North Sea Nexus

The proud role of telling Englishmen that Germany is out for naval parity with them in the North Sea fell last week to that astute young scion of Prussia's old nobility, monocled Joachim von Ribbentrop who, after coming unscathed through the War as a swank Torgau Hussar, was briefly reduced to selling whiskey.

Blond, virile, a superb horseman, good tennis player and keen at bridge, Whiskey Salesman von Ribbentrop shortly recouped his fortunes by marrying, in 1920, Fraeulein Anna Henkell. daughter of a German maker of champagne which Son-in-Law von Ribbentrop proceeded to popularize in the dry U. S. by shrewdly dealing on Canadian soil with bootleggers' agents.

Flush with profits, von Ribbentrop turned to dabbling in German politics at a period when any mention of Adolf Hitler would cause President von Hindenburg to snort: "I wouldn't appoint that Austrian poltroon so much as a postman!" Undismayed, Major von Ribbentrop kept dropping hints among Der Feldmarschall's military entourage that it might be the smart thing to make some sort of deal with Hitler. Finally in January 1933, at the home of Cologne Banker Franz von Schroeder, von Ribbentrop engineered the first meeting of Political Upstart Adolf Hitler and weak, perpetually scheming Lieut.-Colonel Franz von Papen, who had the ear of Hindenburg. Through the chink thus opened Herr Hitler eventually forced his way to power as Chancellor, finally succeeding Hindenburg -- and remaining to this day grateful to von Ribbentrop who presently became a General. Last week the two men were closeted in the Realmleader's mountain snuggery amid the pungent pines of Bavaria. A zipping German airliner had just brought von Ribbentrop from London.

35% Forever. Like most Germans who succeed in the champagne business, General von Ribbentrop has plenty of friends in London, even a good many in Paris, and speaks nearly flawless English and French. He has been making the rounds of Europe's capitals in a convivial sort of way year after year, snubbed by some statesmen but warmly received by others, and exuding an air of intimacy with Adolf Hitler who was known to have given him no diplomatic status but the interesting title "Special Commissioner for Disarmament Questions."

Today the tables have been turned. Adolf Hitler, by his tearing up of the military clauses of the Treaty of Versailles, his revelation that he has secretly built an air battle fleet the equal of Great Britain's, and his demand for a German navy 35% as strong as hers, has given official London the jitters. He has also given suave, poker-faced Joachim von Ribbentrop the rank of Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary on Special Mission--the special mission being to see what Britannia has to say about Germany's naval demands. Last week Ambassador von Ribbentrop, after a quick dash to London, was able to tell the Realmleader in his Bavarian retreat that His Majesty's Government seemed ready to capitulate, if Herr Hitler would make a slight amendment in his demand which could be palmed off to the British public as a concession.

Most technical was the point at issue. His Majesty's Government objected that a German navy 35% as strong as Britain's in total tonnage might be built with a disproportionate allotment of German tonnage to submarines or some other special craft, thus enabling Germany to equal or exceed Britain in that special arm, while keeping within the general limit of 35%. The British seemed willing, Ambassador von Ribbentrop told Realmleader Hitler last week, to capitulate on the basis that Germany should have a navy 35% as strong as Britain's in each and every category of ships--battleships, cruisers, destroyers, submarines, etc. This would add up to a German navy having 35% of Britain's total naval strength and could be represented to the German people as complete British capitulation, but the British public could be told it represented a German concession. So joyful was Adolf Hitler at this prospect that Ambassador von Ribbentrop promptly flew back to London, letting it be known that the Realmleader was willing not only to abide by the 35% limit, category for category, but also to bind Germany to this limit "absolutely and forever."

Armaments Race? To many a Briton this sounded most soothing. It sounded as if there would be no future naval race between Germany and Britain, such as that which preceded and helped precipitate the War. To be sure, British naval wiseacres pointed out that so much of Britain's navy must be kept in far corners of the world that Adolf Hitler is actually demanding naval parity with the force His Majesty's Government can normally deploy in the North Sea. The great thing, many Britons felt, was that a direct and friendly naval pact with Germany ought to go a long way to keep Adolf Hitler from wanting to build a superior navy by stealth and subterfuge in Germany, as he is rapidly building a superior air force.

So far so good. Ambassador von Ribbentrop was greeted in London with maximum Foreign Office cordiality, but the skein of diplomacy at this point had only begun to unwind. Since the Treaty of Versailles bars Germany from having an effective navy of any sort. His Majesty's Government, while professing themselves willing to capitulate at 35%, asked other naval powers signatory to the Treaty of Versailles if they likewise would consent. Japan consented at once last week. Italy was noncommittal, but France resounded with fury. Once again, Paris assumed. His Majesty's Government were forcing the French Government to incur fresh German wrath and thirst for revenge by upholding the Treaty of Versailles. If it be upheld. Britain remains automatically mistress of Europe's seas, while explaining to Germany that but for unreasonable France friendly Britain would raise no objection to Germany's naval demands. Snapped the French semi-official Journal des Debats: "If the German fleet were fixed at 35% of the British strength that would be equal to 85% of the French fleet. Germany would therefore have an incontestable superiority in the northern seas, as we would be obliged to keep part of our force in the Mediterranean and for colonial defense. Consequently we are faced with this alternative: Either to leave our ports open to German attack or to increase our naval forces. As is so often the case, these pretended agreements for arms limitation just lead to an armaments race."

In the face of a French note threatening just such a race, Foreign Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare calmly proceeded this week to initial with Ambassador von Ribbentrop a pact setting the German fleet at 35% of Britain's, with a "certain latitude" allowed Germany in shifting tonnage from one class to another.

"We who fought. . . . " To jubilant Germans the fact was clear that Ambassador von Ribbentrop had inserted a prime wedge of discord between Britain and France. Fateful, as the naval issue became more & more embroiled, was the basic fact that British fear, kindled when Realmleader Hitler brandished his secretly built air force, has resulted in causing almost the whole London Press to pipe down so far as Nazis are concerned. Up to a few months ago British public opinion was being molded by the British Press against Nazidom and all it stands for. Today, with characteristic clannishness. the British Press has taken a pro-Hitler tack, even openly admitting this about-face.

Factual and significant was a recent London Daily Express half-page article headlined in inch-high type "HITLER'S BRITISH VICTORY." Excerpts: "In the last few months Hitler has won two great victories. He has won the Saar territory and he has won the [London] Times. . . . The conquest of the Times is worth more to Hitler than all the coal in the Saar basin. It is the best thing that has happened to him in this country."

Also conquered, the Daily Express continued, have been the Daily Mail (Der Fuehrer's first British' conquest), the conservative Daily Telegraph, the Liberal News Chronicle and most recently the Labor Daily Herald which, "strongly anti-Hitler in the early days of the Nazi regime . . . now has praise for Hitler. . . ."

"So here," went on the Daily Express, "is the new fact which we must face: The existence in this country of a large body of opinion favorable to the German point of view, willing to make terms with Germany, offering to make concessions to the ambitions of Hitler. . . . The Morning Post alone among the national newspapers remains true to the conception of a French alliance."

Since the London Morning Post is the newsorgan closest to Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, boss of Britain's majority Conservative party, what the Daily Express called "Hitler's British Victory" has not yet been won. Significantly, however, Edward of Wales, whose royal ear is never far from the ground, last week provoked nationwide rejoicing in Germany and banner German headlines by addressing British War veterans in London thus: "I feel that there could be no more suitable body or organization of men to stretch forth the hand of friendship to the Germans than we ex-service men who, fought them in the great War and have now forgotten about all that."

Jubilated the Berliner Lokalanzeiger: "If before the greatest association of British front-line fighters the Prince of Wales today put friendship with Germany into the foreground, he expressed only what the Englishman as a private person, and the British front-line fighter especially, has felt for a long time."

Rhapsodized Hearstian British Press Tycoon Viscount Rothermere: "The most prominent figure in the world today is Adolf Hitler. His mastermind magnetizes the whole field of foreign politics. ... He eats no meat, and has followed Mussolini in giving up both alcohol and tobacco--a practice to whose benefits I myself can testify. Hitler takes practically no exercise. . . . Music is, indeed, the only influence which can relax the Chancellor's stern self-control. . . . His love for children and for dogs. . . .Hitler is in the direct tradition of the great leaders of mankind who appear rarely more often than once in two or three centuries. He is the incarnation of the spirit of the German race. ... I am profoundly convinced that the better he is known to the mass of the British nation the higher its appreciation of him will be. . . . The future of this country, as the greatest world Power, is bound up with the actions of this man who is the uncontested ruler of the strongest Continental nation."

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