Evening star., 1928-12-30


row must be reckoned the most
disappointing since 1923. the
Il year of the occupation of the
Ruhr. Although no single event
has rivaled that disaster in evil con-
sequences, there has been a series of
incidents tending to arrest and even
turn back the movement toward general
readjuStment and reconciliation not
only in Europe, but in the relations be-
tween Europe and the United States
and in those between at least two South
American countries.
Most conspicuous of all the unpleasant
episodes of 1923 has been the develop
Anent and accentuation of the Anglo
American naval dispute, which had its
prigin in the fiasco of the Coolidge con-
ference at Geneva in 1927. The Anglo
french agreement of last Summer,
which at one time aroused indignation
and suspicion on this side of the At
lantic and literally set Europe by the
ears because of its continental implica-'
tions, must be reckoned one of the most
unfortunate and stupid diplomatic un-
dertakingS of the whole postwar period.
Regarded Acute Problem.
Anglo-American tension, while it has
no present menace to world peace, has
now become one of the real and even
acute problems of world craftsmanship.
A naval rivalry, having not few
superficial similarities to the Anglo
German competition which preceded and
contributed to the World War. remains,
If not a fact, at least a disturbing pos
sibility And behind the incidental ques-
ton of naval strength lies the real is
sue between the two Anglo-SaXon coun-
tries-the question of the blockade.
While this Anglo-American difference
persists, involving as it does an inevl-
table and extensive naval construction
program on the part of the United
States, the whole work OF limiting
armaments in the world in general. and
in Europe in particular, is patiently
postponed. And this postponement has
already had evil effects in reviving
anxieties and apprehensions among
both the armed and forcibly disarmed
countries of the European continent.
Confidence Believed Undermined.
For the League of Nations this post
ponement has been costly in prestige
and public confidence. Although COM
missions continue to meet at Geneva
and a considerable amount Of tech
nical detail is considered there, the
broad and impressive fact is that 1t has
so far been impossible for the League
to make any considerable contribution
to the task of limiting armaments,
which must be the first step in the long
series of efforts to bring about pro-
gresSive disarmament.
In Europe there has been notable
cooling of feeling between Germany and
France, despite the more or less nc
titious show of cooperation at the
recent Lugano Conference, where
Chamberlain, BRAND and StreSemann
strove to give the outward impression
of a renewal of the old spirit of Locar-
no. The German people are becoming
daily more restive under the continued
presence of allied troops in the Rhine
land. And the Anglo-French naval un-
derstanding, which aroused American
anger. was Just as fruitful in German
suspicion and protest, for it had the
appearance of restoring the old Anglo
French Entente of the pre-war days.
Between France and Italy, too, the
bad feeling which has been a striking
circumstance in the Fascist era was
once more intensified by the failure OF
French jury to deal severely with the
assassin of an Italian consul on French
soil. This Franco-Italian tension con-
stitutes one of the gravest of all the
problems of present-day Europe, and
is, in fact, the graver because 1t mas itS
origin not in any specific issue, which
might find adjustment, but in a deep
seated and increasing rivalry in North
Africa, on the Mediterranean and in
the Balkans.
LuganO Conference FURRY.
Equally disturbing was the recent
furry which marked the close of the
Lugano conference and was precipitated
by M. Zaleskie, the foreign minister
of Poland Nominally this protest re-
suited from the eternal clash of Ger
man and Polish populations within the
frontiers of the Polish republic in Up
per Sllesia. But actually the circum-
stance was far more significant and
constituted clear warning by Poland
to her French ally that any settlement
with Germany must include some def
mite commitment by the Germans to
recognize their eastern frontiers as
permanent
Along with this Polish gesture goes
the renewed agitation both in Germany
and in Austria in favor of the Ansch-
luss-that is, the union of the German
and Austrian republics. Such union
which would create a new German
state greater in area and population
than the old Hohenzollern empire,
would constitute an immediate threat