Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1930-04-06
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.

n 70 single circumstance in all the
~ trouble and turmoil of the
VI Naval Conference has given
4 more concern to the general Eu-
ropean public than the Franco
italian differences that provoked the
deadlock which remains unbroken at the
moment write. Nor was any criticism
of Ramsay Macdonald sharper or more
universal than that which challenged
his craftsmanship for having made GER
tain the clash between the two Latin
powers. This move can have grave con-
sequences in the future for European
peace.
OF itself the actual point at issue be-
tween the French and Italians at Lon
don has been so trivial as to seem at
moments positively ridiculous At the
Washington Conference the pre-Fascist
government of that period, represented
by Schanzer and Albertini, obtained for
Italy parity with France in the matter
of capital ships. At that timeS neither
France nor Italy cared much about the
issue since neither was financially able
to build great warshipS. Three years
after the close of the World War the
two countries remained nominally
friends, as they had recently been allies.
When, however, Mussolini came to
Oeno Grandi to London his sole inStruc-
lions were that his foreign secretary
should match the achievement Of Wash
mgton, since it was intolerable for the
Duce that the Italy of the present hour
should be less successful abroad than
the regime which he had abolished.
Parity with France, to be sure, was
merely prestige proposition, for France
not only had vastly larger fleet, but
possessed the money to expand her
navy, while Italy lacked funds.
Grandi was prepared to support any
and all proposals for reduction, which
would automatically bring the French
fleet nearer to the italian in size and
power. On the other hand, he was not
able to present any building program,
for Italy had nc program in the Ameri-
can or French sense. The four other
powers presented figures which repre-
scented settled policies and existing esti-
mates. Italy simply insisted upon
writing opposite the French figures
purely mythical figures which were
identical.
France Cites Needs.
But. by contrast, the French were
ut no time prepared to accept such
claim. They challenged the Italian
claim to parity on the grounds that
France had a vast colonial empire,
counting 60000,000 of inhabitants, sec
ond only to the British, and that she de-
pCI4QSo dIlhS 1OI raw LIldISIldlS anu 1OT
third OF her military establishment
upon her ability to keep open the lanes
connecting the home country with its
African and Asiatic possessions. Italy,
by contrast, has only few and in
significant colonies and draws from
them nothing vital.
Again, the French emphasized the
fact that France faced upon the At
lantic also, and was bound to maintain
@ysN5 81
the small but effective German squad
ron, soon to be reinforced by the ad-
dition of one or more Ersatz Preussens.
Thus France argued that her need was
TO maintain a feet in the Mediter-
ranean equal to the Italian and another
In the Atlantic superior to the German.
Such were the purely technical argu-
mentS advanced, but beneath the sur
face lay the ominous fact that between
France and Italy in the postwar years
and chiefly since the arrival of Mus
solini to power there has developed a
tension and suspicion which all too
unpleaSantly recall the Franco-German
situation before 1914. And at the root
or this tension lies the deliberate series
of menaces directed by the Duce against
France.
The insistent and persistent theme
OF Mussolint has been not alone that
italy was equal to France, but that she
was bound to be superior by the simple
fact of more rapidly increasing popu-
lation. And along with this steady
system of provocation and of mediation
has gone the far more serious insinu-
alton that France was standing in
Italys pathway.
JugOslavic Treaty.
Not alone Tunis, but Nice, Savoy,
Corsica have in turn been claimed as
the lost provinces of Italy. From time
to time there have been border Incl
dents. Two years ago the French felt
obliged suddenly to move an army
corps to the Alpes Maritimes to guard
against reported Fascist designs to seize
Nice by a sudden foray In Tunis,
along the Tripolitan border, trouble has
been almost continuous during all the
Fascist period
In the face of this danger, for to the
French it is real danger, France has
acted in two directions. She has in
creased her land Notifications on tne
Italian border and embarked upon a
very extensive program of naval ex-
Pansion and she has made a treaty of
alliance on the basis of common de-