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Show HALIFAX OFFERS FINLANDPLEDGE LEEDS, Eng., Jan. 30 UPl XVla Radio) Lord Halifax, British secretary sec-retary for foreign affairs, told the world today that England's prom-is prom-is to help Finland "will not remain re-main an Idle promise, a mere academic aca-demic formality." Speaking from the Leeds town hall, Lord Halifax said he had no doubt that the "prayers of the world" were going up for the Finns In their war with Russia. Discussing the conflict between the allies and Germany, the British foreign secretary Indicated a belief be-lief that Adolf Hitler would have ' become the dictator of all Europe If England had not continued Its rearmament program even after the Munich settlement Must Strike Quickly As he sees It, Halifax said. Germany's Ger-many's only chance of winning the war was by doing It at once. "Yet she has hesitated . . . probably prob-ably for the reason that make the bully hesitate for fear someone will hit him back. I have heard It said that If the winter were to pas without an aggression by Germany It would be the equivalent of a victory for the allies." Meanwhile, he continued, England Eng-land has been building 'up her strength at home and in the field and coordinating her efforts with France. He repeated what Prime Minister Minis-ter Chamberlain told a radio audience audi-ence early this month that he hoped the Anglo-French understanding under-standing would be broadened and preserved. "Germany has been concentrating concentrat-ing her efforts on the kind of warfare war-fare peculiarly her own submarine subma-rine warfare. Yet In spite of this she seems to be gaining little," Halifax declared. Cite U-Boat Warfare "At a time when we hoped hostilities hos-tilities might be averted, the German Ger-man U-boats were taking up their stations along the trade routes to prey on our unarmed and helpless vessels." But since England's preparations have gone on, he said, some 6000 vessels have been safely convoyed with the loss of only 13. He referred to the self-destruction of the Graf Spec after the British victory off the River Plate, and declared the seas were swept clear of German shipping. Speaking of England's peace aims, he said England must insist on the restoration of the small nations which Germany has cut off and Europe must be guaranteed guaran-teed against a repetition of "this disaster." If Germany Is willing to make a decent peace, Halifax said, "we would not seek a vindictive peace." He declared the Munich agreement agree-ment "gave Germany all that she immediately wanted" and settled every contentious matter "in Germany's Ger-many's favor." "Yet it became apparent at once," he said, "that Herr Hitler was dissatisfied. In private he Inveighed In-veighed against England and . against his advisers who favored peace." "Once It became clear that the purpose of Germany waa the domination domi-nation of non-German peoples, we found ourselves once more faced by the historic challenge that Europe Eu-rope was threatened and no assurances as-surances of Hitler's could remove those fears." He said the British were "under no illusion about the war," nor did they underestimate the "strength of the enemy." "To Insure victory we must command com-mand all the energy at our command," com-mand," Lord Halifax said. "A dictator enjoys great Initial advantages. His policies can be made in great secrecy. The people peo-ple have no part In that policy. They cannot place themselves In opposition to It and therefore the actions of a dictator appear to the outside world as the decisions of a single mind." Democracies, on the other hand, he continued, do not surrender the private Judgments of their citizens. citi-zens. 1 The troubles of war, he went on, will be borne more easily by the man "who Is In the war from his own convictions and not through coercion." "No small nation, I believe, has ever regarded our sea power as a menace to its development," he said. But this, he added, was not true of Germany's land power, and once she began rearming after the World war, "a trembling ran through Europe." "So I think that If the British people have been right In opposing oppos-ing threats to their liberties In the past, they are doubly right today." |