STARTED WAR

Otago Daily Times, Issue 24261, 1 April 1940, Page 7

STARTED WAR

AMERICA BLAMED NAZI ALLEGATION BELATED DISCOVERY BUNDLE OF DOCUMENTS (United Press Association) (By Electric Telegraph—Copyright! LONDON, Mar. 30. (Received Mar. 31, at 10 p.m.) The declaration that the United States opposed any compromise by democracies with totalitarians and also the promise that the United States will ultimately go to war on the side of Britain and France a£e contained in a bundle of documents which Herr Hitler’s foreign office handed to United States pressmen in Berlin. The spokesman alleged that the documents were found in

the Polish Foreign Office when the Nazis entered Warsaw. He declared that they proved that Mr Roosevelt was involved absolutely in bringing about the present war. The accusation was a bombshell for the Americans. The correspondents say that most of the documents appeared to be confidential Polish records, involving not only Mr Roosevelt but also the ambassadors, Messrs J. P. Kennedy, W. Bullitt, and H. Biddle, and . high American naval and army officers.

Democracies’ Desire

In the forefront of the bundle was a report of the Polish Ambassador at Washington, Count Potocki, allegedly sent to Warsaw concerning a conversation with Mr Bullitt in November 1938: “Mr Bullitt expressed himself regarding Germany and Herr Hitler with the greatest vehemence and strong hatred,” Asked how he pictured the opening of the war Mr Bullitt declared that, above all, the United States, Britain and France must arm tremendously in order to show the fist to Germany. The democracies desired to get Germany involved in a weakening war with Russia, after which they would attack Germany and compel her capitulation. The United States would unquestionably participate in such a war but only after the Allies had bestirred themselves. Another report purported to be concerned with a subsequent com versation between Count Potocki and Mr Bullitt in which the latter outlined an exact definition by Mr Roosevelt of the Uinted States standpoint for presentation to the Quai d’Orsay and Whitehall: “ First, Mr Roosevelt sharply and unequivocally condemns the totalitarians; secondly, the United States war preparations will be increased in tempo at a cost of the colossal sum of £313.000,000; thirdly, Mr Roosevelt is firmly of the opinion that Britain and France must end every policy of compromise with th ( e totalitarians and not enter into any discussions concerning territorial changes; fourthly, the moral assurance that ‘ the United States will desert her policy of isolation and be prepared to participate actively with the Allies, and in the .event of war place her entire financial and material resources at their disposal."' An Alleged Promise An alleged report from the Polish commercial attache in London reviews a conversation with Mr Kennedy in June, 1939, in which M* Kennedy promised to see Mr Chamberlain and Lord Halifax immediately and insist on the necessity of helping Poland without delay with money to build up the Polish armaments.

A report from the Polish Military Attache in London in August, 1938. states that the United States Naval Attache says: “The United States ideologically is completely on the side of the democracies, and is studying the best ways of rapidly assisting Britain and France instead of allowing years to pass similarly to the last war. German penetration of South America would be intolerable to the United States.” If Herr Hitler and Herr von Ribbentrop expected that the publication of the Polish documents would cause a sensation in Europe, they must be disappointed. The British press in London and the provinces treats the disclosure coldly and apparently accepts Mr Roosevelt’s comment that it must be taken with two, even three, grains of salt. The Times and the Daily Telegraph each gives three-quarters of a column on inside pages. The others give less than that. All of the papers give prominence to M. Molotov’s speech, which is regarded as having little comfort for Germany. On the contrary, the front pages of the German newspapers to-day are filled with the Polish documents, crowding out M. Molotov’s speech. Editorials declare that the documents prove the irrevocable desire of the western democracies: to de-