Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-04-19
GERMAN-AUSTRIAN PACT Is
BLOW TO EUROPEAN PEACE.
Bruening Seeks Reputation of Repara-
tons and Treaty Revisions to Gain
Position Sought in War.

ritorial revision have also been urged,
reducing her military establishment by
battery or a company?
As to the League, since It Is under
its auspices that the disarmament con-
ference will assemble, failure must be
injurious. In advance of the disarrna-
ment conference the League must either
consent to act on the protest of the ma
tons which challenge the legality Of
the Austro-German action, or refuse.
II 1t consents and the decision goes
against Germany. the withdrawal Of
the Reich from the League is fore
gone conclusion. But II it takes the
German view, it is fatally compromised
in Paris, Warsaw, Prague, Belgrade and
Bucharest, at the least.
Last of all comes the question Of UNI
certainty and unrest during the next
months. In fact we have already had
many months of this, beginning with
the campaign speeches Of Treviranus,
which gave official expression to the
German purpose to revise the eastern
frontiers Succeeding these came the
German election. which suddenly put
all Europe on notice of the wholly I'M
suspected sweep of violent nationalistic
ideas in Germany. Hard on this came
the repercuSsion across Polish frontiers
during yet another election, which
SileSian Horrors and the open clash be-
tween Poland and Germany at Geneva.
Along with these more critical cpl
sodeS has gone the unmistakahle devel-
opment and expression Of a German
purpose to repudiate the PREPARATIONS
payments, only postponed because Of the
disastrous effects of the program In
the money markets of the world. notably
New York, where Germany must bor-
row to live. And in addition has been
the German insistence at Geneva and
elsewhere that either her neighbors must
disarm or she is entitled to reconstruct
her armies and fleets as she may choose.
In all OF these questions 1t would be
absurd to argue that Germany has no
case, to attempt to transform them into
a carefully calculated campaign to de-
stroy European tranquility and resume
the policies which before and during the
war Germany's enemies successfully
identified with a collective German
tempt to saddle the German people with
the responsibility for a deliberate cam
paign to provoke new war. The desire
for peace in Germany Is probably as
general as in France or Britain. What
one confronts Is not crime In the
making, but rather q tragedy In prep
aration.
For what has been at least univer-
sally fixed in the German mind Il that
Germany can exist only If she obtains
whole vast program OF advantages
which are attainable only &C the ex-
pense OF nations, each Of which has not
the smallest intention Of surrendering
the BENEFITS it now possesses.
Thus the German demands for the
right on the one hand to rearm and on
the other to regain Its lost colonies
carry instant threat to Britain, which
has no intention Of parting with the
German colonies that the peace treaty
gave to the various sections Of the en-
pire. England has no desire to see an
other German navy rise in the North
Sea, and watches with astonishment
even the German Socialists voting for
the construction Of q second Of the new
German battleships. AS consequence
England must consent to the constTuc-
ton Of yet two more each by France and
Italy.
Summer of Alarms Ahead.
Americans, like Rritons and French
man, look with unmixed disapproval
upon the proposals to repudiate repara-
lions, strangely inconsistent with pro.
grams of battleship building and re-
armament. For If Germany repudiates.
either France and Britain and italy VIII
have to pay the United States out of
their own pockets or, repudiating in
turn, will leave Uncle Sam to shoulder
the whole burden. Finally, neither
France nor any other Of the states VIC
torious in the war or re-established or
by the peace treaties has any
desire to see Germany, recovering her
then Hungary and finally Czechoslo-
vakia into her frontiers, establish on the
Continent hegemony which just eS-
capped her during the World War.
But liquidation, revision. fearI1ia-
ment and now AnschlusS are the Frame
work of Germany policy, To live. the
Bruening government must faithfully
and consistently serve all these ends.
All compromise would be perilous in the
extreme, any surrender fatal over night.
Yet the very multiplicity Of the objec-
tives steadily enlargeS the extent OF the
opposition. Moreover, this same weak
government, which must have money
from abroad to carry on and at least
semblance of success marked by con-
Is condemned to line which
excludes the possibility
Of foreign loans and foreign conccs-
sions
The consequence is the long series OF
gestures, of which this Austro- German
agreement is only the latest, designed to
create the impression at home of a
vigorous policy abroad. but steadily con-
the outside world against
Germany to her economic disaster and
her political danger. But once en-
parked upon this policy, it is difficult to
see how the Bruening government can
iraw back. Hence there is the almost
certain prospect of a Summer of alarms
and exc lrsions, leading not to war, to
'e sure, but straight away from politi-
al tranquility or economic recovery.
Copyright, 1870