Evening star., 1941-05-20

employed inside David Lawrence.
this country and from overseas by
radio.
Listening now for a long time to
Nazi broadcaSts especially directed
to people in the United States. OBJ
servers here find that Herr Hitler
not only fears American interven-
ton but is doing everything possible
to prevent 1t. This means that he
will not allow some isolated event
to become provocative of war and
that the Nazi government will look
even upon the use of conveys as it
has looked upon the repeal of the
embargo and the passage of the
lend-leaSe blll-as steps that are
unfortunate but yet are not as grave
to the Nazi cause as would be an
American declaration of war.
What Herr Hitler hopes is that
he can keep Americas effort at its
present pace-interrupted frequently
bv strikes and paralyzed by the
many restrictions which a peace
time democracy necessarily imposes
on itself. If America were on a
war basis, there is always the dan
ger. from the Hitler viewpoint, that
America might become efficient
The greatest threat to Nazi victory
Is Americas industrial might. But
the relatively slow pace of America s
development is not at all a subject
for fear at Berlin. At the present
rate. the United States will not
reach the peak of her production
till some time in 1943, before which
time the Nazis hope to have soft
ened British resistance or made their
starvation blockade Of the British
Isles effective.
Broadcasts Emotional. -
The use of conveys II contlned 10
American ships would still not be
as dangerous to Berlin as the active
participation of the United States
Navy in the war. Under the flrst set
of circumstances only American flag
vessels would be protected. Under
conditions of actual war, the Amer
lean Navy would be pooled with the
British and all ships on the Allleo
side would be defended. Also the
American air forces would be joined
with the ROYAL Air Force II the
United States entered the war.
The Nazi shortWave broadcasts
are far more emotional in their ap-
peal to American public opinion TO
keep the United States out OF the
war than are the speeches OF the
isolationists here. Thus on last
Sunday night there was a Mothers
Day broadcast from Berlin directed
to American mothers. Some one IN
Berlin slipped up and didn't know
that Mothers Day happened on the
Sunday one week before, but any
way the maudlin program said not
a word about the concern that
might have been felt in September,
1889, for German mothers or for
Polish mothers who are the victims
of war started as a consequence of
Hitlers demand for territory from
Poland.
The address by an English-speak-
1Ilk NolSC uilSCl 4NoEI spun
sorship might have been written by
any American isolationist, but 1t
was far more eloquent in its de-
livery than any heard on this side,
The pressure to keep America out
of the war, as expressed by Berlin
broadcasts, is becoming sensational.
It serves to corroborate judgments
frequently voiced here that Presi-
dent Roosevelt could use naval con-
voys and seize Axis merchant ships
without the slightest possibility that
the Nazi government will ever de-
clare war.
If there is any declaring Of war
done, 1t will have to be by the
United States. Although there are
threats aplenty as to what might
occur If conveys are used, these are
merely vehicles of policy to deter
President Roosevelt from employing
conveys. When conveys are used,
1t will be found that Berlin will not
aggravate the situation by overt acts
or anything that might lead to war.
ClamOr VIII Rise.
After conveys are in use and still
the American shipments in British
ships are sunk, the clamor for our
actual participation in the war will
arise, especially as it will be con-
tended that American ships alone
are not adequate to carry the goods
10 Britain.
The risks the Nazis run in tor
pedoing any American ships are
well known in Berlin. Safe passage
for American vessels bound for the
Red Sea is taken for granted here.
Herr Hitler is relying on the divi-
sion of opinion inside the United
States to keep declaration of war
from ever being made. 1t is as
essential to Hitler victory that
the United States stay out Of the
war as it is that Britain be effec-
lively blockaded.
This outline of the Nazi strategy
happens to coincide with the sincere
conviction of many American isola-
tionists which is leading unhappily
to intolerant misconstruction of the
motives of many of the opponents
OF the administration foreign pol
icy. There was considerable
element opposed to American inter-
vention in 1917 but after the die was
cast the country became united. If
circumstances should arise requiring
actual participation in the war as
q means of defense for the United
States, 1t would not be surprising
II national unity came quickly after
q declaration of war.
It is significant that there Is
much more talk in Washington of
an outright declaration of war than
there used to be about measures
Of circumvention and "undeclared