Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-08-31
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW
Continued from Page u
European Thunder.

Inc IuIilDllflSS Oh War ulCTedSeu
When Sir Neville arrived in London
he appeared before cabinet meet
ing, later had a private conversation
with Chamberlain, still later, one
with the king. During the anxious
hours of Saturday, August &c, null
titude of rumors came via cables ano
air waves indicating that the Brit
ish government would not accede tC
Hitler's demands. That was prema-
ture, for in reality the government
reached no decision that day.
Hitler, apparently fearing the pos
sible repercussions of his own words
suddenly-that same day-cancellec
the speech he had intended to de-
liver on Sunday at Tannenberg ir
commemoration of the German worlc
war victory over the Russians; he
even called off the Nuremberg meet
ing of the National Socialist party
the greatest mass event in present
day Germany.
And, lastly, he sat down to write
a seven-page letter to Edouard Dali
adler, premier of France-a most un-
usual thing for the Fuehrer to do
In that letter he made an outright
and public claim for Danzig and the
Corridor; he made it clear that thi:
represented his minimum, and thai
he would fight if he couldn't get thai
territory in any other way-old Ger
man territory as he, rightly by the
way, called it.
Stiffening Attitude.
It was quite obvious that the Brit
ish statesmen were in no mood tc
compromises they were last yeal
at Munich when they, expertly aidec
by Mussolini and Daladier, helped
Hitler with the beginning partition
of Czechoslovakia-a job which he
singlehanded completed five month!
ago. This time they were not tt
be bluffed, and they wouldn't bluff
themselves. They meant business.
There were more conferences or
August 81, and there was an ever in.
creasing dread and danger of a new
general conflagration, for everyone
knew that if war started, it woulc
be impossible to localize it,
Door Kept Ajar.
Then on August %, the British
government met once more and pu
the final touches to its answer t.
Hitler. That answer was carried
back to Berlin by Sir Neville who
once more went off by airplane. II
effect, it said that Great Britain
would stand by Poland, should wal
begin; the British government coulc
not concede Germany's right to Danzi,
and the Corridor but insisted tina
the problem was not one that neces.
sarily demanded a military solution
A door was kept ajar; the prospec
of further negotiations was danglee
before Hitler.
At the time when Sir Neville wa
flying to Berlin with the momentum
British reply, Mussolini suddenly de-
prived Count Galeazzo Ciano, of tn,
foreign minister's post and assumed
it himself; in that capacity he sen
Dino Grandi, former Italian ambas.
sador to Great Britain, back to Lon.
don whit was understood-a pro
posal to settle the conflict at five.
power conference.
Other Powers.
Mussolini, it would appear, hasn'
been at all pleased by Hitler's non.
aggression treaty with Russia; tina
may explain the fact that he ha:
been rather unusually silent, and tina
he has not made any extraordi-
nary preparations for sudden warfare
1t is by no means sure that Hitler car
count on Mussolini in case of ar
armed conflict at this time.
There have been other OBJECTIONS
Hitler was quite certain that he coulc
depend on Spain, but General Franco
sent word that Spain would remain
neutral in any crisis now; there hac
also been the hope that Turkey, Hun
gary and Yugoslavia might be
counted on to line up with Germany
These hopes were shattered by defin-
lite declarations by the governments al
Ankara, Budapest and Belgrade or
Monday of this week. Turkey wanted
to remain on the Anglo-French side
of the fence, Hungary and Yugoslavia
preferred neutrality.
And Japan-that Japan which Ger
many had enticed into an alliance
with Italy, Spain and Hungary against
Soviet Russia? Japan changed its
cabinet to make sure there would be
a closer contact with Great Britain
and the United States.
In other words-TIitler was at the
beginning of this week left pretty
much alone. BY signing his treaty
with Russia he had accomplished thai
very isolation of Germany which he
accused other powers of perpetrat-
ing against his country.
Fears of War.
For several days the fear of wal
has been deep and intense, and al
the moment of writing one cannot
say that the outcome of the crisi:
will be war or peace. Possibilitie:
in favor of war are about ten tc
one, but there is still the hope thai
the one chance for peace will over
come the ten prospects of war. While