Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1929-08-25
BY COUNT CARLO sFORZA.

~ ROBABLY in our thorny Europe
- there is more than one prob
lem" And it may look rather
L "simpliste" to define the Ansch-
luss-to use the German word
which has come to mean in political
slang simply the union Of Austria and
Germany-as the main present prob
lem in diplomatic Europe.
But the more we think OF 1t the
more we must be forced to admit that
it really is the problem.
OF course. other problems at least as
difficult are in store just now for Eu-
ropean diplomacy. For instance, there
is the occupation of the Saar the
final organization Of the PREPARATIONS
system, the Polish Corridor and the
whole of Polish-German relations.
The occupation of the Rhineland, once
so pressing a question, seems on the
verge Of solution.
Some of those problems. ponderous
as they are may be dismissed, however,
because treaties require that a solu-
ton be found In a relatively short
time. and, after all, what Is wanted
in life are not marvellous solutions
but simply solutions. Such a problem
is the occupation of the Saar for which
a pIebiscite of the inhabitants will
soon end all sorts of sterile intrigues.
The problem of the Polish Corridor
Is too complex to be examined here
"a sort of continental peninsula which,
cutting old Germany in two, unites
Poland with the sea at Danzig-is prob
ably the most terrible present ever put
in a newborn states cradle. But the
very fact that the German masses on
the one side and the Polish masses on
the other have taken quite antitheti-
cal positions in the problem makes the
Corridor a question Of the distant fu-
ture since no wars are possible in pres
ent Europe. Whether for sentimental
and historical reasons or for deeper
economic and political fears concern
ing the future of East Prussia--the
province that the Corridor has de-
tached from the NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
in Germany is united in favor OF the
suppression of the Corridor. On the
other hand in Poland no public man
would dare to ask the Polish people
to consent to anything that might even
remotely suggest new partition.
One Optimistic Symptom.
The only existing symptom that al
lows optimism In the question OF the
Polish Corridor is that the Germans
have begun to stop speaking OF Poland
as sort of season-state, destined to
collapse In a comparatively short time.
The Germans have reconciled them
selves to the loss Of Poznan and even
of Upper Silesia, where perhaps the
only thing they have failed to DO Is
to forgive the author Of the sforza-
line which decided on the new Ger
mano-Polish frontier into the Shesian
territory. ts-
With all that, however, the Corridor
cannot be considered as one Of the pres
ent problems of Europe, because, as
have said, in the present phases 1t can
lead only to war and not to negotiations
and any war is now an impossible
hypothesis. On the other hand, no ne
gotiations for corrections Of treaties
seem possible for decades to come. The
only practical solution might be found
not In new treaties, but in a change of
policy. Intense rivals as Germany and
Poland are in many fields. they ought
to become allies in sense II they want
to avoid the risk Of becoming open
enemies. Just 40 ne Italians were allied