Evening star., 1940-06-15
The Record Speuks-

ASKED at MS press conference YES
terday if he cared to comment on
newspaper interview with Adolf Hit
Ter in which the Fuehrer said it is
groteSque for Americans to fear Ger
man ambitions and denied that he
has any territorial or political inter-
est in the American continent. Pres
1dent Roosevelt replied: mo, but it
brings up recollections." These
recollectionS, he said, could be eX-
panded by citing dates and nations.
What the President meant, of
course, is that Hitler,s long record of
broken pledges makes anything that
he might say unworthy of belief.
And on that score, the record speaks
for itself.
Shortly after coming to power in
1888, Hitler said in a speeL' at
Berlin: The first and best point of
the governments program is that we
won't lie and we won't swindle."
In 1884 Hitler said: The assertion
that the German Reich plans to
coerce the Austrian state is absurd
and cannot be substantiated or
proved. The assertion from the
Austrian government that from the
side of the Reich an attack would be
undertaken or planned I must en-
phatically reject" Despite this assur-
ance Germany invaded and annexed
Austria to the Reich.
On May l, 1888, Hitler said: "The
motto must be, Never war again."
On September 26 of that year he
added: The Sudetenland is the last
territorial claim which I have to
make in Europe. have assured Mr..
Chamberlain, and I emphasize it
now, that when this problem is
solved Germany has no more terri
torial problems in Europe" On
March Is, 1899, after he had been
given the Sudetenland, Germany
seized Czecho-Slovakia and on March
2l Memel was annexed.
On January 80, 1887, Hitler said:
Il do not want to leave any doubt as
to the following: We look upon Boil
shevism as upon an intolerable dan
ger to the world; we shall try to keep
this danger away from the German
people by every means at our COM
mand. -" = Any treaty links between
Germany and the present-day Boil
shevist Russia would be without any
value whatsoever. - The period of
so-called surprises is now over" On
August 81, 1899, Germany signed it's
pact with Russia.
On February 20, 1888, Hitler said:
THE Polish state respects the ma
tional conditions in this country, and
Danzig and Germany respect Polish
rights. Thus it has been possible to
find the way to an understanding
which has succeeded in remov-
Ing all friction between Germany
and Poland" On April %, 1899. he
added: Il have never ceased to up-
hold the view that the necessity of
free access to the sea for the Polish
state cannot be ignored" On Sep
tember l of that year Germany in
vaded Poland.
A few weeks ago the Associated
Press in a dispatch from New York
published reports of German troop
movements toward the Dutch border.
This was emphatically denied in
Berlin with the assertion that the
Reich had no hostile designs against
Holland-a denial that was issued
even as the German invasion of the
LoWlandS was under way
These broken promises, running
throughout the entire course of Hit
ler's regime, add up to but one con-
clusion-the American people cannot
afford safely to believe anything
that he says. And it follows that
Hitler'S disavoWal of any interest,
political or territorial, in this CONT
nent-and there will be more such
disclaimers in the future as his prop
aganda machine strives to under
mine our sre-armament Efforts
should be read in the light of his
false assurances to other peoples in
the past.
While Hitler, following his familiar
pattern, seeks to lull thoroughly JUS
titled apprehensions in this country,
1t is possible, even probable, that the
real German intentions toward
America were revealed in an inter-
view in New Orleans yesterday by
Baron Edgar Won Spiegel, German
Consul General for the Southern
States. The baron, U-boat COM
mander in the World War, with
characteristic German arrogance,
was quoted as saying: Germany
will not forget that when she was
fighting bitterly for her very life, the
United States gave every material
aid to her enemies" After Germany
has won this war, he continued, the
United States may beg for trade
and commerce with the new empire
and get none"
Ignoring the gross impropriety of
such statements, comments which