Washington, Mar. 2.
1f it served to do nothing else, Mr. Sumner Welles' visit to Berlin at least dispelled all illusions about possible mediation and peace in Europe today, foreign affairs observers declared this afternoon.
According to unofficial reports on Mr, Welles' parleys with Herr Hitler, and in line with the editorials of the German press, the German Government wishes to exploit Mr. Welles' visit to impress the world with its "determination and might."
Conditions for peace set by Herr Hitler and his Foreign Minister, Herr Joachim von Ribbentrop, in their meeting with Mr. Welles would amount to Allied recognition of the Reich's conquests by, force and to the world's sanction of Germany's "lebensraum" (vital space) doctrine.
Commenting on these two points, American observers pointed out merely that the United States as yet has not recognized the conquest of Czechoslovakia and Poland and that envoys of these two countries still are accredited to the U.S. Government.
American public opinion, mirrored in the press, was calm in its reception of German threats of war to the last ditch. The Reich's threats, as reported today following the Welles-Hitlet interview, are meant only to shake the Allies' morale and to intimidate neutrals.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.