Evening star., 1940-02-26
Prologue

Herr Hitler have staged more use
ful prologue for Summer Welles'
mission OF exploration than the
speeches delivered Saturday by the
British Prime Minister and the
German Chancellor.
It is true that neither said any
thing particularly new. But the
Importance Of each utterance lies in
the fact that it presumably reflects
the up-to-the-minute attitude of the
respective belligerents and is there
fore the one which will be put be-
fore the American Undersecretary of
State when he visits Berlin this week,
and Paris and London soon after
wards. There is little doubt that the
Prime Minister at Birmingham and
Der Fuehrer at Munich had Mr..
Welles conspicuously, II not mainly,
in mind, in laying allied and German
cards on the table again at this par
ticular moment.
Chamberlain and Hitler alike
spoke in characteristic vein. Def
ance, confidence and resolution were
the keynotes of both speeches,
though the cool-headed Prime Minis
ter reaff1rmed allied war aims without
breathing fire and birthstone, while
Der Fuehrer, animated by the occa-
sion-the twentieth anniversary Of
the Nazi party's foundation-dwelt
upon Germany's purposes In terms
| OF familiar turbulence. Outstanding
in an otherwise typically Hitlerian
harangue were the Chancellor's re-
version to the old Hohenzollern
battle cry of "Gott NIT Uns" and his
boast of Divine cooperation in Ger
tain victory over Germany's enc
| mics.
What will interest Mr.. Welles most
In this latest torrent of Nazi ebul-
| Hence is Hitler's cry that Germany
will fight until the terror of the
plutocracies has been broken-until
annihilation of the idea that God
made thea world for Englishmen
alone and that one or two peoples of
the earth should have everything"
Here Der Fuehrer Is ringing the
changes for the hundredth time on
Germany's "have not" claims-for
"living space" for colonial restora-
ton and generally for that elbow
room to which she has helped her
self so brutally by force during the
past two years, successfully in Aus
tria, Czecho- -Slovakia and Poland.
Mr.. Chamberlain might almost
have known in advance the text of
Hitler's Munich address, so specific
ally were It's principal arguments met
at Birmingham earlier in the day.
The allies are not at war either to
destroy Germany or deny. her people
their rightful place in q peace
minded world, the Prime Minister
said, as he has so often said before.
Britain and France, on the contrary,
once trustworthy government has
supplanted the Nazi regime, stand
ready to pledge the Reich economic
| justice" and specific aid in "the
difficulties bound to accompany the
transition from war to peace" But
preceding such cooperation in
new order" which must include
gradual disarmament, the rule OF
force and spirit of aggression by
which the Nazis live and would gov
ern must be abandoned, root and
branch.
Each Of the German and British
leaders on Saturday was talking for
home consumption, the primary
necessity Of the belligerent govern
ments at this time being to sustain
morale alike on the domestic and
military fronts. Around the confer
ence table at which one day they
must meet, different tune will be
piped, certainly If victor faces van
quished there, but even sooner, If
exploratory missions like Mr.. Welles'
should happily lead to peace discus
sions before total war" drenches all
concerned in cruel, senseless and
incalculable bloodshed. If our I'm
dersecretary Of State is made the
repository Of complete candor by
allied, German and Italian states
men, the United States Government
should speedily know whether peace
is an iridescent dream, or If there is
still wisdom enough left in a dis
tracted world to dissuade men from
that organized mass murder called
war as an instrument of settling in
ternational differences.
The curtain is about to rise upon
as momentous a drama as Gods be-
wildered children have ever wit
messed. For even the completely
non-committal role their country has
chosen to enact in it, the American
people pray for full measure of
success. They await Mr.. Welles'
probings hopefully, If without un-
warranted optimism.
|
| Americans are not q vindictive
people, yet many are thinking that
II the allies win this time they ought
to stage that victorious parade
L ~ L. u