Secret

In his blatant fashion last week bull-necked Air Minister Hermann Wilhelm Goring divulged the secret that Great Britain, in assenting to German violation of naval clauses of the Treaty of Versailles (TIME. June 24), assented also to violation of its air clauses. Germany is to lay down in 1936 aircraft carriers totalling 47,000 tons and construct squadrons of torpedo seaplanes as large as Pan-American Transpacific Clippers.

Sir Eric Phipps, the British Ambassador in Berlin, called on Adolf Hitler three weeks ago. There followed one of those remarkable scenes in which the Realmleader, as Napoleon occasionally used to do, flies into a tremendous passion, smiting his desk and screaming. Effective, this answered, with a negative more convincing than a calm man could have uttered, Sir Eric's question on behalf of His Majesty's Government as to whether Germany would care to enter an international air armament reduction treaty.

Hitler tantrums are unbelievable until experienced and therefore easy to deny with a show of conviction. Der Führer, in effect, bawled: "No air pact until Germany regains her colonies! No air pact until the lie of German War guilt is wiped from the Treaty of Versailles! No air pact until our air force is stronger than any other in Europe!!!" Tidying up after Hitler, professional diplomats of the Wilhelmstrasse attempted to be smooth. Germany, they said, might enter an air pact with Britain, provided no other country was admitted. Such a proposal was an example of the classic German diplomatic chess move: "Insert a wedge between Britain and France whenever possible."

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