Evening star., 1937-07-25
i. S. LEADERS FORSAKF
ISOLATIONIST POLICIES
White House and State Department Ac.
cept Changed Position of America
in World.

but not abandoned. Instead Of sum-
mOning an international poWWov, the
President received in Washington men
like Walter Runciman, Lord Tweeds-
muir, Mackenzie King and Premier
Won Iceland. The latter, who was the
emissary Of France and Great Britain,
returned to report to his colleagues,
Anthony Eden and Yvon Delbos, that
| the President believed that the desper-
ate situation in Europe and IN Asia
renders the prospects Of peace con-
| ference more favorable than ever.
Nations are scared. and because of the
peSsimistic feeling which has taken
hold of the populations in every
European country this might be the
| psychological moment to do something.
Although there has been no official
| statement, 1t can be said safely that
the Belgium premier carried back with
him some tangible propositions for the
British and the French governments.
1t was agreed in Washington that
purely economic conference at this
| time was doomed 10 failure. Euro
peans think in terms of territorial
! aggrandlzement and are not sensitive
to Secretary Hull's economic peace
! doctrine
But the Belgian statesman was
asked whether the French and the
| British governments would consider
returning 10 Germany the mandated
! colonles-Worthless as they are to
these two colonial poWers-if Germany
agreed to limitation Of armaments.
! The French and the British have been
| repeatedly accused by the authorl-
tartan stateS-and it is claimed these
| accusations emanated from Washing-
| ton-that all offers for economic sup
port were made in an unaCcepta bic
! spirit. France admitted that the offers
| to Dr.. SChacht for economic and
| financial cooperation were tied with
many political strings But. they ask,
why should French and British money
be poured into Germany in order to
strengthen the already formidable
German military machinery?
Justice Of Objections Seen.
The President and the State Depart
ment see the justice of the French
objections and see also the Justice Of
German claims for the return of the
colonies taken away from them under
the preteXt that the Reich was not
fit to rule the African populations.
There must be. some way, thinks
Washington, to reconcile both points
Of view. And this leads the President
and his advisers to the limitation OF
arms solution.
! The arms conference DEFINITELY
/ failed in 1888 because the French
| government took legalistic point of
view regarding Germany's right to
have token armaments" and a con-
script army.
Back in 1882. before Hitler came
into power, Field Marshal Werner Won
! Blomberg, then a delegate at the
| Geneva conference, communicated to
Gen. Gamelln, the French military
expert. through the Offices of an
American army officer, that if France
agreed to Germanys having a few
tank battalions, a few ,airplane squad
rons and conscript army of not more
/ than 10000 men-over and above the
ReichsW ehr-the German government
would be ready to sign a lO-year
agreement. If the French do not
| accept this. Blomberg warned. Hitler
| Will come to power and there is no
saying how large the German army
ha
ings of Won Blomberg fell upon deaf
ears. The French nation. Frances
emissarieS then said, is deeply attached
10 the principles of the Versailles
treaty and no government could sur
Vive popular indignation at such an
abdicatlon to Germanys arrogant
demands Well, the French continue
% lull themselves with the thesis that
the Versailles treaty is still in effect.
but Germany today has not $4,000
but 100000 men; not few tank BAT
talions but thousands of tanks and
hundreds OF air squadrons and thou
sands Of prohibited" guns Of the
heaviest caliber. In short, the German
| army today is superior to the French
And in this, President Roosevelt's
advisers believe that they can find
| solution for a limitation Of armamentS
with France less adamant as a result
OF the grim facts which confront her,
Present Ratios Unacceptable.
The recent unofficial and tentative
conversations with Mussolinis and
Hitler's representatives have dis
covered that the totalitarian states
are willing to agree to a limitation of
| arms on the basis of the present
strength of their respective armies
This Is not acceptable either to Great
Britain or to France. The former now
Is IN the throes of building herself
fighting force superior to any other
and France does not want to be placed
in position inferior to those of her
nelghbors across the Rhine and the
Alps.
what our disarmament experts have
in mind at the present moment-and
undoubtedly van iceland has so told
the French and the British govern
mentS-ls that Germany and Italv
should be approached and offered i'm
portant economic concessions and the
return OF the colonies to the Reich
in exchange for an agreement to scale
down their land and air forces to the
level of the French.
Washington feels that under certain
conditions. and especially If the Ger
man public can be informed as to the
nature Of these proposals-return of
colonies by agreement, international
economic cooperation and an armv
equal to that of France-a solution to
the present nightmarish situation in
Europe could be found 1t is up to
Great Britain and Germany, more
than any other two nations in Europe,
to decide whether Europe is headed
toward destruction or toward recovery.
The sand in the hour glass is fast
running out. The world has received
the new credo of the United States