The Washington times., 1937-07-10
BY H. B. KNICKBOCKER

LONDON, July 9.-Hltler versus
Stain is the formula that in the
last analysis explains British re
armament today. The conflict be
tween the two mightieSt dictatorS
on earth has such worldwide ram
ifications that in this country
alone it will cost the taxpayer
nearly 6 cents of every dollar he
earns.
Because Nazi Germany and Boil
Shevik Russia refuse to make
peace, Great Gritain is spending
over the next five years a sum
equal to the cost of full year Of
the Great War to build a wall OF
battleshipS, a screen of warplaneS
and a mechanical army strong
enough to protect this country
against any storm that may break
outside.
Britain, Peace-Maker
This is because Britain believes
that no storm of battle between
two such TitanS could be confined
but would spread and engulf the
world. Hence it is the immediate
task of British diplomacy to strive
at least one more time to bring
about between Germany and the
Soviet Union an agreement which
would promise peace. This was
the sense of the invitation by Brit
ain to Baron Won Neurath, Ger
man Foreign Minister, to visit Lon
don.
Every other conflict in Europe
has found, is finding, or can
find a solution. This one con-
flict which resembles religious
one between the closely related
doctrines of bolshevism and ma
tional socialism has so far re-
sisted every attempt at solution.
Until it is solved Britain is
gloomily convinced that Europe
will remain a jungle of bayonets
and each frontier a trench. But
it must not be solved too well.
Germany and Russia should
agree to keep the peace but not
to be friends. Nothing is so
greatly feared by Britain and
France as the possibility Of a
German-RuSsian alliance.
Chances Are Slight
What are the chances Of Solu-
ton? Nobody here would put
the odds for success at better
than one in 10. This is because
the conflict, like religious dis
putes, is beyond the reach of
reason, is on the plane Of pure
emotion, and fired by passion.
Winston Churchill, organizer
of the allied intervention against
Bolshevik Russia after the war,
one-time number one enemy Of
the BolshevikS, today declares
that he no longer considers the
Soviet Union a menace to the
British Empire, but on the con-
trary, believes she will be suffi-
GENTLY absorbed with her inter
nal construction to be peaceful
for 20 years.
On the face of it there is less
reason economically and by or6i-
nary standards, politically. Tor
conflict between Germany and the
Soviet Union than between almost
any two other states. They do not
compete in the world markets to
any appreciate extent. Germany
producing for sale abroad mainly
high-grade industrial articles. and
Russia exporting largely grain. oil
and timber.
Feeling Runs High
Their frontiers are not con-
tiguouS. Yet the feeling between
the BolShevik and the National
Socialist countries is comparable
today to the feeling between the
Protestant and the Catholic coun-
tries when they began the 30-years
war which devastated Europe.
Their political religions both
place the state above the indi-
vidual. Both are relationships
deSpising democracy. Each is more
different from the United States,
England. or France than they are
different from each other. Pre-
ciSely because of their near rela-
tionShip of doctrine they are
utterly antagonistic, alike as the
North and South Poles and as far
apart.
In the terms of today's efforts
by Britain to bring about Euro
pean peace, all this boils down to
the following: When Germany
left the League and later reoccu-
pied the Rhineland and abrogated
the Locarno Treaty. it left her with
no specific obligations to keep the
peace. It left Europe suspended in
the air Of fearful mistrust. In this
precarious condition she has ex-
listed. multiplying arms and ankle
ties for over year.
Aim of the Reich
This is the prime aim of German
diplomacy: To destroy or induce
France to shelve the Soviet
treaty. Behind this is her resolu.
ton, repeatedly emphasized by
Hitler, to enter into no agreement
with the hated, feared and
abhorred Soviet Union.
Foreign Secretary Ant hony
Eden of Britain a few months ago
defined the uses of British arms.
British arms may and If occa.
sion arose they would be used
in defense of France and Bel.
WHFFl Times
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