Henderson daily dispatch., 1940-05-11
Chamberlain Goes

| Neville Chamberlain's resignation
as British prime minister. III the
wake OF the debacle in Norway ana
other failures of his country TO
measure up in the conduct of the
war. was 4 patriotic act on his part
Even his enemies will accord 10 nm
the highest integrity of purpose OF
! his official acts both before ana
since hoSlilitieS broke last autumn.
Predictions were freely made at
the time that Chamberlain would
never finish the war with Germany
that he was too old and simply lack
| ed the fire and the daring to fight 4
desperate war, which the more
level-headed in his and other
countries knew this would be before
| il was over. 1t hes come to that, and
Britain today struggles with her
back to the wall for her existence rs
nation.
Chamberlain was all too willing 10
let well enough alone. AS long Is
the StalematS continued on the west
ern front. and other sectors were
comparatively quiet, he could get on
with his job The complaint against
him was that he was too ConScrva-
tive with human life. That is 4
most terrible thought to contemplate.
but wars are not fought with poker
chips and soft balls. And victorie;
are seldom won without offensive
campaigns. Certainly this one will
be no exception. what With barbar-
ianS on the enc side and pCacC-mind~
ed people on the other.
Winston Churchill, who takes tn"
reins from the hands of the retiring
prime minister. is also an old man.
but with mere bulldog tcnacity. more
boldnc>S and greater rcsoWcCfulncSS.
It is admittedly dCbatablc question
as TO whether the change has come
too late. but Churchill may be
counted IN to quicken the pace and
at least 10 put on the show Of fight
ing major war.
One thing that seems certain is
that the talkcd-of blood bath" is at
hand. As horrible as is the thought,
it is not difficult to follow the pre-
diction of the French military SpokeS-
man that the most gigantic battle
of all time" is imminent. Again
might is arrayed against right, as in
l914-I9I8. Right in the end Won
then. as it Will this time, but at
what un>pcakable cost only the COM
inc weeks and months will tell.
The thing that made Chamberlain
unable to cope with Hitler was that
he possessed too much humanitarian
ISM. With Hitler nothing counts
but his will to victory: with the re-
tired prime minister there was a
sense of civilized obligations.
Under Stanley BALDWIN and Neville
Chamberlain, Britain failed to take
the new Germany as seriously as
she should have. Likewise, she
neglected to take Hitler at his word
when he threatened Z total war TO
achieve his ends. While the NaZis
armed to the hilt as fast as possible
Britain, III characteristic elaboration,
continued to hope for right and rea-
son to prevail. But they have learn
ed row that those two words are no
part Of the Hitler vocabulary. He
doesn't speak that language. Like
the kaiser. who fomented World War
No. |, the only dialect he is &C
quainted with is that of force.
In the coming days and weeks,
the remaining neutral world will
watch with bated breath the events
that will move with lightning rapid
ity. Here in America we want none
Of this war, but neither did the
European dcmocracies. Yet they are
stepped in its blood-letting and'
hatred.
Throughout this land of ours and
other lands will ascend hcart-rend-
ing prayers to 4 righteous God that
we shall be spared this Gcthscmane,
and that the cup, if possible, soon
may pass from those who now are
already drinking its bitter drcgs.