Evening star., 1933-03-05
SMALL NATIONS LOSE FAITH
NLEACUE AS PROTECTOR
Failure to Enforce Its Will in Manchuria
Against Japan Destroys Hope of
PHYSICAL Aid in Case of Need.

ChlneSe the smallest pnySlcal AID, con-
stitutes the ultimate Indictment to re-
sistance. If japanese nationalisrn is
inspired to greater aggressiveness
through a sense Of isolation, Chinese
nationalism, conscious of world SYM
rections-to the boycott, to the mill
tary resistance to the degree presently
of declaring war. But in the present
condition Of China, while conquest in
the ordinary sense is impossible for the
Japanese, victory for the Chinese Is
out of the question.
Thus the immediate aftermath Of the
League decision must inevitably be the
beginning of period of intense disor-
der and anarchy, which can last ir1o,f1-
nitely 1t can have but one outcome
and that the ultimate exhaustion of the
japanese and the consequent collapse OF
the present control and the substitution
of Red violence for military national
ism. In this way one might perhaps
reason that the japanese are going to
be punished. AS a mere abstract
theorem, it will be. proven that aggres-
sion does not pay. But the World War
proved that.
Sought to Avoid War.
What the world was looking for as q
result of the creation Of the League was
some method other than that of war
and exhaustion to avoid the clash be-
tween peoples. The League was de-
signed to prevent war, and now it has
demonstrated that it can go no further
than to record the disapproval of peo-
Piles Of an aggressive action by one
nation. But world opinion got that far
in the case Of the invasion of Belgium.
1t got that far and stopped, just as it
has stopped now.
1t is no use to say that the Man
churian affair was peculiar, remote and
complicated by the absence Of any real
Chinese government or state. The point
member of the League, had signed the
covenant like the Kellogg pact, broke
its pledges and launched a campaign
destined to have consequences all over
Asia. What Japan did could be done
by many other nations today. The
spirit which moved the Japanese exists
in score of countries who today lack
only the opportunity or the means.
These nations know now that while the
japanese adventure may end in diSaS-
ter because japanese resources cannot
stand the strain, the failure will not be
the result Of League activity.
The old saying of Pitt, made after
the great Napoleonic victory of Auster-
litz and so often quoted, must come to
mind at the present moment. Roll up
the map of Europe for at least 10
years." said the British statesman. He
saw instantly that this tremendous VIC
tory would insure the Napoleonic en-
pire for long time. In the same sense
one might well say, "Shut up the doors
of the League of Nations for at least
decade" Like Austerlitz. Manchuria
has produced results which will con-
tinue to influence events for a long
time.
But it would be idle to imagine that
the influence will be restricted to war
and peace. On the contrary, the Man.
churian affair carries with it the almost
certain doom of all forms of interna-
tional cooperation for long time to
come. 1t sounds the death knell of dis
armament and it also raises a well-nigh
impossible barrier to progress in eco
nomic and financial fields. For nations
attending international conferences
called to deal with questions of trade,
like those of armaments, will still ap-
proach them from the political angle.
Refuses Polish Agreement.
Germany, for example, has refused
for decade to make tariff arrange
ment with Poland-even more profita-
BILE to Germans than to Poles-because
such bargain would, by aiding Polish
trade and finance, help to stabilize
Poland within her present frontiers.
And the major German purpose is to
obtain revision of Polish frontiers. All
over Central Europe nations refuse to
make mutually advantageous tariff
treaties because of their irreconcilable
political differences The latest sensa-
tion, the Franco-British "ultimatum," /"
dispatched to Austria over arms ship
ments, is an indication of present
European circumstances.
The Manchurian episode has fired
the soul Of every dissatisfied and in
transigeant nationalism on the Euro
pean Continent. The failure of the
League to restrain Japan has stimu-
lated the hopes of all these national
lsms. The unwillingness of the men,
bers of the League or the signatories
of the Kellogg pact to act has been
little less than an incitation to ag-
gression. But, correspondingly, the
peoples who fear aggression are aroused
Hope on the part of potential aggres-
SorS, fear on the part Of probable
victims-these are the emotions which
dominate Europe today and will domi-
nate any international conference which
may assemble.
On the eve of new international
conference it is at least worth while
to recall that all others have failed,
in so far as any forward program was
concerned, because of the political OBJ
stacles. And since the latest of these
conferences-namely, the arms meet
ing of last Winter-assembled the po-
litical obstacles have been tremendously
increased. In fact, the very worst
aspect of the Manchurian affair Is not
that it has produced new war, this
time in Asia, but that it has provoked
a state of mind in Europe which for
the present makes every form of inter-
national cooperation. or even agree
ment, well-nigh impossible.
(Copyrtght, 1g33b