Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-10-11
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.

v v WILL Premier Laval and Pres
n ident Hoover be able to cut
wv the Gordian knot of our
day? Will the conversations
between the leaders of the
two most powerful nations in the world
be able to come to an understanding
regarding the Danzig corridor and thus,
by solving that irksome question, hep
restore the political balance Of Europe?
Diplomats in Washington are asking
each other these questions and are los
ing themselves in all kinds of Specula-
lions as to the outcome of the Hoover
Laval conversations regarding that very
moot point.
The DanZig corridor is a strip of
land some 80 miles long and 40 miles
wide running from the Baltic Sea to
the Polish frontier On the Baltic Sea
a new Polish port, Gdinia, has been
created. This narrow strip. which be-
longs, according to the treaty of Yer
sailles. to Poland, divides Germany
from East Prussia. Its economic i'm
portance is negligible, but its political
Importance Is so great that 1t prevents
the restoration of peaceful activities in
Europe.
The Danzig, or Polish. corridor, often
has been described as an open wound
in Europe. 1t drives a wedge between
the Reich and East Prussia dividing
Germany in two. The Germans, who
have become reconciled to the idea Of
having lost Alsace and Lorraine and
Silesia. cannot accept the verdict of
Versailles of having their country Sepa-
rated by an unnatural frontier which
prevents free intercourse between the
two parts of the Reich. 1t annoys them
to be compelled to stand a 'rigorcus
passport and custom control when trav-
cling from Berlin to Koenigsberg
They feel that the strip-of land which
has been taken from them under the
pretext Of providing Poland with free
access to the Baltic Sea must be re-
turned to their sovereignty.
Incidents Occur Daily.
Minor incidents which are provoking
to the Germans occur almost daily. A
typical illustration of what the corridor
means was given to a group Of foreign
military attaches last year during the
German Army maneuverS in East Prus-
STA. The officer in charge of the mill
tary attaches asked these high-ranking
officers who were invited to witness the
war games of the German Army 20
travel in uniform and, according to the
German custom, to carry their swords
with them. The military attaches
complied with the request. The ma
neuvers took place In East Prussia and
in order to reach the field Of opera
tons they had to pass through the cor
r1dor. To the great establishment of
these foreign officers. when the border
line OF the corridor was reached a
Polish custom officer came on board
the train and asked them to surrender
their swords. since it is provided that
nobody passing through the corridor
can carry any weapons. The military
attaches protested vehemently pointing
out that they had diplomatic immunity
and consequently were entitled to carry
their inoffensive weapons with them
1t was useless. The Polish official
proved adamant and told them that if
they insisted on their diplomatic i'm
munity they had to get of the train
and wait until he could get in touch
with the Warsaw authorities, who alone
were able to decide on such an impor-
tant point. This meant wasting a good
deal OF time in a somewhat deSolate
frontier station. So they decided to
surrender their swords, which were re-
turned to them when the other side
OF the Polish territory was reached
A number of more serious incidents
between the people who live on one side
OF this narrow strip of land and want
to go to the other and the Polish au-
thorttleS occur daily but naturally they
are considered trivial and are seldom
reported in the world press. Sometimes
the demarcation line runs through the
middle of a village, the street being
the frontier line; the inhabitants of the
German side must provide themselves
with identity cards or passports when
they want to go from one side of the
street to the other AS long as the re-
lations between the two are fairly cor
dia! there is not much hardship for the
inhabitants OF this territory; but when
ever the relations between the two
countries are strained, for some reason
or other, the authorities can make life
pretty difficult with the red-tape regu-
1ations which are rigidly enforced.
This is only pale picture of what
the Danzig corridor means to the Ger
mans Consequently it is not surprising
to most fair minded people to hear that
no German government is allowed by
the German people to subscribe to any,
thing like an agreement not to bring
up the question of the revision of the
Versailles treaty as long as the question
OF the Polish corridor has not been
settled in Germany's favor.
The best illustration of how the Ger
mans feel about it can be seen in the
fact that when Germany was on the
verge Of bankruptcy this Summer Herr
Bruening, the German chancellor, pre-
ferred to refuse French loan Of $780,
100000 which Mr.. Laval offered him
than to agree to a political mora
forum" for 10 years; he told the
French premier that he would be stoned
out OF ONCE II the German people heard
that he had given up the idea of re-