Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-11-09

them, Is that the French consider Lake
Tchad as the keystone OF their African
empire. and do not want the Italians
to be too close TO that otherwise barren
region. The Italians have made re-
peated attempts 70 have this matter
settled, but 30 far no progress has been
made. This Is the second potential
cause for q conflict between the TWO
countries, although II seems obvious
that four little green islands. situated
in the desert, with nomad populatlon
Of q few thousand marauding Arabs.
should not be considered by any civil
lied government as an tnsolupie"
diplomatic question.
Naval Question Simple.
The naval situation between Italy
and France appears 70 be equally
"insoluble," although II seems ex-
tremely simple. The Italians demand
theoretical naval parity with France.
That Is to say. that they should have
their right to build as many men-of-
war as the French The Italian ma.
tional pride and their geographic POI
sition requires, according TO Mussoltni,
that Italy should have the right 20
maintain a navy as big as the French.
The French, on the other hand, claim
that Italy being interested only In the
Mediterranean, need not have navy
as large as the French, because France
has extensive colonies and must watch
the North Sea. The Italians have
stated repeatedly during the London
Naval Conference that they demand
only the theoretical right of parity
with France; In fact, they cannot AZ
ford to spend money on navy as
large as the French. The French, on
the other hand, used to say TO our
delegates that they do not mind 1taly's
naval ambitions as long as France has
the right to build at any time larger
navy than the Italian. The American
and the British delegates in London
have done their utmost TO settle this
question, which appears to be purely
theoretical, but they have not yet been
able to do so. The problem in itself
would appear In the eyes of men who
Judge the situation from the common
sense angle easy to solve. The fears
and the suspicious of the French and
the Italian statesmen have made 1t
so far the greatest stumbling block IN
European politics.
There has been in the last few years
a good deal Of talk among the italian
nationalists of the re-occupation OF
the district called the Maritime Alps.
That district, which includes the world
| famous resort, Nice, had been sur
rendered to France in 1850 In ex-
change for the military support En-
peror Napoleon the Third had given to
members Of the Fascist party have fire.
quently demanded from their leader,
Mussoiini, q declaration that Italy
considers the Maritime Alps only as
temporarily in French possession, and
that Italy would avail herself Of the
| first opportunity to claim that territory
as her own. Ofhcially Italy has never
mentioned that matter and conse-
quently one may assume that 1t con-
siders France the lawful owner Of that
| territory. On account Of the strained
relations between the two countries the
| French, however are convinced that II
| the Italians had an opportunity OF
| occupying Nice and the adjacent ter
ritory they would gladly do so; hence
the desire Of France to have Q larger
and more powerful navy than the
Italians and their alliance with the
| JugoslavS, whose strong army would
make It dificult for the Italians to act
impulsively toward France should such
| an opportunity offer itself. Frances
most powerful allies are the Poles and
the Jugoslavs. The former are sup
posed to watch the Germans and assist
| France should any trouble arise from
that quarter; the latter are q thorn in
the side Of Italy and will have to play
relations between France and Italy lead
to conflict The Poles are as much.
interested in keeping Germany down
as the French. BY the treaty Of YER
sailles the Poles have been given ac-
cess to the North Sea by being allotted
strip Of land which separates East
Prussia from the rest of Germany. The
Germans had to accept the situation,
but have always maintained that this
part Of the treaty must be revised some
day and the so-called Polish corridor
must disappear. The Poles naturally
want to keep the corridor and realize
that unless they are very close to
France the Germans will succeed In
revising the treaty which has given
them access to the sea: They have q
treaty Of alliance whereby France
promises to oppose such a revision BY
the force of arms If necessary. The
Poles on the other hand have under
taken to come to Frances assistance
whenever necessary.
JugOsIavs Dissatisfied.
The Jugoslavs are menaced by mo-
body, but dissatisfied with the peace
treaty which has given Fiume to Italy.
The racial antagoniSm between the
Italians and the Slavs is much stronger
than the territorial questions, which are
only Of minor importance. The IN
ternal situation in the JugoSlav kingdom
has been bad In the last few years: the
Slovenes and the Croatians were dis
satisfied with the high-handed methods
Of the Serbians and there was cues
ton at one time Of the Slovenes and
Croatians proclatming themselves aai-
tonomous.
King Alexander of Jugoslavia averted
the crisis by establishing dictatorship
and by sharpening the antagonism
hofVr flNa TfoIfA Id
Jects. His emiSSaries have been point
ing out to the Slovenes and the Croa-
tlarlS that II they separated from Serbia
they would necessarily be swallowed by
the Italians. This danger and the hatred
OF the Italians really keeps the Jugoslay
kingdom together. There Is no serious
outstanding problem between the Ital-
ians and the Jugoslays, outside the
racial antagonisn. Yet one hears FREE
quently that JugoSlavs have been court
martialed and shot In Italy or that
Italians have been murdered In .Jugo-
slavta, to say nothing about the smash
| ing OF innocent windows of Jugoslav
or Italian consulateS every time the
respective nationals celebrate some
festive occasion. The Jugoslavs are
lmpulsive people. They believe In
fighting, and the French have been
compelled to hold them from attacking
the Italians on several occasions in the
last few years. They were told that the
time was not ripe for an attack, because
France did not want any of her allies
to start an aggressive war.
The other two allies Of France, Czech
oSlovakia and Rumania, have been
drawn into the French sphere merely
because the former felt that it needed
an ally TO maintain its Independence
and to prevent Hungary from endeavor-
ing to reconquer some Of the territory
which she had lost to Czechosloyakia