Evening star., 1925-04-05
Poland Adopts Famous Slogan
OF War ''They Shall Not Pass

and in the weston the vistula as on
the Rhine.
Moreover, from the point Of view of
world peace it seems impossible to
calculate upon European adjustment
made at the expense of Poland, for the
simple reason that even IL Poland
were abandoned by France she would
she would lose, but to defeat Poland
Germany would have to arm, in con-
travention of the terms of the treaty
of Versailles, and such armament
would certainly call for French pro-
test and action, for whatever Ger
many pledges in the west the French
would not consent to let Germany tear
up the treaty as to disarmament and
become again great military power.
Poland Building Army.
1t is only when one comes to Po-
land and talks with the leaders Of
the nation that one realizes how un-
founded are any calculations based
upon the assumption that without
French backing Poland would yield.
Poland will yield only to force and to
force expressed in terms of armies
on the battlefield. She is bending all
her energies to organizing her re-
sources for both political and eco
nomic independence. and one of her
forces is an army already strong and
growing daily stronger.
AS l said at the beginning of this
article, the moment is one of great
tension and anxiety, because there Is
great fear that France may be tenn
porarily led aside, but, on the other
hand, there is determination which
cannot be mistaken. The Poles feel
a new partition is already in making,
I,
regained their liberty, and the menace
is bringing about a state of political
unity and cohesion which had seemed
impossible two years ago.
To me, at the moment, Poland is
one of the most interesting countries
which L have ever seen, because there
is sense of something big and fine
being made. 1t is a great adventure
FOR a people, after a long and glori-
Gus history of independence and then
more than a century of servitude to
the foreigner and division between
other nations, to come back to
national existence. In this situation
every conceivable problem, political,
financial, material, becomes instantly
pressing. And one must recall that it
Is less than five years since the Boil
shev1sts were in sight of Warsaw and
still advancing VIGOROUSLY.
Currency Is Stabilized.
Yet in the brief time the Poles have
stabilized their currency, they have,
with even greater difficulty, stabilized
their politics, they have built rail-
ways, created departments, set about
the business of government, not with
inspired genius, not without endless
blundering, but with a determination
which is unmistakable and with de-
gree of success already visible and
perhaps some day destined to be
regarded as little short of marvellous.
Yet in the midst of all the desperate
struggle with material obstacles
which might daunt peoples with vast
ly greater experience, Poland has now
again to live under the cloud of the
old menace, today coming from the
west, tomorrow, perhaps coming from
the east and Russia, for one must al
ways recognize the near proximity of
the Soviet country and the eternal
enigma that it constitutes for all its
neighbors and for the whole world.
To ME Poland, seen at close range,
is one of the finest adventures In ro-
mantle history of which i have ever
dreamed. You have on all sides the
sense of people so newly come to
liberty that freedom in all its phases
is still a delight, something of a pos
session of which one Is constantly
conscious. There is a sense of exhil-
Grafton in the crowds the faces are a
striking contrast with those of Ber-
lin, the whole atmosphere is one of
victorious, liberated people, still
almost extravagantly joyous over the
merest details of their great liberia
tion.
We Western peoples are old enough