The Waterbury Democrat., 1939-04-28

stag. They click to heel Ii.
 Moreover, 1t did not take him all of two weeks to draft reply though the Roosevelt message did put him in a hole for day or two and forced him to resort to the clever strategy of asking smaller nations whether they really feared Germany.
 However, the date of April 28 had been fixed as crucial Nazi date well before Roosevelt sent his message. What fixed 1t were two naval and military factors far more important than Hitler his- trionics.
 ONE was the time required to get the German fleet through the English Channel and down to the coast of Spain. Roosevelt's mes- sage was sent just after the Ger man fleet quietly slipped out of Kiel, and Hitler couldn't have af- forded a showdown until his ships got safely past the Channel bot tle-neck and beyond the home waters of the powerful British fleet.
 Once they are in Spanish wa ters they can prey upon Bri- tish shipping-in case of war with much less risk.
 SECOND was the fact that the German army, according to pre- viously scheduled plans, needed about week after Hitler's birth day celebration or until April 28 - to concentrate its forces in strategic areas.
 In other words, Roosevelt's peace proposal has stayed off war, but probably caused no real change in the Axis plans except to force Fascist-Nazi leaders to spread more propaganda to discount 1t with the German and Italian peo- pies. Most people in those coun- tries have little idea of the im- minent danger of war.
 FDR'S OVERSIGHT
 Those who looked over Roose- velts messages to Hitler and Mus- solini before he sent them now wish they had suggested one change. That was to omit the names of the countries which Roosevelt listed as in danger of aggression.
 Had the list been omitted,
 Hitler would have been deprived
 of his effective strategy of ask
 ing those countries If they real
 iy feared Germany. This was
 8 tough question to ask a na-
 tion in constant danger of Ger man domination, either by force or economic pressure.
 COLONIES NEXT
 One important key to A. Hit ler's next move is the fact that preparations are being made in Berlin to send German officials to take over the returnsd Ger man colonies by mid-June.
 This indicates how confident Der Fuehrer is that his bloodless conquests will continue without interruption, despite the finger shaking from London. Ills policy is going to be to
 take all the territory he can in
 Europe, short of precipitating a
 war. If the democracies actually
 get stubborn, indicate that they
 have finished with appeasement
 and mean business, then Hitler
 has up his sleeve a conference
 on the return of Germany's
 pre-war colonies.
 This is something which makes sense to Americans, who never were sympathetic to the French and British grab for African col- onies> after the World War. So Hitler's move in this direction might get certain amount of cheering from the sidelines across the Atlantic. which would be highly disconcerting to the Bri- tish.
 EUROPE-GO-ROUND Word has leaked out of the British Cabinet that Chamberlain has been considering busting Sir John Simon. As chief appeaser in the Cabinet, his resignation would have an excellent effect upon the British public :. One thing which worries the little countries is the fact that Cham berlain privately invited Musso- lini to take Albania, several days before he did move in. Publicly, of course, Chamberlain said 'No, mo-" Each small country figures 1t might be the next Albania RAsf informed Gfafa nnna rfYnAYf