Evening star., 1940-03-10

were tantamount to Britain abdicating
her privileged position as worlds trader
number one. He expounded to Mr..
RoOsevelt's representative that small ma
tions have no rhyme or reason for exist
ence. That they are and always will be
satellites of the European and American
planets and, in the last analysis, the
jockeying for position and the planets
for these satellites are among the chief
reasons for past, present and future
wars, 1t was not the territory of
Czecho- -Slovakia or Poland that Ger
many was seeking; to a great extent the
conquest of these nations has been an
economic burden on the Reich. But, so
long as they existed as independent units
they were used by one power against the
other, with the result of the present war.
Reich Would Dominate.
An ideal world, according to the Ger
man political-economic philosophy,
would be one in which the small states
are economically absorbed by the larger
ones. And since Europe east of the
Rhine is composed of such states, it is
only natural that Germany should
dominate them all. There were also
geographical explanations such as the
course of the Danube and its relation
shipsto the Rhine, etc. But fundamen.
tally the disappearance of the smaller
states was paramount requirement for
world peace.
Herr Hitler was more explicit. He did
not hide, apparently, behind any smoke
screen of gentility and diplomacy. He
was cordial with Mr.. Roosevelts repre-
sentative despite his obvious fatigue.
He did not try to make believe that he
thought that Mr.. Welles was in Europe
merely as superlative reporter. He in
dicated that he knew the Presidents de-
sire for peace and that he himself had
made every conceivable advance to the
allies before and after Poland was con-
quered.
Britain's Motives Questioned.
He described the British domination
of Europe as intolerable. So long as
Great Britain holds the key to the
Atlantic and the Pacific Oceans, through
the military positions she has at Gibral-
tar, Suez and Singapore. Germany will
not down arms. The Fueflrer does not
believe, and says SO bluntly, that Britain
is fighting for Poland or for other small
nations. She is fighting to maintain
what she has acquired over a period
of centuries when other nations were
either too weak or too careless to pre-
vent her dominating the world politi-
cally and economically. This must be
readjusted if peace is to be practical
on earth. And Britain had better take
advantage of the fact that the war
has not yet started, and agree to share
her colonies and other sources of raw
materials on friendly basis, before
the whole present capitalistic- c-democra-
tic system is smashed to smithereens.
France he considers not only an able
fighter, but victim of Britain's willy
diplomacy. And he is said to make a
sad face at the thought of how much
that innocent country will have to suffer
because of her association with the en-
pire across the channel. Germany wants
nothing from her neighbor across the
Rhine. The fact that she has an en-
pire in Africa, parts of which Italy
covets, is another matter which does
not interest the Fuehrer particularly.
All these minor details regarding a par
tition of the North African Empire should
be settler later at a general confer
ence-if and when such a conference
takes place. But in any case, this seems
to be the fundamental idea both in
Berlin and Rome: Since the totalitarians
cannot be defeated by force of arms,
why not strike bargain by negotia-
tions-in friendly spirit-rather than
accept the dictates of victors at later
date? SO much bloodshed, so much de-
struction could thus be avoided.