The Washington herald., 1921-04-20
CENTRAL EUROPE SETTING !
HOTBED OF RACIAL, POLITICAL
4 s.i JEALOU ISLES, SAYS SIMONDS
Difference IN Policy Of France and Italy May
Hinder Porta Rosa Conference. !. YYl.. YYs,

hostile TO anything which may, even
slightly strengthen, Hungary the
hereditary enemy. from whose bru-
tai rule three millions of Ruman:
ians have just been rescued. tJugo-
slavia is equally hostile to Hungary,
long the master of Croatia and Sla.
lyonia. Both Rumania and tJugo-
Slavia have everything to fear from
Hungary, since the MagyArs frankly
proclaim their purpose to redeem ali
of their lost territory. Against
such an attempt. Rumania, Jugo-
Slavia and Czecho-Slovakia are al
ready Joined in the Little Entente, :"
which showed its teeth the other
day when the former Emperor
Charles made his brief and in
glorious descent upon Budapest.
q Yet despite all this tangle of DO
liticai policies, of rivalries of great
powers and even more acrimonious
clashes of small nations, 1t is plain
something must be done. When the
,Hapsburg empire few. apart, fol-
lowing the collapse. of ,Austro- Hun
garian armies, what has been one
great economic unit was smashed
into fragments. themselves lacking
the capacity for Independent eco
nomic life. Foodstuffs were pro-
duced in one area, raw material in
q second, the great factories for the
manufacture are concentrated in
still q third. r- .
: Cendittsa Of Country.
:. Between interdependent fractions
frontiers were drawn. Railway
lines were cut, into noncommunicat-
Ing sections. all through train servs
ice was abolished. In a word. paral-
ysis set in, SO far as circulation be-
tween the parts of the old empire
was concerned, and Austria, being
most dependent upon the other frsc-
-tions entered into something ap-
proximating state of slow starva-
tion. which has continued ever since
despite the efforts of. Europe and of
the United States to lessen the alb
ject human misery in Vienna and It's
suburbs, which constitute an area
OF tragic suffering hardly paralIeled
in human history.
: In the armistice days Hoover did
something to keep life in the bodies
of the wretched people in this
stricken area. His trains were the
only ones that were permitted 10
move. He started a system of bar
ter and exchange between regions
which had once exchanged products
within a single frontier But when
Hoover's work was over. absolute
paralysis followed.
Today Austrians and HunEarians
hate each other with an old hatred
which finds new fuel in the dispute
over a border district taken from
the Magyars and assigned to the
Austrians at Paris. while a Socialist
government at Vienna looks with
bitterness at a reactionary govern
n1ent at Budapest. Between Vienna
and Prague. too, an old feud fnds
new causes for. intensity in the
fashion In which frontiers were
drawn and raw materials withheld
Between czecho-Slovakia and Hun
gary there is q fatal hatred grow
ns out of the annexation to the
former Of all the old Carpathian
lands Of the latter.
Hstbed Of Hatred,
In a word. Central Europe is a
hotbed Of hatred. of racial, political.
historical jealousies and behind the
feuds of the races which live IN
close proximity Is the difference OF
policy which separates great pow
ers' which divides Italy and France
In particular.
Such Is the atmosphere in which
viii be held the conference of Porto
Rosa, a conference which will be
noteworthy as marking the reap-
pearance OF the United States in
europe and at the council table OF
the nations.
, (Cspyrisht, lSal,)