ned von Ribbentrop, Nazi
Ambassador to Great Britain, at her town house. Gradually the
Astor-controlled London _Times_ assumed a pro-Nazi bias on its very
influential editorial page. When the _Times_ wants to launch a
campaign, its custom is to run a series of letters in its famous
correspondence columns and then an editorial advocating the policy
decided upon. During October, 1937, the _Times_ sprouted letters
regarding Hitler's claims for the return of the colonies taken from
Germany after the war.

Rather than have Germany attack her, England preferred to see Hitler
turn his eyes to the fertile Ukrainian wheat fields of the Soviet
Union. It meant war, but that war seemed inevitable. If Russia won,
England and her economic royalists would be faced with "the menace of
communism." But if Germany won, she would expand eastward and,
exhausted by the war, would be in no condition to make demands upon
England. The part Great Britain's economic royalists had to play,
then, was to strengthen Germany in her preparations for the coming war
with Russia and at the same time prepare herself to fight if her
calculations went wrong.

Cabinet ministers Lord Hailsham (sugar and insurance interests), Lord
Swinton (railroads, power, with subsidiaries in Germany, Italy, etc.),
Sir Samuel Hoare (real estate, insurance, etc.), were felt out and
thought it was a good idea. Chamberlain himself had a hefty interest
(around twelve thousand shares) in Imperial Chemical Industries,
affiliated with _I.G. Farbenindustrie_, the German dye trust which is
very actively supplying Hitler with war materials. The difficulty was
Anthony Eden, British Foreign Minister, who was opposed to fascist
aggressions because he feared they would eventually threaten the
British Empire. Eden would certainly not approve of strengthening
fascist countries and encouraging them to still greater aggressions.

At one of the carefully selected little parties the Astors invited
Eden. In the small drawing room banked with flowers the idea was
broached about sending an emissary to talk the matter over with
Hitler--some genial, inoffensive person like Lord Halifax (huge land
interests) for instance. Eden understood why the _Times_ had suddenly
raised the issue of the lost German colonies to an extent greater even
than Hitler himself, and Eden emphatically expressed his disapproval.
Such a step, he insisted, would encourage both Germany and Italy to
further aggressions which