Morgan County Democrat. (McConnelsville, Ohio) 1886-1943, 1940-08-01
LAST CALL FOR PEACE

Germany's peace offer was pre-
sumably anticipated and refused by
Prime Minister Churchill when in
his speech five days earlier he said
that Britain would seek no peace
terms, tolerate no parleys, and ask
for no mercy Is Hitler's offer gen
uine or trick? 1t might be either
Is it for export or for home con-
sumption? 1t is probably for both
If the war goes on, the speech will
convince the German people that
the blame lies entirely with Winston
Churchill and other British war
leaders Yet Hitler for the first
time had an English translation Of
what he was to say prepared for
broadcasting as he spoke, and the
excellent English version is being
put on the air repeatedly to give
it as wide a circulation in Great
Britain as possible. That does not
look as though the speech had been
intended entirely for home con-
sumption, as suspicious Britons
have been suggesting.
For suspicion of any word or ges-
ture from Berlin the British have
ample justification, yet general
survey of the war suggests that it
may perhaps have reached a logical
point for reconsideration-a point
at which both sides, if they could
talk things over, might find it more
advantageous to conclude even a
surly peace than to take the final
plunge. over the Niagara of a war to
the finish
Some of Hitler's reasons for want
ing peace were outlined in his speech,
and they are at any rate plausible.
He wants to get on with his grandi-
ose plan for the reconstruction and
economic rehabilitation of Europe
with which continuation of the war
with Great Britain interferes. That
would be as big a task as any states
man ever undertook; it might well
last the fuehrer a lifetime, for not
even he can manage blitzpeace.
1t is credible that he may now
be more interested in beating all
records of political reconstruction
and the restoration Of prosperity
than in going on with a war which
has already given him plenty Of
military glory Moreover, his pro-
fession of not desiring the destruc-
ton of the British empire may now
possibly be sincere, if not consistent
with his earlier dreams and hopes,
and is not unlikely to reflect also
the views of his economic advisers;
for the construction of new world
there are none too many stable
building blocks left. That this view
prevails in Italy is generally believ-
ed
For Great Britain, of course,
peace would be much harder to ac-
cept, for even if the terms were ne
gOtiated in reasonable spirit, on
the basis of a still undefeated Brit
ain, there could be no denying that
Hitler had won the war. At London
it is being said that the speech con-
tanned nothing new, but the offer,
nevertheless, differs from that of
last October in having been made
after an amazing series of smashing
victories which have wholly changed
the face of Europe and greatly al
tered Britain's propects for the
worse.
Last October the declared war
aims of the allies were to overthrow
Hitler and Hitlerism, to restore PO-
land, and to protect the countries
threatened with attack. The French
alliance no longer exists, and the
status quo which the allies were
fighting to preserve has probably
gone past recall, while the war thus
far had presumably strengthened,
rather than weakened, Hitler's posi-