Evening star., 1941-10-03
With Whom Con Peace Be Negotiated, as
European Peoples Feel Yoke of Conqueror?

If the German armies left Hol-
land, Queen Wilhemina could
ride into The Hague in an open
car without an armed guard, and
Eduard Benes could walk into the
Hradcany palace among flowers,
arm in arm with Jan Masaryk,
without fearing a Czech shot.
Hitler cannot even walk freely in
Germany.
So where is peace? On which
side is law and order? Where is
the possibility of an association
of nations The association of
real national governments is in
London.
There can be no peace without
the consent of the people of all
nations, and no association of
nations without nations that can
associate themselves. So the first
essential step for a peace of any
kind, and an association of any
kind, would be that Hitler take
his armies off every inch of nom
German soil, that the chancellors
and sovereigns who have the con-
stitutional right and the popular
support whereby they can speak
for their people, be returned.
And that is what Mr.. Churchill
and Mr.. Roosevelt are fighting
for. That alone can bring peace,
and that cannot be achieved
without a British victory or the
fall of the Hitler regime, and its
substitution by a German gov
ernment which the people of Eu-
rope will trust, and with which
they would be willing to associ-
ate themselves.
Hitler Peace Impossible.
Hitler cannot make peace in
Europe, and no compromise with
Hitler can bring peace to Europe.
That Is not a matter of guess
work; 1t is a matter of daily rec
ord. Not all the power of COR
rupted and servile ruling class in
France, plus the German armies
and plus German offers of collab-
grafton, have brought peace to
France, because the people do not
accept Hitler or Hitler's collab-
orators. Nor do the people of
Czecho-Slovakia accept Hacha,
nor of Norway Quisling, and so
ad infinitum.
The Polish peasant is not a
warmonger, the Dutch burghers
were not warmongers. They want
peace. They are not even ideal
lists" They want, merely, to lead
a tolerable and decent life.
The ideals that are growing
into passion and fury have not
come from ideologies, but from
experience. Experience of Hit
ler's new order, experience of
Gestapos and Storm Troopers and
S. S. men, experience of pillage
and humiliation, experience Of be-
ing pushed around as sub
humans" A Czech peasant from
Pilsen has not less common sense
than Mr.. Cudahy, nor even a
broader mind or more vision.
Only he knows what he's got, and
he can't stick it. 1t isn't peace.
Can Gauge Results.
Suppose the President negoti-
ated peace that fastened Nazi-
ism on Europe? What does Mr..
Cudahy think would be the re-
action here, after the first
stunned moment? Does he think
the American people would ac-
cept either the administration
that did such thing. or the per-
sons that urged it7 People can
be confused in debates over poll
cies, but they can never be con-
fused about the results of policies,
for the results are tangible. The
Polish peasant accepted the de-
feat of Poland fairly philosoph-
ically when it came. He does not
accept it at all today, because he
knows what it means. So would
1t be with Americans.
No peace in the Goth century
can be negotiated" with illegiti-
mate or even legitimate govern
ments with Hitler at the table, be-
cause such a peace would have
to be enforced forever with guns
against mass risings, and, there
fore, would not be peace.
The peoples of Europe are
fighting for peace. They know
what peace is. 1t is constitutional
government, civil liberties and
law. Whether under kings or
prime ministers, 1t is democracy.
taeleased by the Bell Syndicate. Inc)