While there will be every sympathy with Mr. Sumner Welles in his mission to inspect political conditions in Europe for the information of President Roosevelt, the possibility of there being any moves to stop hostilities is so remote that it is dependent on whether he can work miracles in London, Paris and Berlin. The Allies and Germany are so far apart that there cannot be any common ground upon which the chances of peace could reasonably be based. Herr Hitler wishes to retain the spoils he h secured during the past two years and the acquiring of which brought about the present hostilities. The Allies on the other hand ars equally determined that this shall not be, and he would indeed be somewhat of a magician who could find some means of reconciling two such widely divergent points of view. On tne other hand there is the possibility that Mr Welles visit may produce concrete results im the long run, and it is for this reason that the tour is being watched with considerable interest. No information has been vouchsafed concerning the results of his visit to Rome. Indeed it would be premature to do so at such a stage as this, and in all probability no statement of what has been done will be made unti he has returned to the United States and lai his findings before President Roosevelt. It would be the height of optimism to expect that anything will result from the talks with the various leaders in the immediate future, for so long as the Allies are determined that the menace to Europe of the Nazi-controlled Reich has te be removed these hostilities must proceed. It is quite true that the Nazis are fighting for their very existence, and may be expected io regard the prospects of peace as being just as scant as do the Allies. The latter cannot hope for any durable peace in Europe until Herr Hitler anc his satellites are removed from power, and a responsible Government installed in their place one upon which the rest of the world can place that faith which der Fuehrer has so grievously betrayed. To place any great hopes for immediate developments on this present tour would, therefore, only lead to sad disappointment, and that at this juncture is to be avoided
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.