PRESIDENT RETICENT

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 77, 28 September 1938, Page 14

PRESIDENT RETICENT

BORAH'S ADVICE

PEACE AT ANY PRICE

(Received September 28, 2.30 p.m.) NEW YORK, September 27.

President Roosevelt and his Cabinet were in conference for two hours at Washington considering Herr Hitler's reply to the President and Mr. Chamberlain's speech, after which the President, addressing an exceptionally large gathering of journalists, said that he could only repeat what he had already said before, "I hate war." Pressed to expand the statement he would only add that he was against evil and for peace, but after that he countered- every other question concerning the crisis and cautioned journalists againsi speculating in any way as to what was in his mind He declined to comment on a Paris report that he intended to dispatch a new Note to France or whether he would offer his services as a mediator or further communicate with President Benes and Herr Hitler. He added that the replies to his first message spoke for themselves. The State Department attaches, howover, commented privately in regard {to Mr. Chamberlain's statement that it had clarified the situation substantially and indicated clearly that Herr Hitler had increased his demands between the two conferences of Berchtesgaden and Godesberg. Unofficial comment on Herr Hitler's reply to President Roosevelt shows disappointment but no surprise at the Fuhrer's failure to accept negotiation as a method of settlement of the Sudeten problem. Senator Borah, in a statement, said that he disapproved of Hitler's methods, but his claims were fair. The Senator advocated the return of all that is German" and Hungarian in Czechoslovakia and Rumania to Germany and Hungary, and that peace should be made at any price. Press comment reflects a note of unhappy waiting and not much hope of a peaceful solution. The "New York Sun" stresses the view that Herr Hitler's reply serves notice on the world that he intends to stand firmly on his policy towards Czechoslovakia, even though it should mean war It concludes: "Unless somebody gives way, war seems inevitable." The "New York World-Telegram" says: "The tragedy of the American position is that as t. peacemaker she labours under a terrific handicap of which Herr Hitler is well aware, that once the war begins we have laws to stop us from helping Czechoslovakia, Britain, and France. He knows that under the Neutrality Act we could not legally send five cents' worth of buckshot either to England or France even if it would turn the scales of war in ! their favour, that under the Johnson Act we could not legally lend them ten cents if ten cents would save them from bankruptcy and defeat."