Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1931-03-29
ANSCHLUSS NEARS
AS u. S. WATCHES
State Department Views Pact
of Germany and Austria
for Its Effect.
BY FREDERIC WILLIAM VILE.

| Anschluss-political union-between
Germany and Austria Is viewed at
| Washington as having been brought
measurably, though not visibly, nearer
in consequence of the proposed customs
union between the two Teutonic coun-
tries. Such a consolidation is described
by both American and European au-
thorities here as manifest destiny
the idiom coined by President McKin-
ley in 1898 when he was defending the
United States right to become a world
| power against the charge that we were
headed for imperialism" Nations
with common borders, common Ian
guage, common traditions and common
ambitions cannot be permanently kept
apart it is argued. The Berlin Vienna
project to effect a tariff merger is re-
gsrded in the neutral American Capt.
tai as the first, and long, step to end
what most Germans and Austrians
consider an intolerably unnatural po-
litical situation.
For the present the concern of the
United States in Europe'S newest in
| te4national crisis is purely that Of a
disinterested bystander. The State De-
/ partment is looking into the effect
which German-Austrian reciprocal free
| trade would have upon our most-fa-
vored-nation rights in either country.
If these should turn out to be in any jeo-
pardy, Secretary Stimson would have
| something to say in Berlin and Vienna.
| But with any peril to American exports
| to Germany and Austria removed, the
| United States would retire to the side
| lines as far as any participation in the
development of anschluss is concerned.
Lack Basis for Protest.
We signed the peace treaty of YER
sailles with Germany and also the peace
treaty of st. German with Austria.
| The United States Senate did not
| ratify either treaty Therefore this
Government would have no status for
| Directing to German-Austrian politi-
| cal union, such as the European powers
have under the treaty articles forbid
| ding any infringement upon Austrian
independence" Neither was this coun-
| try a party to the Geneva agreement
| of 1922, wherein Austria a second time
pledged herself, in return for a finan-
| cial reconstruction scheme, never to do
anything to compromise that indie
pendence." The Austrian covenant on
| that occasion was made with Great
Britain, France, Italy and Czechoslo-
| vakia.
The idea Of united republic Of Ger
many and Austria was born the moment
| they began to recover their equilibrium
! after the arn1istice. Within "a hours
| after hostilities ceaSed-on November
! IL, 1918-the Austrian National Con-
| stituent Assembly declared that Ger
man-Austria" was a constituent por-
ton OF the German Reich. Four
months later, on March IL. 1919. the
assembly passed a law to this effect.
| Shortly before that time, in January
| 1919, the provisional constitution of the
| German Reich included tentative ref
| erence to the future role of German
1 frfa IN he i've
| The first Berlin republican government
strongly favored ancholuss, but it did
| not appear as important to Germany
as to Austria, which felt that the very
survival of the emaciated HapSburg
| state depended on this solution of its
difficulties.
France Blocked Move.
Meantime. in February, 1919, the
! Peace Conference swung into action at
| Paris According TO Andre Tardieu,
late premier Of France, the eventual
| decision of the conference to forbid
| Germany's political union with Austria
was taken largely in difference to
French views. Evidently the same mis-
| givings that dictated Frances action
! IL years ago inspire her present hos
tility TO anSchluss. 1t was felt in 1919
| that the victorious powers we're con-
cerned mainly with the safeguarding
of the independence Of Czechoslovakia,
which is surrounded on two sides by
German and Austrian territory.
| Furthermore, had anschluss been per-
mitted Immediately after the war Ger
many would have gained 100000 in
habitants as a result and would, ac-
cording to the French view, have
/ emerged from the war, which she lost,
| with a large share of the spoils, in
GLIDING $4,000 square miles of territory.
AS soon as the Austrian delegation ar
rived in Paris it was confronted with
| the unalterable veto of the conference
on any incorporation of German-Aus-
tria into the German Reich.
Anschluss is one of the cardinal
| points in the Germans demand for re-
vision Of the peace treaties. Only two
of the Reichs political parties, those
of the Conservative and Protestant
Right" hitherto have revealed indif-
| ference toward, If not opposition to, the
plan. These are the Reichstag groups,
| which fear that any pooling of Aus
TRAN with German political interests
| the German Catholic Center partys
power and in that of the German So
cial Democracy.
Coalition Rules Reich.
Authority in the Reich and in Prus-
STA is now welded by the so-called
'Weimar constitution" coalition-the
! parties which oppose any undermining
Of the republic. The Weimar constitu-
ton, adopted in August, 1919. contains
an article reading: German Austria,
after union with the Reich" shall have
| proportional voice in the Reichsrat, the
| German upper house of Parliament.
But in a subsequent article the consti-
tuition stipulates that the provisions of
the Versailles treaty shall in no wise
be affected by the constitution.
The supreme council of the allied and
associated powers at Paris, feeling that
the earlier article Of the Weimar char
ter did in fact affect the Versailles
pact. sent stern ultimatum to Berlin in
September 1919. Germany was invited
without delay" to "efface this viola
ton" by declaring that the article
| about Austria's future role in the Ger
man Reich was null and void. threat
to extend the military occupation of
the Rhineland accompanied the ulti-
matum. Three weeks later Germany
signed a diplomatic act reiterating
that all the provisions of the Weimar
constitution contradicting the Yer
sailleS treaty were null.
The document further stipulated that
Austrian representatives would only be
! admitted to the German Reischrat after
concent Of the Council of the League
of Nations ito corresponding modifi-
cation of Austria's international stu
alton" It is concretely this pledge by
| Germany that prevents anschluss with
| out League approval. The vote of the
I League Council must be unanimous,
since the question is not one of pro-
cedure. Therefore, the vote of single
power can forbid anschluss
| rn~v.,~~, Vxyo,,Y1 nn~nf~.4n