RUMOR STRATEGY POINTS WAY TO COMING PEACE OFFENSIVE

A month or so ago Mr. MacLeish of the Office of Facts and Figures predicted that an Axis peace offensive was brewing. However that may be, rumors of an impending peace have been increasing in numbers since the early part of March.

One category of peace rumors follows a very realistic vein. Thus, as a current rumor has it, Lloyds of London is betting that there will be peace in six months. Undoubtedly this is literally true. Lloyds will issue policies on the continuance or discontinuance of the war. But the implication which the story always carries when told here is that Lloyds is betting better than even odds that peace will come. Representatives of Lloyds here in Boston were unable to give any precise figures, but granted, as did other British officials, the absurdity of the implication.

Separate Peace Predicted

A variant of this rumor alleges that American banks and "financial experts" are wagering that peace will come within a few months. Here again there is no supporting evidence. As one member of the stock exchange put it, "We haven't enough for a small ham sandwich these days, much less to bet on so risky a proposition as this."

A third class of peace rumors predict that one or the other of our allies will make a separate peace, leaving us with the sack. This is an old device for creating distrust and disunity between allies. Since the first of March this rumor has circulated about every one of our allies. At the present time it is Russia who is reported about to sell us down the river.

What are the origins of these rumors? There are at least two; first, the wishes of many Americans that the war would somehow end, and second, the fine, Italian hand of the Axis propagandists. The coincidence of MacLeish's statement and the rise in peace rumors is suggestive to say the least. But Axis propaganda always works hand in hand with our own wishes and fears, so that many of these rumors are no doubt nourished by our sentiments even if planted by the Axis.