Peace Week

Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain was in such an optimistic mood one day last week that he called in the political correspondents of a large part of the British press, swore them to secrecy, then gave them an extended lecture on how bright were the prospects for peace. Next day papers all over the United Kingdom told how "political circles" in London thought Italian demands against France could easily be satisfied; that an international trade revival was on its way; that in many little ways official Nazi Germany had been acting quite decently to Britain; that even a general disarmament conference was not unthinkable. All this occurred two weeks after all Europe was supposed to have been sure that all hell would break loose March 6.

No British correspondent dared to give away the identity of the "political circles," but several U. S. newsmen did. The incident served as an illustration of how the British Government can get its own press to blow hot or cold as it desires, can often indirectly influence the press of other countries. Notable it was that last week U. S. pundits like Walter Lippmann, Edwin L. James, Dorothy Thompson, William Philip Simms, joined faraway Prime Minister Hertzog of South Africa in being optimistic about a Spring of Peace.

Following up Mr. Chamberlain's unofficial hints, Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare conjured up an even glossier picture of peace prospects. He saw five men--Adolf Hitler, Benito Mussolini, Joseph Stalin, Edouard Daladier and Neville Chamberlain--getting together to sit down at a disarmament conference table and "transform the whole history of the world."* Said Sir Samuel:

"These five men, working together in Europe and blessed in their efforts by the President of the United States of America, might make themselves eternal benefactors of the human race. Our own Prime Minister has shown his determination to work heart and soul to such an end. I cannot believe that other leaders of Europe will not join him in the high endeavor upon which he is engaged."

Reasons for the British ooze of optimism were not hard to find. First, Britain will probably have a General Election this year. Business usually improves when governments talk peace. The European atmosphere, moreover, has been so full of dire warnings to totalitarian powers lately that many a British voter might easily have forgotten that the Prime Minister won his international fame as the Great Appeaser.

Moreover, a hunter for peace might easily have found a few faint signs of improvement on the international horizon last week. The week-end trouble in Czechoslovakia (see p. 22) was not likely to dampen determined British optimism and Britain was more than likely not to do any more than protest against another partition of the country. The British low-down on Germany last week was that the Nazis were having such a tough time with economic problems that they could scarcely plan an "adventure" soon. Similarly,

Italian Foreign Minister Count Galeazzo Ciano, having roamed over Europe trying to find partners for a colony-grabbing expedition, was said to have failed lamentably. As for France, she had recovered not only her financial stability but her political unity.

Nations, even continents, have moods. For weeks Europe's has been blue. Last week, following the lead of Mr. Chamberlain's wide smile, democratic Europe displayed a happier-than-usual face.

* The idea of a conference of the world's strong men was credited to President Roosevelt three years ago. At that time the British did not take to it.

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