LADDER FOR HITLER?

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 78, 29 September 1938, Page 8

LADDER FOR HITLER?

"Can a Dictator afford to climb down?" is one of many questions posed in the cablegrams —possibly the most pressing and important of ajl. President Roosevelt's latest appeal to Europe, in the form of a cabled message addressed to Herr Hitler alone, indicated covertly that a Dictator should be able to climb down if a face-saving ladder is built for him; and stated overtly that the best ladder is "a conference of all nationals directly interested in the controversy." While the President was writing in this sertse, the British Prime Minister, following up his logical and convincing broadcast, was making further appeals to Herr Hitler, and finally to Signor Mussolini, with the result that a Four Powers Conference (Germany, Italy, France, Britain) will be held in Munich today, September 29, attended by the Fuhrer, the Duce, M. j Daladier, and Mr. Chamberlain. The President's face-saving and time-, saving move will rank with Mr. Chamberlain's persuasive logic as^ brilliant thirteerith-hour efforts to, apply the brakes to a machine which, it is to be feared, may be already in motion. The zero hour of mobilisation may or may not be deferred because of the conference. Herr Hitler: has shown that he can afford to have another talk before going to extremes; but whether as a Dictator he can afford to climb down is a question still unanswered. If the Fuhrer's problem involved only the logic of the immediate Czechoslovakian situation, the British and American case would be unanswerable. The Fuhrer can have his immediate demand without war. Mr. Chamberlain tells Herr Hitler: "You can get all the essentials without war and without delay." The President says: "All matters of difference between the German Government and Czechoslovakia could, and should, be settled by pacific methods." But forces actuating Herr Hitler travel far beyond the immediate Czechoslovakian situation and its logical implications. He has been caught up in the strains and stresses of the machine which he built himself, which pays no deference, to logic, and which is governed by shifting expediencies. It is a soulless machine from which no one can expect a soulful result. In his last appeal to Herr Hitler, sent simultaneously with the personal message to Signor Mussolini, Mr. Chamberlain said: "I feel convinced that we [the four Powers Conference] could reach an agreement in a week." And the conference could, if the immediate Czechoslovakian situation were the whole story. But it is not. The conference shows that a Dictator on the brink can still spare another minute to confer —and this is satisfactory so far as it goes —but whether he can accept the offered ladder, or any other ladder, remains in doubt, though the weekend outlook is faintly brightened by the gleam of hope that is kindling in Munich its uncertain ray.