Strictly vegetarian and teetotaler Adolf Hitler made the great exception last week of nibbling clear through the State banquet he gave Benito Mussolini and toasting his guest in sweet German champagne. Menu: caviar, soup, sole, chicken, ices and fresh fruit. In after dinner conversations among Germans and Italians in the suites of the two leaders one theme loudly, confidently recurred: "The days when Britain and France were the arbiters of Europe are over. There are now not two great European powers but four": i.e.-Britain, France, Germany and Italy.
All records for hauling passengers on Berlin trams, busses, subways and elevated lines were broken with a figure of 5,100,000 on the day Il Duce and Der Fuhrer keynoted in a heavy rain. This soddened everything but the Nordic cheers of their vast open-air audience nearly 1,000,000 of whom were Germans who had got up at 7 a.m. to march and drill all day in their Nazi organizations before they took their stand to hear the speeches at 7 p.m. As a furious cloudburst came down Mussolini made a quick remark to Hitler who gestured and a rainproof was at once thrown about the shoulders of each Dictator, although their glitteringly apparalled staffs continued to get soaked.
"What moves us the most at the moment," keynoted Der Führer who spoke first, "is the deep-rooted joy to see in our midst a guest who is one of the lonely men in history who are not tried by historic events but determine the history of their country themselves!" Germany and Italy have now formed an "ideal partnership," Hitler went on, "Fascist Italy has been transformed into a new Roman Empire by the ingenious activities of a compelling personality" and "Germany has become a great power, thanks to her racial attitude and her military strength." The two countries have the "cultural mission" of opposing "the Democratic and Marxist International" of Moscow which, cried Der Führer, "revels in demonstrations of hatred!"
"Comrades!" was the word with which Italy's Dictator opened his address to Germans, and he spoke in German, not extempore as usual but reading. "Comrades! . . . We shall never forget that Germany was not among the nations which imposed sanctions against us! ... Germany has awakened. ... I do not know when Europe will awake, for secret forces not unknown to us are at work striving to transform a civil war [Spain's] into a world conflagration. ... In answer to the question posed by the whole world, 'What will be the outcome of the meeting in Berlin, war or peace?' We—Der Führer and myself— reply in a loud voice 'PEACE.' . . . There exists no 'dictatorship,' neither in Germany nor in Italy, but there exist organizations which really serve the good of the people."