis Powers. Some of the details  
of this are unbelievable outside of a totalitarian  
state. The same anti-United Nations bias operates  
in the censorship of American films. I have recent-  
ly received from a confidential source a mass of  
information bearing on this subject from Irish news-  
    paper men. It indicates a strong pro-Axis influence.    
 
                                                            
 
 
The recent demonstration throughout Eire, glori-  
fying Williams, the only one of the six I.R.A. youths  
who murdered a Catholic Belfast constabulary officer,  
as a patriot-hero, was encouraged and probably ar-  
ranged by this group. Mr. de Valera refused to stop  
it. Whether German money or anti-British feeling is  
the dominating motivation in this activity, I cannot  
        say. Both factors are probably responsible.         
 
                                                            
 
                     ECONOMIC SITUATION                     
 
                                                            
 
 
The Irish economic situation has steadily  
deteriorated, but not as rapidly as I had anticipated.  
Roughly speaking, Eire still obtains about two-thirds  
of the imports which she formerly obtained, chiefly  
from Britain. Reduction of coal and petrol supplies  
has reduced gas and electric consumption to a minimum  
and has stopped private motoring, but the essential  
services still function on British bounty. The demand  
for labor, skilled or otherwise, in Britain has taken  
up the slack of Irish unemployment, and provided  
generously for dependent families. This will probably  
continue, though British supplies of coal, petrol, and  
                            raw