INTERESTED COMMENT

Wairarapa Times-Age, 19 March 1940, Page 5

INTERESTED COMMENT

INTERNATIONAL GUESSING COMPETITION “PARADOX OF AMERICAN OPINION.” NEED OF GUARANTEES OF PEACE. WASHINGTON, March 18. The only comment of Administration officials on the Brenner Pass conference of Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini was a reiteration that the visit of Mr. Sumner Welles had no political significance and that he is merely securing information. While there is no inclination to believe he is submitting a peace plan, a puzzled Press and pubMc are now asking. if this means he is empowered to receive peace proposals and submit them to the White House. It is felt that Saturday’s broadcast indicates that President Roosevelt has not changed his views on the basis of peace, that he believes England and France are determined to fight as long as necessary to crush totalitarianism, and that he believes they will win eventually. It is felt he would have spoken differently if Mr. Welles’s dispatches had revealed a different situation. The "New York Times,” in an editorial, draws attention to the paradox of American opinion. The United States does not want to be drawn into Europe, neither does she want to be left out. Americans must make up their minds whether they are willing to associate with other large nations in offering guarantees if they will seek a voice in a future peace settlement. The Rome correspondent of the “New ‘ York Times’’ says that all signs point to a peace effort with the belligerents through the mediation of the United States and Italy. Only American diplomatic circles were not surprised at the news that Herr Hitler and Signor Mussolini were to meet. Apparently Count Ciano informed Mr. Sumner Welles at luncheon yesterday that he felt that Mr. Welles, after his tour of the capitals, roust have

formulated a concrete plan for presentation to the Duce. “Mussolini is a realist, and he was profoundly irritated by the failue of the August peace effort,” says the correspondent. "In his conversations with Herr Hitler he will ask for definite pledges before undertaking a new initiative.

“Some people, however, believe that the meeting is connected with a German plan to create a bloc comprising Germany, Italy, Russia and Japan to prevent the war spreading to new fronts in the hope that the Allies will accept a negotiated peace if a stalemate in the West is certain.”

Paris despatches raise the hypothesis that Mr. Welles may be inciting Herr Hitler, through Signor Mussolini, to put forward peace terms, calculating that once they were published they could not fail to produce an anti-climax. The “New York Herald-Tribune,” in an editorial, says: “Confusion on the Allies’ side coinciding with the visit of Mr. Welles may have given the totalitarian Powers the opportunity for which they were waiting in the war of nerves. If clamour for action should force the Allies into a hasty, ill-judged action it would represent a cheaper victory for Hitler than that obtainable by an offensive afield. Perhaps Balkan problems will be the only issue at the Brenner Pass. Perhaps a striking peace offer is forthcoming, timed to jolt Allied nerves and confuse American opinion. “OUR CARES LESS” M. TATARESCUE’S BROADCAST. APPEAL FOR NATIONAL UNITY. BUCHAREST, March 18. M. Tatarescu, the Rumanion Premier, in a broadcast, said: “We want peace, but a peace that respects our rights. Therefore, we are watchful. I do not know what tomorrow may bring, but I believe that our cares today are less than those of, yesterday. Strengthening our army and defences must be our main preoccupation.” He appealed for national unity and increased production, adding that the output of the mines and oilfields must be increased to the maximum. All companies are asked for surplus production. NEUTRAL OPINION LITTLE FAITH IN PEACE MOVE. ..LONDON, March 18. The general tone of the Press in nontotalitarian countries places little faith or confidence in any German-Italian peace move, because of the wide divergence of the Allied and German viewpoints. GERMAN EFFRONTERY "RIGHTS OF YOUNG NATIONS.” (Received This Day, 9.25 a.m.) BERLIN, March 18. Reporting Herr Hitler’s arrival at Brennero the German News Agency says: "The two leaders have met in order to discuss questions concerning both countries and arising from the fact that Germany today is at war with the Western plutocracies, while Italy, by no means neutral but non-belliger-ent, is also fighting for the rights of young nations.”