Evening star., 1939-04-16

QueIlI spectacular mOVcS-Cle recall OF
the American Ambassador from Berlin;
the lashing given by Undersecretary
| Welles to DR.. Thomson, the German
Charge d'Affaires in Washington on the
occasion OF his protest against Secretary
1ckes' speech the speech of President
Roosevelt on January 4, etc. These ac-
tions were designed to intimidate Ger
many.
Reliable reports from Rome and Ber-
lin indicated that despite the noncha-
lance of the dictators to the admins
tration's verbosity and the general iso-
lationist manifestations from the Capt.
tai and the rest of the country, the
dictators were worried. They know the
emotionalism of the American people
might under certain circumstances be
channeled from isolation to aggression.
And whatever the German and the 1tal-
ian newspapers may say, whatever scorn-
full attitude Hitler and Mussolini may
adopt toward the United States, both
men realize that their chances of wag-
ing successful "blitzkrieg" lightning
war )in Europe would be reduced 80 per
cent once the U. S. A. decided to side
with Great Britain and France.
U. S. Officials Get Surprise.
But what amazed our high officials
was the fact that it was from London
that the advice to the Germans came
not to worry too much over what Mr..
Roosevelt or other American statesmen
might say. Mr.. Chamberlain was so
convinced that his appeasement policy
was correct that he was worried lest it
be torpedoed by the impulsive President
OF the United States To him, as to
many other people in the City, Mr..
Roosevelt is dynamic phenomenon who
acts more by impulse than reflection.
While the Germans were gobbling up
slice after slice of Central Europe, rep
resentatives of the F. B. I. Federation
OF British Industries) were in Berlin try
Ing to come to commercial agreements
with the German industrial groups.
Moreover, it is known that financial in
stitutions in the City were helping Ger
many. They were not helping the Ger
man government to finance the Reichs
rearmament by means of short credits,
cial transactions with German banks,
which today are just part of the Ger
man government. The distinction is
thin, but sufficient to enable the British
bankers to take advantage of it and
make little coin during the crisis
The advice from Washington to Lon
don and Paris to adopt stiff attitude as
soon as 1t was obvious that the Munich
agreement had but whetted the appe-
tites of the dictators was ignored by
Messrs. Chamberlain and Bonnet The
latter complained bitterly to Americans
who visited him in Paris-including this
writer-that the attitude of the United
States Government and press was jeop-
ardizing the peaceful endeavors of Eu-
ropes statesmen.
Party Politics Injected.
Some British and French statesmen
shared the views frequently expressed in
this country that Mr.. Roosevelt was
pushing toward war in order to reap
personal internal political advantages
on the eve of another presidential cam
paign.
The President clearly expressed what
| he had in mind in his conference with
, members of the Senate and House Mill
tary Affairs Committees. This CONVEX
| sation was reported in an indirect form
| in February release of this column
| The President told the legislators that
! the onward march of the dictatorships
will eventually jeopardize the well-being
OF the American people. He emphasized
| that the Atlantic and Pacific coasts are
no longer the boundaries of this coun-
try; that every time country in South
eastern Europe or in Eastern Europe or
in Asia as far as the Persian Gulf loses
| its political or economic independence
to the totalitarian states, there is so
much work lost to our factories. That
we might have to go to war to protect
our exports was the corollary.
After the occupation of Prague, Presi-
dent Roosevelt expressed himself to those
| In touch with Premier Chamberlain in
realistic terms. The method used by Hit
Ter to obtain President Hachas signature
ceding Czecho-Slovakia had irked the
President The former Czech President
was rushed at midnight to Hitler's chan
celery. The Fuehrer received him with
cold politeness. A document surrender
ing the country to Germany was on Hit
ler's desk; he signed it and left the
room without saying another word.
Hacha was left in the room with Field
Marshal Goering and Her Won Ribben-
trop. Both men worked" on him for al
most two hours to induce him to put
his name under Hitler's on his country's
| death warrant. When Hacha displayed
resistance, Goering showed him an or
der to the German aviation to reduce
Prague to cinders at am. Hacha
| signed.
"Stop Hitler" Move Followed.
What the actual message from Mr.,
Roosevelt to Mr.. Chamberlain was prob
ably will never be disclosed. But the
effect was that the British Premier
rushed Immediately to organize the
stop Hitler" front endeavoring to enlist