Evening star., 1940-12-29
IF Hitler Should Win
Wars Outcome Will Work Vital Economic Changes in u. S.


on December 10. On that point there
| is agreement between him and his
enemies. Two systems of government,
of economics, of life, are in deadly con-
f1ict, and the world that will emerge
| after the struggle, whatever its outcome,
will be vastly different world from that
of today.
Whether we get into the war or not,
whether the British Empire goes under
or not, this country will be profoundly
affected. Changes are IN store that may
run from top to bottom of the whole
social and economic structure. Changes
are already in evidence as the country
prepares feverishly for its defense.
Under neither passive nor bellig-
erent policy toward the relationships,
nor by any middle-ground policy, can
the United States hope to immunize
itself against the consequences of their
acts. In any case, we face future dark
| with uncertainty. Daily it becomes
more evident that the processes of
democracy are, and for the whole pre-
dictable future will be, on trial 1t Is not
| too much to say that our capacity to
survive as nation dedicated to repre-
sentative democracy is being put to the
| test.
| Hitler has issued his challenge to the
democratic system. Our capacity for
work is our gold, our capital" he says,
| land with it we will defeat the entire
world" That is to say, he seeks to bring
Qhnlt the nrnnnrpip dntTipo 10 tipp nf he
world by Germany. The military drive
| for power is but the necessary prelude
| to the drive for the economic overload
ship of the Nazi principle. 1t is this
| fact which makes this war-in the
| opinion of the policy makers of the
| American Government-more than a
clash of rival imperialisms makes it,
instead, a -snd-death struggle be-
tween conflicting ways of life. Hitlerism,
in this view. is a revolutionary movement
seeking to engulf the world, the Western
| Hemisphere included.
Aid to Britain Increases
On this premise, with which appar-
emily the majority of the American
people are in agreement, is based our
policy of aid to Great Britain. The ques-
tion in the minds of the people is to
what extent this aid should be given
| The question exists also in the collective
mind of the Government: how 1t will
be resolved depends on events and their
impact on public opinion.
Step by step, the scope of our aid to
Great Britain has been increased The
reason for this can be found not in SEN
timent, but in the conclusion to which
our policy-makers have come upon con-
sideration of the various ways in which
the war can end and the effect of each
of these ways on the United States
| The war can end in a Hitler victory
either through the complete collapse of
the opposition or through negotiated
peace, or it can end in the defeat of
Hitler, Or it can end virtually in a stale
mate. But to say this is only to scratch
the surface of the possibilities. 1t can end
| in negotiated peace that would leave
the British fleet intact and under NOM
inal British command, and yet, as the
quid pro quo, require the integration of
British economy with the German in a
manner that would strangle the foreign
trade of the United States in every
quarter of the globe 1t can end in
negotiated reace that would leave British
sea power intact-and it may be, some
observers think, that if England survives
the next few months and gives promise,
with American aid, of prolonging the
war to the point of German exhaustion,
Germany will be ripe for a peace of this
kind. Wishtul thinking perhaps, but
so is most of the thinking about the
war at this time
The war can end in dozen different
ways, on dozen different degrees of
victory or defeat for England But
how it will end is not the point The
point is first, that however it may end,
worldwide confusion lies ahead, from the
effects of which the United States can
not escape; and, second that the worst
possible way in which, it can end, from
the point of view of our cold, hard self
| interest, is German victory that would
give Germany the command of the seas
Aid to Britain Fights That.
The objective of American foreign
| policy in aiding Great Britain is to pre-
| vent that outcome of the war.
1t is an objective founded on the
| administrations concept of the material
interests of the United States
How would a German victory with
German sea supremacy affect the United
States7
To begin at the end this is the answer
Or large part of it-as given by the
leading men of the Government-and,
it might be added, by Wendell Willkie,
whose patriotic refusal to make an issue
of the administration foreign policy
was one of the high lights of the presl-
dental campaign: Domination of the
seas by Hitler would produce, in either
OF the two contingencies we should then
face, new and drastic set of Govern
ment controls, and these would bring
about-gradually perhaps but certainly
in the long run-a greater degree of regi-
mentation than we have dreamed of.
The result in either case would be near
approach to, if not a complete accept
ance of, some form of State socialism
This probably would be, under the stress
and strain caused by the revolutionary
change in our economy and by the heavy
burden of ornaments, form far from
beneficent