Evening star., 1923-05-26
BY THE MARaUIsE DE FONTENOY.

Count Stephen Bethlen. for the past
two years prime minister of Hungary
and accompanied by Thor Won Kali
Law, the minister Of finance at Buda-
pest, both of them closely related
through matrimonial alliances with
the regent of Hungary. Admiral Won
Hoerthy. have been in Paris and in
London during the past fortnight or
three weeks, urgently demanding the
immediate modification of the terms
imposed upon their country by the
peace congress of Versailles. in Sucn
a manner as to enable them to raise
one or more loans on the money mar
kets of Europe. At the present mo-
ment Hungary has reached the end
of her resources. Her treasury is
empty. and, as the international com
mission of reparation organized by
the entente has, by virtue of article
$50 of the treaty of Trianon-or,
rather, l should say, OF Versailles
the first charge upon all her assets
and revenues, no one is wiling TO
loan her any money. Unless she OBJ
tains money the existing regime at
Budapest will go to pieces. and chaos,
civil war and Il revival of the former
bolsheviSt anarchy of 1919 will ensue.
imperiling the peace, the stability
and the economic and political well
fare of the adjacent states.
Under the head of reparatio2s Hun
garys preferred creditors are Ru-
mania, Poland, Serbia and CZecho-
slovakia, especially the first three,
who suffered cruelty through the dew
astation wrought in their respective
territories by the Magyar troops in
the great war. They form the So
called little entente, and without their
consent France and Great Britain are
likely to turn a deaf ear to any ap-
peals of assistance from Budapest.
*
The fact Of the matter is that until
row they have all of them. and Italy
well. looked upon Hungary as a
standing menace to their existence.
as reactionary, as aggressive and as
bent on recovering her former terri
tories at their expense. They are
convinced that in the event of a
monarchical restoration in Hungary
the new ruler would endeavor to
strengthen his position on the ancient
throne of st. Stephen bv appealing to
the warlike instincts of the Magyars
for the reconquest of the lost prov
inceS.
Before the powers of the so-called
little entente will waive their objections
to any delay in the payment of the
money due to them under the head of
reparations. and thus remove the OBJ
stacles which stand in the way of the
great powers lending helping hand.
either directly or through their re-
spective money markets, Hungary will
have to furnish satisfactory guarantees
to the effect that she will not lend her
self to any restoration of the HapS-
burgs, at any rate for a considerable
time to come; also that she will alb
stain from any attack on her neighbors
from
political frontiers of central Europe.
likewise that she will vigorously sup
press and punish any border disturb
ances; that she will maintain law and
order for all alike in the country SUBJ
ject to her rule, and that she will en-
deavor by means Of rigorous economy
to restore their healthy economic condi-
tions. With regard to the latter,
Premier Count Bethlen and Minister of
Finance Won Kallay can already show
a promising beginning. For during the
last twelve months they have dismissed
no less than 1900 government officials
and the salaries Of the remainder have
been ruthlessly cut. Admiral Won
to content himself with annual salary
kand allowances of $4,000, all told. But
even If the government fulfills all other
conditions exacted by the powers of the
great entente and Of the little entente,
there Is one thing more that Premier
Count Bethlen will have to undertake
before. even with the good will of the
entente, the money markets will advance
the necessary loans required to stabilize
the currency and to reorganize the
finances of the former kingdom of st.
Stephen, and that is to vigorously sup
press the so-caIled fascist movements
of the reactionaries against the Hebrew
population and to arrest the so-called
white terror the feature of whose
activities is the suppression of the Jews
and their elimination from every sphere