IF HITLER WARS... NO BLOOD WILL FLOW UNLESS FUEHRER BEGINS

The Nazi attempt to wear down the British and French democracies by what is called "A War of Nerves," and by wordy abuse, is doomed to failure. The people of the British Empire and their French Allies have passed through too many alternations of hope and disappointment in recent years to be affected in their resolves by any such manoeuvres. If they look up for a moment from the work of defensive preparation upon which they are engaged, it is not because they expect to see anything which will lead them to take a new view of their duty. No-one knows what is going to happen abroad, nor when the worst may happen. All we know is what we are going to do if occasion should arise.

There never has been in time of peace such complete unanimity in this old British Island. Men and women of every walk in life, all classes, creeds and parties, have prepared themselves mentally and morally for the tremendous changes in the daily life of every household which, would accompany a war with Nazidom.

A calm, which excites the admniration of American and other foreign visitors, reigns throughout Great Britain. The only apprehensions are those of individuals who have not yet found their war-work, and of the public at large lest their rulers should falter in some crisis not yet defined.

This sombre, phlegmatic composure is founded upon two solid convictlons. First that the British people shall not be called upon to fight by His Majesty's Government unless it is absolutely necessary for their safety and honour. Secondly that however painful the ordeal may be, and however long it may last, the Nazi power will not he able to destroy the British Empire and the French Republic; and that in the end the cause of persona! freedom and international good faith will stand upon broad, higher, and far stronger foundations throughout all Europe, and indeed throughout the world.

Entirely in Hitler's Hands

Whether war will come rests entire!y in the hands of Herr Hitler and his circle of Party leaders, and Party policemen. Unless he gives the order no cannon will fire, no blood will flow. If at any time he chooses to turn his face to the light, ceases to vex and harry his neighbours, lays aside the cruel intolerances of which he has become perhaps against his own better feelings - the embodiment and expression, even a few months and certainly a few years would open a bright future to the German people in common with the wage-earners and workers of every land.

It is vain to seek "Living Space" with the sword. Mere accession of conquered territory will only leave the masses poorer than they were before. Science on the other hand and the confident cooperation of 'all the men in all the lands' offers endless "Living Space" to the peoples of the twentieth century. There are more people living thirty-storeys high in New York City today, and living better, than were living on the same ground a hundred years ago. Eighty thousand Jews are dwelling in a high degree of civilization in the City of Tel Aviv which when the last war stopped was only a barren beach. There is nothing in the material sphere that men cannot do if they work together peace and freedom.

The barbaric method of forcibly superimposing one population , upon nother and of exterminating or subjugating the vanquished is hopelessly inefficient and out of date. Give Scientists chance! Re-create the conditions of confidence and enterprise and goodwill! Without these wealth and well-being will forever elude the clutching hand. With them it will soon be found that there is plenty of room and plenty of food for all mankind. What a glory for Germany, having recovered from her defeat, to lead the way! Let us hope in this solemn hush Herr Hitler will ponder over these simple but vibrant truths.

TODAY there is still time. But one more wrongful step, one further outrage, will close these prospects to our generation in smoke and flame. Then indeed it will be too late.

I well remember how after the failure of the Germany army to take Paris in 1914 informal overtures were made through the United States and other neutral countries by the Kaiser's Government for peace negotiations. But the peaceful countries who had been invaded and assailed would no longer hear of peace, They thought only of victory, Aye, and - retribution! But this war should it come - which God forfend - will, because of the weapons of Air Terror, become incomparably more fierce and more impossible to stop . Whole vast populations will become inflamed personally against one another to a degree unknown for centuries. It will be an inexpiable war.

Let there be no delusions in the Nazi Party and among its grim chiefs that for instance Poland, the Baltic States, the Ukraine, Hungary and Rumania could he overrun and that the aggressors could then turn round and make peace with the Western Powers.

St. Helena

Napoleon, sword in hand, sought victorious peace in every capital in Europe. He sought it in Berlin, in Vienna, in Madrid, in Rome and finally in Moscow. All he found was St. Helena, Yet there were years in the struggle when England stood quite alone, all the world against her, even the United States. Very different are the conditions which prevail today. Today the British Ermpire would move in alliance or in companionship with three quartters of the entire population of the globe. And this mighty mass is united in its actions or in its sympathies not by the webs of diplomacy, or the doubtful ties of dynastic marriages, or by the hungry lust for booty and aggression; but by the consciousness of a common cause and of lofty aims, and by that love of freedom and fair-play which rises in the human heart and urges a ceaseless and all-compelling propaganda of its own.

It is the hope that these and similar considerations will be weighed soberly by the German Dictator and even more carefully by his Italian colleague, that may encourage us still to believe in a peaceful outcome.

Nevertheless, let no one close his eyes to ugly facts and evil signs. Europe is more than half-mobilized at this moment. In Germany all industry is on a war footing. At least two million German soldiers are already under arms. Immense preparations for early action are being made by a despotic organization which, whatever its internal malaise and stresses, must be expected to function with terrible precision at the outset.

The unaccounable delay - whoever is to blame for it - in concluding a solid, binding, all-in alliance between Britain, France and Russia, aggravates the danger of a wrong decision by Herr Hitler. It is lamentable indeed that this broad mainsail of peace and strength which might carry the ship of human fortunes past the reef, should still be flapping half-hoisted in the wind.

The rejection of President Roosevelt's Neutrality proposals in the United States Congress could not have come at a more untimely moment, and it may well be that this perfectly reasonably controversy unavoidable under the conditions of free Government by which the English-Speaking World must stand or fall, may be a potent factor in bringing about what all American citizens most desire to prevent, and have a very serious interest in preventing.

It is of capital Importance that Herr Hitler should not be misled into believing that the recent vote on President Roosevelt's Neutrality Bill represents the last word which the United States has to speak upon the fundamental issues now at stake.

(World Copyright 1939 by Cooperation)