Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-02-01
BY FRANK H. sIMoNDs.


depend very largely upon Germany.
Moreover, not without irritation and
ancredulity, the United States has re-
Gently been compelled to listen to re-
ports of a possible conflict in Europe
at the precise moment when its interests
and desires are all concentrated upon
seeing the industrial machine OF the
world set in motion again and, Incl
dentally, all disturbing political issues
dismissed.
To start at the beginning there is
no more desire for new war in Ger
many than in the United States. The
great mass of the people still recall the
miSeries and losses of actual conflict
and passioEately reject any thought of
new struggle. Any government which
undertook today to lead the German
people into any form of offensive war
against France or Britain would fare
badly. Any government which under
took, deliberately and Enthusiastically, to
prepare new war would come to grief
And yet over against this unmistak-
able desire for peace must be set the
ever-growing conviction in Germany
that peace is unattainable. AS people
the Germans have suffered two vast
Establishments. In 1913 Woodrow VIII
son with his II points convinced them
that the end of the war was to be fol-
lowed by a reconciliation of the bellig
erent nations, but in fact what followed
was the treaty of Versailles.
Severe Economic Policy.
Five years later Stresemann, with his
Locarno policy, again persuaded a ma
jority of the German people that f1nan-
cial adjustment and territorial revision
would come, and today Germany is in
the midst of the severest postwar eco
nonlic crisis since the imitation period,
and is firmly convinced that the cause
is political not economic. For, to I'M
derstand the German situation at all, 1t
must be clear that while the British
and American people recognize the
present economic crisis to be a world
wide phenomenon due to economic
causes, the Germans are satisfied that
it is primarily a German crisis and
results from the terms of the treaty of
Versailles.
AS a consequence, German discussion
of the larger question of war or peace
begins and ends with the examinations
of the question of the revision of the
peace treaty. The German argues and
believes that there can be no peace IN
the world until Germany is freed from
conditions which all Germans. without
exception, believe to be intolerable. And
the appeal to the outside world for this
revision comes not from the National
lists, not from the Hitlerites, who in
growing numbers believe that the solu-
ton must come by force, but from the
majority Of the German people who
still reject the notion Of war Hfd-
force but at the same time believe that
revision is the price of peace.
All Of which leads to the supreme
question in Germany, the question of
the Polish frontiers. With almost no
exception, Germans Of all classes, polit-
ical parties. geographical origin. viii
tell you that If the world does not ind
through some medium-f1nancial, diplo-
matte or League of Nations way to
return to Germany the Polish Corridor.
DanZig and (perhaps a shade less en-
phatically) Upper Silesia, then peace in
Europe is impossible, reconciliation be-
tween Germany and her former foes
will not come about, economic co-opera-
ton will be out of the question, and in
the end Europe will drift back to the
fatal condition Of 1914.
Explanation Always Same.
Inside and outside of Germany, of COM
binations between Moscow, Rome and
Berlin, the explanation Is always the
same. It represents the proposal OF
the growing number of Germans who
believe that no peaceful method can be
found to insure the return of the East
ern provinces. 1t represents the con-
viction that the United States through
financial pressure, Britain by political
Influence, France by the withdrawal OF
military support will not jointly or sew
orally exert pressure upon Poland.
Moreover, one must recognize that
the German feeling about the lost
provinces is mounting steadily, for the
very simple reason that each day and
week the German hold IN these lost
provinces is diminishing. In 1919, when
they were lost, there were more than
800 600 Germans in this area; today
there are barely 100000. In 1919, so
the Germans believe, enough Poles
would have voted with them to give
them victory in a plebiscite had one
been held. Now, in the last Polish
elections the German candidates were
almost universally defeated.
This emigration. this political decline,
the Germans ascribe to Polish tactics
Of persecution and terrorism. Daily
the German press is filled with reports
of the abuse Of German minorities,
while the uninterrupted migration Of
German populations makes way for
ever-increasing Polish majorities. The
new Polish port of Gydnia is daily ex-
panding at the expense Of Danzig. In
sum, a whole German world, which
d
tematic and continued German colo
nization in the East, extending from
Frederick the Great to William the
Last, is being wiped out. Ten years
more and the German minority will be
q memory, and not only will PoSen and
West Prussia be hopelessly lost but East
Prussia will be endangered 1t is, in
fact, in danger now, isolated and eco
ncmically PROSTATE.
Polish Corridor Vital.
For all Germans the Polish Corridor
IS not merely what Alsace-L,orraine was
for France after 1871; 1t is in all re-
spects far more vital Actually the
area involved is twice as large, the
population correspondingly greater.
What is even more important, the Cor
ridor separates from Germany still an
other territory, also twice as large as
Alsace-Lorraine. Not only national Sc
curity but national unity is at stake.
And, as I have said, every day that the
existing situation endures the obstacles
to recovery multiply.
There is the paradox in the German
situation. which, after all, explains
more than all else the universal
malaise and anxiety which exist all over
Europe today. Germany wants peace
and the Corridor, but practically all
Germans are satisfied that If the Cor
ridor is not returned through peaceful
negotiations, then in the end must
come another war If the war were to
be only with Poland, the Germans would
not be disturbed. If Europe would con-
sent to let Germany conduct local
expedition against Poland, things would
be simple.
But there is the League of Nations.
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