The Southland Times MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1939. Plain Questions For The Dictators

Southland Times, Issue 23794, 17 April 1939, Page 6

The Southland Times MONDAY, APRIL 17, 1939. Plain Questions For The Dictators

AS reported this morning in cable messages from London, President Roosevelt’s questionnaire to the dictators has all the impressiveness of simplicity. Its ultimate value, perhaps, will not be found in the answers to the questions (if, indeed, any answers are forthcoming) but in its effect on the unification of world opinion outside the Nazi and Fascist States. No amount of blustering by the Nazi Press will be able to allay distrust and indignation if Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini refrain from giving assurances that aggression is not intended against the countries named by Mr Roosevelt. It is possible, of course, that the assurances will be given, but with so many qualifications and in a phraseology so ambiguous that the intention of breaking them at opportune moments will be transparently plain. Even if this happens the democracies will still have gained a great deal. There is a real satisfaction in knowing that the situation is being stripped of its diplomatic obscurities and in watching the issue thrust home upon the dictators. A Dangerous Game

If Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini intend to precipitate a European war they will not be stopped' at this stage by the intervention of Mr Roosevelt. Butif they are playing a dangerous game that is to stop short of the fatal brink—always with gains snatched from the democracies — they can scarcely fail to realize that their risky manoeuvres are at an end and that now they must either fight a formidable coalition of Powers or abandon the tactics of bluff, blackmail and brutality. The fundamental danger, recognized from the beginning by many students of foreign affairs, is that the Nazi regime can survive only in an imperialist form, and that the expansion of Greater Germany is therefore the main condition of the party’s survival. This may be true, to a lesser degree, of fascism in Italy. But Signor Mussolini is .the junior partner in the Rome-Berlin axis: in spite of his assurances of Nazifascist solidarity the suspicion remains fixed in many minds that he will not be irreclaimable from the axis until his forces are actually engaged against the democracies. The Nazi machine is the greatest single threat to world peace. It has placed Germany on a war footing, and its organizers have already achieved important stages in a programme of aggression. If Herr Hitler is convinced that war is inevitable and has been working to snatch as much as he can, in territory and materials, before he provokes the final campaign there is a chance that Mr Roosevelt’s action will force the issue and drive him to plunge irrevocably. The Desire For Peace

One important factor is the increasing difficulty of keeping the German people in a warlike and trustful mood under the barrage of propaganda now being thrown against them from beyond their frontiers. No one knows how much of this propaganda seeps through the protective screen raised by the Nazi authorities. The general impression last September was that the 8.8. C. foreign broadcasts found a fairly large number of listeners. Even if the broadcasts are heard in relatively few homes, however, the substance of them can be disseminated swiftly through the streets and the workshops by the many tongues of rumour. Such events are portentous in a regimented community because where the censorship is rigid the people become abnormally receptive to whispered information. Mr Chamberlain’s visits to Germany last September may have had doubtful results in some directions; but it is generally admitted that they revealed an innate desire for peace among the Germans. This attitude must be fostered by the democracies if they are to nullify the warlike propaganda of the Nazis. Perhaps it could be said now that for the first time since the crises began the initiative has been taken from the dictators. It is in their power to plunge the world into a catastrophe. But they must make up their minds, one way or the other, in the near future. By confronting them with plain questions Mr Roosevelt has become the spokesman of all the millions who believe that the tension and sick anxiety of these days must come to an end as quickly as possible. And he has immensely strengthened the moral position of the nations that are aligning themselves 'against aggression.