Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-31
BY FRANK H. sIMoNDs.

Wv WHILE a more moderate state
ment by Treviranus, German
NN Reich minister formerly In
charge of occupied areas of
the Rhineland, and a sooth-
inc utterance by Curtius, the German
foreign minister, have somewhat soft
ened the effect of the formers frs
declaration concerning the Polish Cor
ridor, 1t is beyond question that Europe
has again been brought face to face
with an incident" thoroughly remi-
niscent of pre-war times. Precisely as
the Polish Corridor is the Alsace-Lor-
raine ( contemporary Europe. the Ger
man minister's statement has produced
exactly the kind of state of nerves
which used to accompany references to
Metz or Strasbourg on either side OF
the Franco German frontier.
This new incident is both immedi-
ately and in the -arger view unfortu-
nate. In the nearer view it bodies Ill
for the discussion of Brands Pan
European project at the forthcoming
meeting of the League of Nations in the
first days of September. And, looking
to the future, it promises an interrupt
ton of the process of Franco Germ an
aupeasement and reconciliation; for
France has taken alarm quite as genu-
tnely as Poland.
4NhttU1AdhStS See NlnutcatIOns
In the French view this German
declaration, even though it be softened
to statement that Germany will seek
the revision of her frontiers only by
peaceful means, is an unhappy German
response to the recent evacuation of
the RlIineland nearly five years in adj
vance of the date fixed by the treaty
of Versailles. The Nationalist, who
opposed this concession, have already
found yindication for their protests, and
are renewing their familiar warnings
of German purpose with unmistakable
effectiveness.
As to the. issue itSelf-the question of
the Policeman frontiers, and more
particularly of the portion of the treaty
OF Versailles dealing with the Corridor
and the Free City of Danzig-there is
little that 1t is possible to say beyond
the self-evident fact that no revision is
possible without war. The Piles of
every party are agreed to the same
principle which is expressed in the
determination to fight a new partition
OF their country to the death.
Historically the territory at issue was
Polish for more than three centuries
before 1t was taken by Fred lex the
Great, chiefly in the fir partition. Al
decisive majority of the population is
Slay, and the loss of the territory
you'd deprive Poland of all access to
the sea. 1t was these considerations
which moved Woodrow Wilson to throw
his decisive vote i'll favor of the Poles
az Paris Moreover, since the passing
OF the territory to Poland the German
population has diminished greatly and
the Polish majority has similarly In
creased. But even before the World
War these districts sent Poles to the
German Reichstag.
Danzig StolidIy TeutOnic.
The German case, on the other hand.
rests upon the obvious fact that the
Polish possession of the Corridor sepa-
rates East Prussia from the Reich.
Moreover, there is the further fact that
Danzig itself, the city and the entire
Tree state, is practically without a Pol
ish minority, being stoIidly Teutonic
and never having been reconciled to the
enforced Separation from the German
Fatherland.
France is interested primarily because
Poland Is the most important ally of
the republic, and also because any re-
vision OF the peace treaties would es-
Cablish precedent which would be
cited in other attempts to revise the
settlement at the expense of all Frances
allies-Rumania, Jugoslayia, Czecho-
slovakia, and even Belgium. France
TOO, might expect, despite the Locarno
pact, that Germany would raise the
question of Alsace-Lorraine if revision
were achieved elsewhere.
On the German side it is equally clear
that no real compromise is possible. If
all Poles are resell ed to fight rather
than ceo an inch of territory, there
are few Germans who do not insist
that the real pacification of Europe car
only be achieved by a revision NJ fha