Evening star., 1940-03-03
Spectacular Moves for Peace
May Follow Return of Welles
Undersecretary Plausibly Could Set Stage for
Meeting of Big Powers, With American
Gold Reserve as Bait
By Constantine Brown.

Now that Undersecretary of State Sum-
ner Welles has landed in Europe, the story
OF the why's and wherefores of his trip
can be revealed without endangering
his mission. The results of his talks
are not yet definitely known, but there
is strong possibility that on his return
there will be some spectacular peace
moves which might bring an armistice
earlier than most optimists believe pos
sible.
President Roosevelt did not send his
No. diplomat on wild goose chase of
BRAIN picking in Europe. Neither did
the President have one of his frequent
outbursts OF enthusiastic optimism when
he spectacularly announced that the
Undersecretary of State was going to
Europe on an informative trip and that
he would communicate only to the White
House and Secretary Hull the results of
his investigation.
Origin of Welles' Trip.
What happened is this: Early in Feb
ruary Mr.. Roosevelt received from two
prominent British political men con-
ddential memorandum.
1t is reported that the writer's pointed
out to Mr.. Roosevelt that this war was
completely useless, and that even if the
allies won it, the financial, social and
economic consequences of it would be so
disastrous that there could be no thought
OF recovery for the next decade Conse-
quently, the writers said, even today,
when the war is more or less in full
swing, Great Britain would consider call
Ing its war dogs off provided Hitler
showed himself anywhere nearly reason
able. The British government, they felt,
would no longer insist that Hitler must
CO. because it realizes that the Fuehrer
is only standard bearer and the other
men who might succeed him would be
pledged to the same policies as the
Fuehrer. Hence peace based on re-
construction of Poland and Czecho-Slo-
vakia, not as they used to be, but mostly
as an eyewash to justify the efforts of
the allies during the last six months,
might form a possible basis for nego-
tiations. The economic and financial
reconstruction of Europe with the as
sistance of Americas Fort Knox gold
would be the paramount inducement to
all the belligerents to call this silly war;
off.
Hitler Receptive, Rome Hints.
There have been repeated hints from
Rome that the nom -belIgerent Duce had
been favoring such move and that he
had received indications from Berlin
that lust and equitable peace" mostly
for the big powers, would not be scorned
by Hitler. The German dictator en-
phasized that the Reich and the British
have been waging war of words since
the outbreak of the catastrophe, and the
action of the German subs and aviation
on the high seas has been a mild re-
taliation for what Britain was trying to
do to Germany. The damages inflicted
so far were, however, comparatively un-
important. Hitler, the diplomatic re-
ports from Rome said, was quite willing
to discuss peace on the basis of recon-
struction of Poland on a modest scale,
and some sort of settlement of the
Czecho-Slovak question in accordance
with arrangements to be reached be-
tween the interested great powers.
All these things put together deter
mined Mr.. Roosevelt to attempt direct
effort for peace. In the past his efforts
have been aimed publicly at the heads
of the various governments and they
naturally have failed. Superlative diplo-
macy must be carried out behind closed
doors-otherwise the men who are the
heads of nations are on the spot when
1t comes to the question of compromises
and concessions.
Mr.. Roosevelt is firmly convinced that
had he ever been able to gather the
heads of the various states together