Evening star., 1937-02-14

needs.
OF the Is varieties of raw materials
necessary to every industry. Germany
has only coal and iron. Her chemists
and scientists have managed to produce
synthetic gasoline and synthetic wool.
But these are of a quality inferior to
the natural product, expensive to
produce, and can be manufactured
only in comparatively small quantities
sufficient for war purposes, but in
adequate to keep German industry
going.
In the memorandum to the British
government, which Won Ribbentrop
left with the foreign Office, Hitler
pointed out that the industrial de-
velopment of Germany is of vital
necessity to the German people. BY
applying every known scientific
method, German agriculture managed
to have the best crops known in its
history in the Fall of 1885. Yet the
amount harvested satisfied only IS per
cent of the food requirements of the
German people. Under these cir
cumstances, say the German econ
omists, it is essential that Germany
produce manufactured articles of all
kinds which could be exchanged for
foodstuffs.
Recognizes Fairness Of Claims.
After exchanging views with the
French and the American government,
the British cabinet still holds that
Germany cannot force her point of
view on the other nations. But Lon
don recognizes the fairness of her
economic claims and feels the Reich
should be given access to the raw
materials contained in territories Of
other nations blessed with a surplus
of the essentials necessary to every
industry.
This viewpoint, Won Ribbentrop in
formed London, is absolutely unac-
ceptable to the government of the
Reich. Physical possession is de-
manded, or else Germany will be COM
PEELED to throw her legions into the
territories of the nearest neighbor
who happens to possess all the world
ly goods coveted by industrial coun-
tries. The British and the French
recognize the hint-a campaign
against the Soviets
This is the drama now being played
in London. Germany wants colonies
in Africa; some of them used to be
under German jurisdiction before the
war; others have been owned for
many years by France and Great
Britain. If these two countries think
that a sacrifice involving thousands
of miles of territory, inhabited by
several million Negroes, is worth sac
rificing for peace in Europe, they will
give their serious consideration to
Berlins proposal. If national pride.
and the feeling that the dignity of
the British and the French Empires
will suffer by yielding to the Aus
trian upstart," they will temporize and
eventually turn down the demands
of the German dictator
Berlin realizes that the demand for
territories belonging to old-established
empires is not palatable in London. 1t
knows that Baldwin's cabinet will do
its utmost to keep conversations going
without coming to any definite agree
ment. That is why Ribbentrop has
been instructed TO give Downing Street
time fully to digest not only the scope
Of the German demands. but also the
consequences of final refusal.
To Press for Answer.
It is not conceivable that the Reichs-
fuehrer will mobilize the feet and oc-
cupy some parts Of Africa. But within
the next few weeks he will press for
definite answer to his request for
colonies. He will not wait until Great
Britain and France have completed
their military preparations. If the
answer from London is definite mo"
there may be surprises in store for
Europe as soon as the snow begins to
melt and roads in Eastern Europe be-
gin to be more passable and flying
conditions more favorable for aviation.
In the meantime the German gov
ernment is getting prepared on two
frontiers-diplomatically pressing Lon
don as hard as its means allow, by
pointing out that the full acceptance
of the German claims can save the
world from a disaster: politically, by
preparing the ground for an upheaval
in Soviet Russia with the assistance
of the German armed forces.
The recent Trotzkyite trial in Mos
COW disclosed only partially the in
trigues of the German secret service in
Russia. A vast region Of Russia is
infected with German propaganda.
The Germans appeal to the dissatis-
fled and MISUNDERSTANDING Ukran-
ians and to the reactionary and mall
treated CoSsacks, who still believe that
the best form of government was that
OF Catherine the Great and other
autocratic rulers of old Russia. These
people look toward the Reich as their
Hberators.
The groundwork for Hitler's ultima
tum has been well laid.
tCopyright, 1877