Evening star., 1938-09-28

Of Great Britain, France and Japan,
Chancellor Hitler, Premier Mussolini
and Dictator Stain to foregather with
him either in Washington or In Europe
for . round-table, heart-to-heart con-
ference on disarmament, redistribution
Of colonial territory and raw materials,
removal Of trade barriers and Ill the
other Issues that divide the have"
and ''have-not" powers and keep the
world In constant fear Of war. Mr..
Roosevelt's maiden experiment In
international reconstruction-the Lon
don Economic Conference Of ls33-was
gruesome fop. The Presidents
friends credit him with . burning
desire to do . bigger and better Job
next time. II the Euro Jean house
doesn't catch fire this fall or winter.
don't be surprised II your Uncle Sam,
under Roosevelt inspiration, tries some
day to scale. the heights again.
It would make thrilling diplomatic
history II some one were enabled to
write what finally led up to the Pres
ident's eleventh-hour appeal to Cham
berlain, Daladier, Hitler, Benes. Ltvi-
non, ct al. It's everybody's secret
that Messrs. Roosevelt and Hull them.
selves not only are filled with utter
repugnance for everything the Facist
aggressors stand for. but would rejoice
endlessly II American public opinisn
justified their taking a far stronger
position. The President and his Sec
retary Of State are Is anti-war and
anti-entanglement as the rest Of the
country. but they are not for isolation
at any price. In the minds Of both,
the view is deeply implanted that II
the Hitler Mussolini aggression policy
u not checked by the democratic
forces which believe in 'law, order
and reason"-Hull's epitome-the time
not only may come, but will come.
when . complacent United States Is
going to find itself called upon, per-
haps single-handed, to defend its In.
stitutions, It's security and the ideals
1t espouses In the Western World.
Realixing that the mind -your-own-
business school would raise merry hell
II anything ssvoring Of commitments
were undertaken by II, the administra- j.
ton held of in the Czech crisis until
patience almost ceased to be . virtue.
White House and State Department,
in the critical hours between last Sun
day and Monday, finally decided that
silence On the part Of this all-powerful
country would no longer be golden,
but might perhaps be fatal to the
future Of civilization. Then America
spoke.
One Of Mr.. Hull's real towers Of
strength during these anxious days is
Assistant Secretary Of State George
8. Messersmith. He is the depart
ment's German and Central European
specialist par excellence. Probably
In no capital Of the world IS there .
keener authority on the particular
problems now gripping statesman
ships attention. Messersmith, native
Pennsylvanian. began life Is IN edu-
Gator and was vice president Of the
Delaware Board Of Education when
1914 drew him Into the Foreign Ser
vice. He saw duty In Belgium, Vene-
zuela and Argentina before assigned in
1890 to Germany, the field in which
he was destined to become an expert.
Mr.. Messersmith was Consul General
at Berlin Ut the outset Of the Mani
regime and until 1884, when he was
appointed Minister to Austria. There
he served until promoted to the as
sistant secretaryship Of State . year
ago. Messersmith is scholarly, un-
obtrusive and thorough. And Judge
Hull leans heavily on his inside knowl-