Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-09-10
Pan-Europa Is Hatched.

Giving prompt form to M. Brands
project launched at Geneva last week,
League of Nations representatives yes
terday functioned as constituent mem
bers of another league-the long-moot-
ed and hitherto purely theoretical
UNITED States of Europe" Spokesman
of twenty-eight countries stood sponsor
for the new confederation. They in
cluded, in addition to the French pre-
mier, statesmen of such eminence as
Foreign Secretary Henderson of Great
Britain, Foreign Minister Stresemann Of
Germany, Foreign Secretary Hymans Of
Belgium, Premier BeneS of CzechoSlo-
vakia and distinguished officials of
Switzerland and Jugoslavia. If an in
fant's future is assured by the caliber
of its godparents, the United States of
Europe" is born under suspicious skies.
This ambitious scheme to link the
litical union, which shall leave the in
dividual sovereignty of its members I'M
impaired, has not yet been chriStened.
Geneva dispatches refer to the birth
of "Pan-Europa." That sounds like a
reply to "Pan-America," at least as a
reprisal in nomenclature. The joint and
several authors of its being are at pains
to deprive their conception of aggressive
east of them. When asked by news
paper men to summarize what occurred
in the executive session at which PAN
Europa" was Matched, continental
foreign minister disclosed that there
was an agreement not to reveal the
proceedings. But he expressed the
opinion" that the project sis directed
against neither the United States of
America nor Soviet Russia
Till the full import and purpose of
the United States of Europe" are
proclaimed, it would be premature to
rush to any sort of conclusions about it.
That sooner or later the confederation
will infringe upon American interests
is hardly to be doubted. In unity there
is strength, an ancient copybook
maxim reminds us, and united Eu-
rope will be something individually
formidable. Its possibilities are literally
Unreasonable, and the high priests OF
American isolation will do well not to
laugh them out of court as unworthy
of serious attention.
A Europe presenting a Stone-wall
high-tariff front against American
goods is one contingency that would
command respect from this Nation of
exporters, with a foreign trade worth
$10,000,000, 900 year. A Europe which
might some day demand revision of
war debt settlements would be an ugly
customer for American diplomacy to
handle. A Europe spurred to insist on
revision of our immigration laws could
become bothersome, to say the least
The nuisance value" of the United
States of Europe" is capable of wide ex-
tension.
All this is what the Germans in an
tdiom of their own call Lukunftsmusik
music of the future. Pan-Europa is
not one of those dreams that come true
all of sudden. The building of Rome,
which we are told was not the accom-
plishment of day, is destined to have
been rapid process compared to the
creation which has now leaped from
Geneva's loins. It is a significant step
1t reflects the get-together spirit which
has pervaded the world since Versailles.
1t calls for vigilant observation on this
side of the Atlantic. 1t may do some
thing here that its ingenious archi-
tects may have overlooked-draw still
tighter the bonds which unite the
nations of the Western Hemisphere, in
Guiding the Dominion of Canada.