Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-05-05
The Other Fellows Viewpoint.

,
near Bucharest. They met by appoint
ment. the Associated Press tells us, and
amid such g desire for privacy that
! they padded. as it were, their own
! canoe. without benefit of bOatmen. The
! premiers OF both Jugoslavia and Ru-
J mania accompanied their respective
sovereigns TO the river and had motor
/ boat conference OF their own In mid
stream while Alexander and Carol pow
vowed In secret.
/ An innocuous bit OF international
! news. perhaps. yet one Of those typical
, little episodes which since time imme-
] moria! has set all chanceileries In Eu-
rope TO guessing in anxiety and alarm.
About the time the Balkan rulers had
their heads together, the President OF
the United States was delivering q mo-
mentous message to the international
Chamber of Commerce. In veightier
, words than he ever before used on the
| subject, Mr.. Hoover warned the world
though, OF course, he was fitting mainly
at Europe-that drastic reduction OF
armament is the condition precedent to
economic rehabilitation. Spend less OF
your treasure on ships and guns, corre-
spondingly curtail tax burdens, then you
will be on the road to business recovery.
and not until then"-such, In substance,
was the advice rendered TO the captains
OF commerce from overseas.
Some disappointment was audible In
the corridors OF the International Cham
Der following the Presidents address.
Men could be heard saying that they
crossed the oceans in the expectation
Of light and leading on the critical
business that brought them TO these
shores, only to have the most authorl-
tative voice in the United States strike
a keynote which, they consider, Is only
remotely associated with the worlds
economic woes. 1t is hardly 10 be ex-
pected that some delegate from abroad
will not seize a suitable opportunity to
reply to Mr.. Hoover's vigorous plea for
disarmament.
Nor is 1t difficult to anticipate what
the nature Of "abroad's" rejoinder will
be. AS to Europe, the Old World will be
depicted as an armed camp, necessarily
kept such by the jealousies, suspicious
and hatreds which have accumulated
since the so-called peace Of versailles.
AS to Asia, the dominant Far Eastern
power, Japan, can present logical case
for remaining strong on land and sea.
Nippon has only TO point to the prox-
unity OF Soviet Russia and to the end
less chaos in China.
Europe, twelve and q half years after
the armistice, has its being in an at
mosphere Of uncOnquerable fear and
terror. Britain resents any excessive
increase Of French naval power. France
and Italy are filled with mutual dis
trust. Rival military alliances, Little
Ententes" and the like, brtstle In all d.
rections. Germany is meeting her rep
aration obligations sullenly and is
ceaselessly demanding revision of the
Versailles treaty. Kings OF the Balkans
the cockpit OF Europe-take TO the
Danube for cIandestine affairs OF state.
And overshadowing all Europe, like
fabulous cloud glowering ever bigger
and blacker, looms Russia with her Five
Year Plan to drench the earth with
low-priced wares and with her implaca-
BILE plot TO wage world revolution"
When men speak of the armed camp
which Is preSent-hour Europe, they
should not forget that the Soviet au-
tocracy, too, is militarist TO the teeth.
with a conscript army described by ex-
perts as formidable in the highest de-
gree, both as to numbers, equipment
and training.
When the other fellow thinks Of all
these things-of what Grover Cleveland
called "A condition, and not 3 theory"
which confronts hkn-the man across
the seas from rich isolated, invulner-
able America wonders whether we, be-
hind our ramparts OF gold, take fully
into consideration what the rest OF the
world is up against. It cannot be that
1t is less anxious than the people OF the
United States for peace. 1t cannot be
that Europe has so soon forgotten the
blood and tears in which she wallowed
but yesterday.
Perhaps the Old Worlds answer TO
President Hoovers idealistic call TO
stack arms will be that civilized man
kind is spending $5,OO0,000,0o0 on
srmamen. for the same reason that the
| United States Is spending nearly one
NTH OF that entire sum. That reason
is that Self-preseryation is the FIRST law
Of nature. II applies TO nations IS well
as TO the animal kingdom.