Evening star., 1932-03-27
'sBALKANIZING" OF EUROPE
DOOMS HOPE OF RECOVERY
Statesmen Are Frank In Predicting &C.
neva and Lausanne Conferences Will
Accomplish Practically Nothing.

and the ever-increasing customs walls.
Despite some occasional minor ADJUST
ment between nations, compartmenting
of the continent is going forward since
the adoption of protection by the British
has opened a new phase Of repriSalS.
In the course of the repercussion the
struggle must be felt increasingly by
the United States.
Europe Being BaIkanized.
If the Balkanizing of all Europe, po-
htically and economically, is still in
full progress, what are the probable
social consequences? A year ago the
universal feeling was that conditions
far less difficult and depressing than
now could not continue long without
leading to domestic disorders and even
to red revolutions in not few countries.
Oddly enough, while things have be-
come worse, fears Of national upheavals
have diminished. Here statesmen con-
feSS they completely undereStimated the
capacity OF the masses to endure. Thus
even in Germany the prospect of q
revolution seems lesSened.
Broadly speaking, one has the i'm
preston after discussion with the
statesmen OF many countries that they@
Is no present promise of an end nor
even of lessening of the depression "A
COIltSIIlDOTdIY
Judgment runs that the nations face
gradual decline in the standard of
living and continued increase in the
economic anarchy. Aside from the fact
that in Britain the first phase of the
great experiment in protection aroused
optimism, European sentiment Is one
Of helplessnesS and resignation.
Our generation will not see the re-
turn OF prosperity" one Of the most
experienced foreign ministers of Europe
said to me last week. A year ago the
very thought Of such a protraction in
the depression would have awakened
general fears, but now human nature
has accustomed itself to the persistence
OF the very things which seemed intol-
cradle. I find it impossible to escape
the conviction, after innumerable talks
With men who are nominally the lead
ers, that in contemporary Europe
craftsmanship also has confessed its
bankruptcy in cabinets and in governs
ments, and is simply living day by day,
avoiding all decisions until postpone
ment becomes no longer possible, and
then taking steps patiently futile.
Postwar Shell Shock.
Americans used to say at the time
OF the Paris peace conference that the
French people had been shell-Shocked
IN war, and that time was needed for
recovery. One has clear impression
today that the peoples and their So
called leaders in continental Europe are
even more completely shell-shocked by
the postwar economic depression. A
iassitude extending to actual paralysis
has intervened. Seen and heard at
close range at Geneva, the recent con-
fernce OF European craftsmanship was
frankly pitiful.
What, then, can be expected of tha
immediate future? the practically
minded American naturally asks. Moth
ing OF real importance. The presenc
mood OF Europe is not 'one out Of
which can come wars or revolutions.
Nor, again, has it the foundation for
any general or comprehensive reorgan-
lzatlon. If may venture to use a
wartime metaphor, the continent Of
Europe has relapsed into trench war
fare. After the first rapid days the
war OF movement in 1914 suddenly,
contrary to the expectations of mill
tary men for vast battle, degenerated
into double system of trenches from
the North Sea to Switzerland. That
condition lasted through nearly four
years. Craftsmanship, in turn, has
blundered like soldiers, with Surpris-
ingly similar consequences.
Sees No Sign Of Recovery.
In the past two months have talked
with the foreign ministers of many con-
tinental countries, and with lesser
members OF the various delegations at
Geneva. In that time 1 have put to
every one the same questions and have
received identical answers. Many being
old acquaintance of mine, they talked
With complete frankneSs, unanimously
agreeing that they saw no prospect of
political compromise and no promise of
economic recovery. They agree that
Europe Is too tired to fight, but in the
same breath they said it is too divided
to cooperate.
To sum up, then, would say to Amer
lean readers, do not expect any sensa-
tional or far-reaching results from the
conferences on disarmament at Geneva
or on reparationS at Lausanne. Do not
look for far-swinging changes as the
result of the elections in either France
or Germany. Tardieu's proposal for
Danubian cooperation was doomed at
the outset, just as surely as was the
AuStro- German tariff union of a year
ago. European craftsmanship has sub
sided to a position of warfare today in
which statesmen are as helpless in the
face Of tariff walls as the soldiers of
II years ago were when facing barbed
wire entanglements.
Copyright, 1922