The Wilmington morning star., 1940-01-11
WASHINGTON
DAYBOOK

Oo11s 4Vs-A AAC oulSS
lor of the German embassy in Washington
now seemingly in poor standing with the Nazi
regime, can give you a few fresh slants on the
European war.
In a three-column letter to the New York
Times, the former counsellor, Ernest Wilhelm
Meyer, cautions against thinking that Ger.
many will collapse easily, and suggests that
the Allies may have to revise their propagan,
da If they expect to undermine Hitler.
OF the need Of raw materials and the ef-
fectiveness of the blockade, he says:
"Only major land battles result in a very
large consumption Of copper, cotton, rubber,
ETC., and if under the protection of his West
wall, Hitler refra1ns from major land battles
his need for raw materials will be greatly
limited"
or the oft-expressed view that Goering is q
conservative with whom the Allies could ne
gotiate a peace if Hitler were removed, Meyer
says:
ITO regard Goering as a conservative is
tantamount to calling Gandhi a warmonper or
Trotsky a capitalist"
OF the Russian alliance, he says:
THE final attitude of Russia is undetermin-
ed; the chances Of ever closer cooperation
with Hitler's b~olsfSyized Germany are many
times greater than the opposite chances"
Propaganda Effective
Hitlers constant propaganda that Germany
wants not one inch Of French or English soil
is bound to have effect, says Meyer, especially
"hen British naval losses begin to increase,
as they may do with a sustained air attack.
After all, he says, no one knows yet just how
hard the fleet may suffer from the German
air attack.
However, Meyer voices a view held widely
here that a victory for Hitler would be both
a defeat for Germany and a defeat for Eu.
rope.
ut would be a defeat for Germany. for no
transitory increase of military and political
power could out-balance the definite destruc.
ton OF all the better qualities Of the German
nation as a result Of the national socialist
destruction OF law and justice; of political
freedom, replaced by political insincerity and
hypocrisy; of freedom of science, education,
art and press; of free labor and free enter
prise, of free worship, and of all Christian
ethical principles"
Germans Not Hated
So far Meyer has found no bitterness against
the German masses, either here or abroad, but
wonders whether the bombing of the big cities,
for another Furnishing Versailles. That, he
said, would bestir in Germany a desperate fear
OF an Allied victory.
mo help can come from telling the German
masses that the war Is conducted not against
Germany but only against Hitler. Although
tnis might be entirely true, nevertheless they
are tragically reminded Of 1914-1918, when
they were told that the war was conducted
only against the Kaiser. Yet after the Kaiser,
they got Versailles and Germany was dismem-
bered."
1t is true, he said, that opposition to Hitler
is developing within Germany into a solid
front, but the masses, including the conscript
army, will not turn against him without a
solid conviction that his presence is Germany's
worst liability.
Nothing would better clarity the situation
and promote peace by defeating Hitler" he
said, than the proclamation of about the fol.
lowing principles: (a) No change Of frontiers
except on the basis of self determination for
all, for Poles and Czechs, for Germans and
Austro-Germans; (b) establishment Of inter-
national law, enforceable for the first time in
human history because of establishment of an
international police force, larger than all priv
ate armies: (c) consolidation of some major
colonies into an international pool; (d) estab.
llshment of a European union-of the United
States of Europe"