Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1941-06-06

German Foreign Office Through
the largest bay window I have ever
seen the snow sheeted Alps seemed
startlingly close and white as an
timony in the spring sunshine. Far
| down, the green valley was polka
dotted with spring flowers The dis
tant silhouette of Salzburg looked
vague and f1uttering against a
cumulus cloud embankment. like q
phantom city.
I was met in the hallway OF the
berghof by Herr Hewel and a captain
aide. I distinguished a portrait of
Bismarck as we went down pas
sageway and through doors to an
oblong room of great height. length
and breadth We descended three
steps. At the opposite end of the
hall another stairway, with iron
balustrate. leads to the only other
exit. a Roman arched doorway
The whole color scheme has a
garnet tint-the carpet, the marble
steps and the coverings of furniture.
On both white plaster walls there
are swaStikas. tapestries and paint
ings of reclining nudes. The wood
work and the paneling on the ceiling
are of shellacked oak. l noticed an
oak table, a piano and bust of
Wagner. There were Gala lilies and
carnations on the table and hydran-
geas in a bowl A clock struck
noisily during our conversation.
I told the Fuehrer that the pri-
mary cause of opposition to Ger
many in the United States was
based on the sentiment that the
security of the Western Hemisphere
was threatened by German agrees
sion. People argued that German
conquest might go on and on and
the next logical field for German
military adventure was the two
American continents. He laughed
at that and refused to take me
seriously. He said the idea OF a
Western Hemisphere invasion was
about as fantastic as an invasion OF
the moon.
Calls 1t Story of WarmOngers.
I replied that. fantastic or not, an
eventual attack by Germany on
the Americas was feared by large
number of thoughtful American
people. He could not believe it, he
persisted. because he had too high
an opinion of the intelligence and
good sense of Americans,
He said he was convinced this
invasion story was put out by war
mongers against their better knowl-
edge. men who wanted war in the
belief it would be profitable for
buSineSS-an erroneous conception
since the last great war had demon
strated that war vas ruinouS to
business.
He said that the German high
command considered an invasion
of either American continent to
be wildly imaginary and he was
confident that Army and Navy
chiefs in the United States shared
the same views as the German
military authorities.
Why" he asked. do not the
British send more troops to Greece
and Africa" He answered his
own question by saying i. was be-
cause sufficient transports were not
available although the distances
were comparatively short.
The combined shipping tonnage
of Britain. the United States and
Germany would be hopelessly in
adequate. he insisted, to transport
an army of millions which would
be required for a successful con-
quest of the Western Hemisphere.
Attack onsU. 5. Called Unthinkable.
The German Army he went on
was not concerned with military
expeditions for the sake of showing
off or in order to demonstrate that
nothing was impossible for German
arms. At present these armed
forces are concerned with an attack
of 100 kilometers over open water,
in the case of Crete. And England
is separated from the continent by
only 40 kilometers of open water.
If the Crete enterprise has seemed
difficult he said, an attack over
1000 kilometers of open Water. as
would be the case with the United
States. is simply unthinkable.
He said he had never heard any
body in Germany say that the
Mississippi River was German
frontier in the same spirit that the
Prime Minister of Australia had re-
ferred to the Rhine as a frontier
of that country. But, since the
Rhine was their frontier. he had de-
cided to send some Australian pris-
oners to that famous German river
so that they might acquaint them
selves with the frontier atmosphere.
Hits Economic Menace Claim.
He assured me that Germany had
too many serious problems in Eu-
rope ever to give any thought to
an American invasion. I told Herr
Hitler that many people shared his
view that the Atlantic offered too