Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-08-17
BY PAUL SCOTT MOwRER.

n0 An11 p&oAA StAONsAsa~N~s
nv Radio to The Star and the Chicago
Daily News. Copyright. 1880.
PARIS, France, August l6.-The great
European political crisis which Premier
Benito MussoIini has repeatedly pre-
dicted for 1885, the year when the
Rhineland occupation under the treaty
Of Versailles would normally have ex-
pired, seems already at hand. Tension
Is undoubtedly greater today than at
any time since the French marched into
che Ruhr
Europe is divided into two armed
camps Of about the same numerical
strength. Germany Italy, Hungary
Lithuania and Bulgaria want immediate
territorial changes made in their favor.
France, Belgium, Poland, Czechoslo-
vakia, Rumania and Jugoslavia, well
united by interlocking alliances, are de-
terlnined to prevent these changes, the
more so as they would all be at their
expense.
The revisionist group, as those desir
Ing changes are called, Is less coherent
than the status quo group. It's spokes-
men declare, moreover, that in view OF
the covenant of the League of Nations
and the Locarno pact, they are not
thinking of revision by war, but only by
peaceful means. The fact remains that
they now appear we'll armed as we'll as
insistent. They would have. moreover,
q certain amount Of support, 1t seems,
from Soviet Russia.
Armaments Strengthened.
The status quo group is increasingly
alarmed by this situation and appears
70 be strengthening its ornaments and
tightening its bonds. Military pTeoccu-
pations of France, Italy and Germany
today are such as have not been observ-
able In Western Europe since the World
War.
Grave agitations and troubles in
China, India and the Near East add
TO the general nervousness, which Is
fuxther heightened by the unfortunate
coincidence Of Worldwide economic
depression. This depression is said to
l,ekso serious in certain countries as,
for example, Germany and Italy, that
by exasperating the populace it tends
70 strengthen nationalistic and bellicoSe
currents. The crisis may be considered
10 date from eyar ago. when the
British Labor government came to
DoNer.
Refusal of the United States TO define
the Kellogg pact--that is, to say In
advance whether it would insist on
trading as q neutral with any power
which broke the Kellogg pact--forced
the British, as they thought. into
dilemma Either they must cast their
lot with Europe and the League of
Nations system, risking thereby war
over the neutrality issue with the
United States or they must veer away
from Europe and make an understand
ing with the United States basic.
At The Hague conference Great
Britain conspicuously broke It's entente
With France At Rapidan it laid the
Youndatlons for an Anglo-Americau
agreement which directed and sdoEni-
mated the London Naval Conference.
New Tension Is Begun.
On the breach Of the Franco British
entente the Italian government, consid-
efing perhaps that Frances position
/. was thereby weakened, changed the
terms On which 1t had been about to
conclude an amity treaty with France
and this was the beginning of a new
Ffsnco-Italian tension which the Lon
don Conference accumulated and which
has since caused great alarm throughout
Europe.
Agitators in China, India and the
Near East, who watch European affairs
closely, seem to have thought, as a
British Labor government, that Great
Britain was weakened and Europe d.
vided and the moment, therefore, pro-
pitious for nationalisEn or Communist
aeitAt1ons In those parts of the world
Difficulties for Great Britain which
resulted. together with the impressions
caused by the new American tariff,
swung British opinion strong toward
the idea of . British Empire tariff I'M
ion, an idea which tends to remove
Great Britain still further from Euro
pean affairs. Great Britain's choice of
the United States and an empire I'M
ion, instead of Europe, obliged it to
intimate to France and other members
Of the League that. in case of a crisis,
they must not count on the British
nayy'S supporting the system of the
League until Great Britain is reas-
sured regarding the intentions of the
United States. This attitude on Great
Britain's part had an immediate effect
In weakening general confidence in the
Leagues eflcacy.
Otto Project Adds to Unrest.
with the League thus weakened on
the British break with France and viz
tzlal withdrawal from European affairs,
Hungary, abetted perhaps by Italy,
considered the time opportune to bring
Prince Otto Of Hapsburg to the Hun
garian throne This Hungarian prof.
ect, soon known everywhere, heightened
the unrest In Central Europe for the
return of Prince Otto in definace of
Hungary's international agreements
might mean armed intervention by
Czechos, Rumanians and Jugoslays,
which in turn might bring Italy in as
Hungary's ally and start general war.
France, suddenly bereft of the Brit
ish entente and facing an apparently
violently hostile Italy, puts its hopes
more strongly than ever in Foreign
Minister Aristide Brands policy iof
rapprochement with Germany. De-
spite British indifference and Italisn
ranecr, thought the French, If France
and Germany stand together they can
organise the entire continent FOR peace
and prosperity.
France, therefore, executed strictly on
schedule the evacuation Of the, Rhine