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Million Fifth Columnists at Work in U.s., New Book Holds

August 20, 1940
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One million fifth columnists are already at work within the United States, ready to strike telling blows when the time for action arrives, George Britt, N.Y. World-Telegram reporter, asserts in his new book “The Fifth Column Is Here,” published today by Wilfred Funk, Inc.

Charging that this “foreign army” is four times as large as the United States Army, Britt says that should this country be drawn into war “enemy staff officers, when they want wrecking done, now have the names of suitable agents, indexed geographically and according to talent, to put their fingers on them instantly.”

In the fifth column ranks the author puts 500,000 Nazis, including 25,000 Bundsmen; 200,000 Italian Fascists, both uniformed and in mufti; 100,000 Irish, Ukrainians, Slovaks and others responsive to old-country appeals and 100,000 Communists and “native converts of all names and shirts.”

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