Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-09-04
No Germanic Tariff Union.

Anschluss is dead. On the eve Of a
prohibitory World Court decree declar-
ing Austria in violation Of her 1922 in
ternational loan agreement, that coun-
try and Germany jointly have declared
their abandonment Of the whole enter
prise Their remuneration was pro-
claimed at yesterdays session of the
Pan-European Union in Geneva. 1t
fell to the sad lot of DR.. Johann
Schober. the Austrian foreign minister,
to sound the death knell Of the i'll
starred project. Austria, he said, will
not pursue it further"
Thus collapses ingloriously grandiose
scheme which set all Europe by the
ears when launched last March and
which has threatened ever since then
to precipitate European political crisis
second only in magnitude to the eco
nomic crisis wherefrom the old world
has not yet emerged. Undoubtedly the
failure of Anschluss is a French dip
lomatic victory. 1t was France which
hailed the Teutonic powers before the
bar Of the World Court on an indict-
ment charging them with violation OF
the spirit, If not the letter. of the peace
treaties imposed upon the conquered
states.
1t was not a mere tariff merger which
France. and other neighbors of Ger
many and Austria, opposed or feared.
Objections were based on the conviction
that a customs union between the Cen
trail European countries which defied
the world in 1914 could be construed
only as the forerunner Of a new pam
Germanic bloc and another thrust to
place Germany lover all" Acting in
pursuance Of her implacable terror OF
a revitalized neighbor across the Rhine,
France set out to leave no stone I'M
turned for thwarting Anschluss. The
French had the support of Czechoslo-
vakia, one of her little entente" part
ners, in fighting the Berlin-Vienna
proposition, and italy, too, frowned upon
1t. What seems to be the straw that
broke the camelS back was French
refusal to further Austria's dire finan-
cial needs unless the Viennese author
1ties threw the tariff plan into the dis
card. Not for the first time in this
eventful Summer French francs talked
an irresistible language.
In Berlin itself there seems to be no
inclination to conceal the complete
ness of the Reich's defeat in the
Anschluss affair or any reluctance to
admit that it was badly conceived
idea in the first place. The Bruening
government is accused of putting it
forth in an impetuous effort to demon
strate the Reich's political viril:ty, with
out taking into account the gravity of
the nations real position. Vorwaerts,
the German Socialist organ, aSsails the
now abandoned effort as "a diplomatic
cavalry raid" not only foredoomed to
defeat, but destined to do more damage
than the economic value at stake was
worth. Anschluss was dropped on the
sixtieth anniversary of Sedan, Ger
many's historic and decisive defeat of
France in the Franco-P russian War.
One Berlin journal suggests that the
humiliation suffered by the Teutonic
governments is Frances vengeance for
Sedan.
Germany and Austria one day, no
doubt, will be members of some all
European customs union from which
advantages will be derived equal to. If
not greater than, any that Anschluss
could have produced, and devoid OF
political dynamite.