Evening star., 1933-02-13
GERMAN SITUATION
ALARMS FRANCE
Fears Revision of Versailles
Pact as Result of Pos
sibIe Dictatorship.
BY CONSTANTINE BROWN.


Nationalist elements controlling the
government of Germany.
This pessimistic feeling, according to
recent reliable reports from Paris, exists
not only among the military and naval
authorities, but is shared by the
moderate political elements.
The French and the other neighbors
of Germany have been watching care
fully the trend of the Hitler regime,
and the result of such a survey has
been that the French are getting ex-
tremely nervous.
The situation, according to a thor
ough examination of the political
situation in Germany, appears to be
as follows:
Hitler is going to the polls on March
8, fully confident he will carry the
elections with an overwhelmingly ma
jority, which will give him subservient
Parliament. If his opponents are able
to obtain sufficient votes to handicap
his rule, he will either abolish or ad-
journ Parliament indefinitely and rule
as q dictator under Hindenburg's
cloak.
Versailles Pact Blamed.
The German people have suffered
economic hardShips for many years,
which they ascribe not so much to
general world conditions, but to the
Treaty of Versailles Hitler is taking
full advantage of this national men
tality.
Despite the opposition of the Com
munists and the moderate elements
there is no doubt that the German
nation, as a whole, will not oppose the
man whose slogan Is to free Germany
Of the bondage of the Treaty of
Versailles.
A dictatorial government, either
based on a servile Parliament, or on
mere force is, in the opinion of the
French observers, the inevitable out
come of the present political situation
in Germany; a dictatorship which has
only one tangible thing to offer to the
people, and that is the abolition Of the
Versailles treaty.
The powers opposed to France realize
now that Hitler Is their man, and that
o close cooperation with Germany
would serve their best interests. Italy,
like Germany, does not like the Yer
sailles treaty because she feels she was
cheated at the distribution of the spoils
Of war.
The Italians had hoped to obtain
some mandates to enable them to find
a place for their rapidly growing popu-
1ation. They got nothing. After the
war, all the Italian colonial ambitions
have been obstructed by the French
who seemed to wish to keep Italy as a
second-rate power. A revision Of the
Versailles treaty would consequently be |
welcomed by Italy. Since the Germans |
are going to be the foremost protagon-
lists of such q revision, the Italians are |
endeavoring to maintain the friendliest |
possible relations with them. Accord |
ing to the latest information, the Ital- |
ian government has issued orders for |
g. better treatment of the German
speaking population in the Italian
Tyrol; the drastic laws which have
been applied to them for the last few
years are being "humanized," and COM
mercial and financial relations are
being improved.
Willing to Extend Aid.
Fascist Italy is willing to extend a
friendly and helpful hand to Nationalist
Germany.
These two nations are assured of the
complete cooperation Of two other
nations, Hungary and Bulgaria, which |
ascribe to the peace treaties their pres
ent hardships.
The Hungarian and the Bulgarian
people have suffered great hardships |
since the end of the war. They have ]
been manhandled by the smaller VIC /
torious nations-France's allies; all |
kinds OF restrictions have been put In |
the way of their economic and political |
reconstruction. The result Of this mar
row-sighted policy is that the people |
of Hungary and Bulgaria attribute |
their hardships, not to any misman-
agement of their own affairs, not TO
the general world depression, but to the
treaties of Trianon and Neurilly.
These two countries, while less vocif-
erous than Germany, would welcome
chance of shaking off the burden OF the'
peace treaties. and see possibility OF
doing so by cooperating with Hitler.
Preparations to reinforce their armies
are being made now.
Italy, which is in a better position
than any other country to supply botn
Hungary and Bulgaria with arms and
ammunitionS, is doing SO. Only re-
Gently, the French have discovered that
large quantities of arms and airplanes
had been shipped from Italy to Hun
gary, while other reports confirm
that italian ships have landed war ma
terial at Varna and Burgas, the prln-
cipal Bulgarian ports in the Black Sea.
French Protest Mild.
A few years ago such discovery
would have caused tremendous row
in Europe. France would have pro-
tested violently and would have asked
for assurances that such things will not
occur again.
This time, however, the French pro-
test has been very mild, and there have
been not even the usual diplomatic
denials on the part of the implicated
nations.
France Is worried because she feels |
that N EY,ita 0f hpr YDowarfIl1 army and |
navy she is almost alone in Europe.
The French have built, in view OF the |
possibility Of Germany desiring to
abolish the peace treaties, complete
network of alliances, which have cost |
her a good deal of money and which |
appear at the present moment prac-
tically worthless.
Two of her principal allies, Rumania
and Yugoslavia, are having serious in
ternal difficulties
In Rumania King Carol is threatened |
with a revolution. The Rumanian !
people cannot understand why, after |
having won the war, they should suffer !
hardships. Since they cannot attribute |
their troubles to external causes they
lay the blame on their government and |
especially on the king and his CANA
rilla. The result of this dissatisfaction |
is that King Carol has been compelled
to declare martial law and enforce it
in the district of Bucharest and the oil
regions. A revolution may break out
at any moment; consequently, Rumania
cannot be counted upon as an effective
ally In case France Is faced by menace
of war.
Resent High Handed Methods.
The situation In Jugoslavia is still
worse because there the short-sighted
policy of King Alexander is likely to
cause dissolution of the United King
dom. The Croatians and the Slovenes
are indignant at the high-handed
methods of the Serbian bureaucracy and
are threatening secession. The situa-
tton Is SO bad that the British govern
Y1nant has haav1 c0y,,a 10 6aVS QQO