Evening star., 1932-02-07
MACDONALD TO DOMINATE
LEADERS AT ARMS PARLEY
Political Crises to Keep Real European
Leaders at Home Except for
Brief PERIOD

Hitler program for revision Of the
Polish frontiers, his acceptance of the
CurtiuS maneuver for the AuStro- Ger
man tariff union last Spring, resulted
in grave German reverSes abroad; nor
has his recent blunt announcement OF
German reputation of reparations
payments increased his diplomatic rep
utation.
Actually, Bruening is no politician
nor is he a diplomat. In both fields he
has meaSurably failed. In the present
conference, the real representative OF
Germany against Tardieu will be Bern
hard Buelow. nephew Of the old chan
cellor, whose memoirs filled Europe with
He has become the real power in Ger
man foreign affairs although his posi-
tion is only that Of underSecretary OF
state He is responsible for the aband-
onment of the old policy of Stresemann
and the Locarno spirit, and return
to a new and more independent and
! intranSigeant tone. Thus when Bruen-
ing speaks, Buelow guides.
Grandi Under Handicap.
Foreign Minister Grand, who repre-
sents Italy, already is well known to
America He is one of the most expert
charm. sincerity and adroitneSS He Is
handicapped, however, because he rep,
resents dictator and not a country
His actions will be indicated by tele-
graph. He and Tardieu are old antag
onists. They fought the battle of Lon
don together, and although personal
friends. they have clear record OF
political disagreement.
Macdonald, while here, is destined
to be the great figure. 1t is not i'm
probable that he will stand with Bruen-
ing rather than with Tardieu, in the
debates over security and ornaments
But Macdonald is by no means the
European power that he was in the
days Of the naval conference. His do
meStic position is steadily weakening
and his resignation is regarded abroad
as only a question of time. He is ut
terly distrusted in France and secretly
hated in Italy. Undoubtedly he will
resort to his old strategy of eloquence,
but at Geneva he has never earned
applause equal to Boncour and BRAND.
Macdonald to Meet Foe.
One Of the odd details of the confer
ence will be the meeting Of Macdonald
with his OLD associate and present chief
of the Labor party, Uncle" Arthur
Henderson, whom Macdonald threw
over last Summer. For Henderson like
all LaboriteS, regards Macdonald as a
traitor, guilty of desertion and treason
to his party. The split between these
two precipitated the most acute political
recriminations in recent British politi-
cal history. Now they meet again at
Geneva, with Henderson In the chair,
but, by reason of the Macdonald coup,
without a seat in Parliament and with
out any present political Importance.
One doubts if even the Disarmament
Conference will serve to disarm these
bitter foes.
Such, briefly, are the larger figures at
Geneva. There also is Venizelos, the
great Greek, who at Paris almost re-
constituted the Byzantine Empire, and,
despite later revcrses. is still the archi-
tect of the new Hellenic state. Today,
however. VeniZelos has abandoned the
great adventures to steer a safe course
between the French and Italian politi-
cal reefs. Tardieu Bruening, MacDon-
ald-these are the big three, but only
the first is not a part-time performer.
Grandi Benes, Titulescu and Zaleski
make up the second string in this gall
lery of Europeans setting out on another
political campaign. 1t is difficult to
find a place for Miss Woolley and her
two American associates, Senators
Swanson and Davis, all shepherded by
Hugh Gibson, who have crossed the seas
to attend a Disarmament Conference
which no European expects to contrib
ute to disarmament.
(Copyright. 1922