Evening star., 1925-04-05
POLAND ADOPTS SLOGAN
!. ''THEY SHALL NOT PASS
Nation Will Die Fighting Rather Than
Yield Territory Regained by Versailles
Treaty, Observer Finds.

OF the coal deposits. together with the
zinc and iron mines and the larger part
of the great industrial machinery which
Germany has in recent years construct
ed here, making of Upper Silesa a
second Ruhr.
Great Value to Poland.
For Poland the possession of Upper
Silesia is the guarantee of real econo-
mic life, for il assures to a state with
great industrial needs source of coal
adequate to its requirements for several
centuries to come. With Upper Silesia
Poland can become an industrial nation:
without it the certainty Is that Poland
will become an economic vassal of Ger
many.
You have then, briefly sketched. the
situation at the moment. Germany
while accepting the western settlement
of Paris as final and while volunteering
to give guarantees for the security and
integrity of France, including Alsace
Lorraine and Belgium, while even hold
ing out some reasonable hope OF ac-
cepting some form of demilitarization of
the Rhine region, announces in unmis-
taxable terms that she will not accept
her eastern frontier permanent al
though she is ready TO make some ather
empty gesture of assurance that she
will seek by diplomacy and through the
League of Nations, rather than by war
and with armies, to obtain the revision
which she insists upon.
Now it is essential for, all Ameri-
can students of this Polish German
question to perceive just what is at
stake. 1t is not a relatively small
amount of territory. for the amount
of territory involved is absurdly
small. What is actually at stake is
the issue as to whether Poland. with
nearly thirty millions of people liv-
ing on an area five-sixths as large
as Germany, shall have an outlet to
the sea on its own territory and shall
have the resources essential to be-
come an industrial country, or wheth-
er it must be forever dependent upon
Germany for outlet to the sea at
Danzig and for coal and other min
erals in the Upper Silesian area
Comparison With Serbia.
If Danzig and the corridor are re-
turned to Germany, then Poland will
be in precisely the situation of
Serbia before the World War. when
the sea and was obliged to find its
markets and its outlets in and
through Austrian territory Thus
whenever Serbia showed any inde-
pendence politically Austrian rulers
closed their frontiers to Serbian ex-
ports and the whole economic life
of the country was paralyZed Eco
nomic prosperity for Serbia then was
always dependent upon political vas
Salage to Austria. and out of this
situation grew the World War But
while Serbia before the Balkan Wars
in 1913 was little state. with barely
three million people, Poland has
thirty.
And if Upper Silesia should be re-
turned TO Germany. Poland would be
similarly dependent upon Germany
for the fuel necessary to its manu-
factories and it would always be pos
sible for Germany. by fixing it's own
price on coal and by controlling the
it easy for German goods to under
sell Polish and thus destroy all
chance of any real industrial deyel-
opment in Poland Here, then, is the
real question, and it Is only remotely
political
1t is true that for the Germans the
loss of DanZig and Upper Silesia is
perhaps just as bitter and as intol-
cradle as the loss of Alsace-Lor-
raine for France, but the real rs con-
trasted with the sentimental factor
exercise an absolute and enduring
domination upon the whole economic
life of Poland, and the political. in
dependence of Poland would be pos
sible only by the sacrifice of all
economic prosperity, which would be
impossible, for Poland must be an
exporting country to live.
Real Issue In Dispute.
1t is not Polish imperialism, then,
which has brought about the present
situation, nor was the ALLEGATION of
these territories to Poland wanton
and violent departure from the path
way of justice, for all of the lands
had once been Polish, and Danzig and
the Polish corridor were only sepa-
rated from Poland by one of the
most immoral of all historical per-
formances, namely, the partitions of
Poland.
So much. then, for the underlying
facts in the situation. Now for Po-
land the question is one of life or
death. 1t cannot give up the corridor,
agree to a restoration of Danzig to
Germany or abandon Upper Silesia
without passing promptly from the
rank of free nations. If one can
ina gine what would have been the
situation for the United States if New
sippi had remained in alien hands and
the age of railways had not arrived
one can fancy a little of Poland's
plight were German hopes realized
Turning now to the west of Europe
what Is the situation? France re-
mains anxious to her security
Since Britain and America refused to
make good the guarantee promised
by Mr.. Wilson and Lloyd George at,
Do ric Shn haa n
liances with CZechoslovakia and with
Poland, as well as with Belgium.
The basis of these treaties is the COM
mon danger from a restored Germany
and the fundamental premise is the
preservation Of the territorial deci-
sions of Paris in 1919 of the treaty
of Versailles. All four nations would
be equally endangered if Germany
should in the future become strong
and warlike.
Exchange of Guarantees.
Thus France, in effect, guarantees
the present frontiers of Poland and
receives in return the assurance, that
in case of German attack the Polish
armies will play the role which was
played by Russia in 1914. And in the
same way France guarantees the
frontiers of Czechoslovakia and Is
similarly assured of the support of
CZechoslovak armies in case of emer-
gency. Other agreements bind Poland
and Rumania, Poland and Czechoslo-
.vakia. Rumania and Jugoslavia, but
In the present discussion they are
relatively unimportant. What is es
sential is to grasp the fact that
France, failing the American and
British guarantees, has found sub
stitute in the alliance with the two
Slav states of Poland and Czechoslo-
vakia.
But having these alliances, France
still feels insecure, and has taken ad-
vantage of the moment when the