Askov American., 1939-05-04
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW

Continued from Page u
be called so-was that Hitler still
clings to the Danzig and the Polish
Corridor policy.
No Polite Refusal.
On April Is, President Roosevelt
sent to Mussolini and Hitler a cable
gram asking them to agree solemnly
not to attack 81 specified countries
for period of ten or more years,
these countries then reciprocating by
pledging themselves not to attack Ger
many and Hitler, and when all that
had been arranged, conference was
to be called to perpetuate the ar
rangement.
Mussolini soon thereafter declined
the invitation to take part in such
an agreement, and branded the plan
as preposterous and absurd.
| And now Hitler had his say about
it. 1t, to, was a refusal and not a
polite one, by any means, for he sub
| jected the president of the United
States to such torrent of ridicule,
abuse, sarcasm and downright insult
as has rarely before been seen in the
intercourse between nations.
But he did not completely close
the door, for he said that although
he could not possibly accept the the
ory that he-and Mussolini-be ex-
pected to proffer peace guarantees
to the 81 nations, he would gladly
undertake negotiations with them to
that effect, provided they, individ-
ually, would come to him and accept
whatever terms he might find it wise
to suggest!
Striking Back.
AS speaker and an arguer, Hitler
was in his best form; he was logical,
he was forceful, and he showed his
skill in singing out the most vulner-
able, the weakest, spots in the armor
of the democratic great powers. They
he showed-had themselves done all
the very things which they charged
Germany with wanting to do; they
had gone to war, time and again
since the days of the Versailles peace
treaty, and repeatedly, they had re-
sorted to arms in intervening in the
affairs of other nations-and at this
point he specifically mentioned that
the American escutcheon was by no
means spotless-but during all that
time Germany had shed no blood, and
if it had annexed additional terri
tory, it was merely in the natural
process of uniting it with the Water
land to which such territory originally
belonged. That part of Hitler's plea
fable criticism when one remembers
the recent fate of Austria and Czecho-
slovakia, and there was also a flaw
in his alignment of Germany's i'm
munity from wars for a period of
twenty years, for German troops,
authorized by Hitler, certainly did
take part in the Spanish civil war.
But, aside from that, and on the
whole, he was standing on pretty
firm ground.
Still more powerful was his reason
ing when he called attention to the
fact that in 1919 Germany was COM
PEELED to disarm with the express
| Versailles peace treaty. understand
ing, clearly outlined in the document
itself, that such action was to be
considered the prelude to general
disarmament of all other nations AS
soon, he said, as Germany had been
disarmed-under the vigilant eyes of
the victorious powers-they them
selves began to rearm as they had
never before in history rearmed.
That made it necessary for Germany
to build up its defenses, and to ignore
the Versailles treaty, as its own au-
thors themselves had done it.
Effects.
Attempts to gauge the possible eff
feet of the Hitler speech were nu-
merous and instantaneous, and while
opinions about it were pretty sharply
divided, and while there were some
fears of it's ultimate implications, it
was, generally speaking, felt that it
might have been good deal worse.
For one thing, it did not contain a
single direct threat against any other
nation; it did not-seemingly-pose
new questions to be answered by arms
only
There was, of course, the reference
to Danzig and the Polish Corridor,
now repeated. That Danzig, thor
oughly German city, will once more
and soon-become an incorporated
part of the Reich may be said to be
above doubt and there is no reason
to believe that anyone will very SER
iously object. AS for the concessions
demanded in the Corridor, they had
for their purpose broad lane con-
Meeting Germany proper with East
Prussia, and although Poland right
now objects to this quite strenuously,
it is not thought that an important
enough issue has been raised here