Evening star., 1933-04-09

ana Germany In Bl
Four Peace Club?" Will
reshuf7ing of the territories of tn
smaller states avert the danger of
new war between the larger European
states? In a word, will Daladier-o
sent to treat present allies as Ramsa.
Macdonald treated his former labor as
sociates in the British political crisi
two years ago?
That is the greatest question be-
fore Europe and the world at the pres.
ent moment. Upon the answer to 1t viii
depend more than it is possible to esti-
mate today. But for France what mus
such decision mean? 1t is clear thai
it would involve the practical extinc-
ton of Poland and Czechoslovakia as
political or economic entities. Poland
without the Corridor, which is its out
let to the sea, and without upper
Eilesia, which Is its great coal and in
dustrial region, would sink to ines
capable dependence npon Germany.
In the same fashion Czechoslovakia
bnce Germany had recovered Upper
Silesia and realized the long projected
union with Austria, would be little more
than tiny Slav island in the midst OF
q German sea. It's outlets alike, by the
Elbe and the Danube, would be in Ger
man hands. It's great German minorl-
ties would infa1libly seek union directly
with their brethren Of the Reich. No
more than a sort Of limited autonomy
could be hoped for by the Czechs, ex-
tending only to regions in which they
constitute the clear majority.
AS for Rumania and Yugoslavia, the
recently published program OF Mussollni
indicates the fate that the Duce, with
obvious German approval, has indicated
for both. In effect, while the CZechs
would be compelled to retrocede Slo-
vakia to the Magyars. Rumanlan and
Yugoslav sacrifices would also be re-
sacrifices sufficiently great prac-.
tically to restore the pre-war unity OF
the crown of st. Stephens.
The Duce's Punishment.
The Banat and Transylvania would
TALL to Hungary, along with the batcnka:
Croatia and Slavonia would go to some
new Slav state, obviously dependent
upon Italy; Montenegro, Bosnia and
Herzegoyina would be assigned to an
Albania already under italian control.
Macedonia, in its turn, would revert to
Bulgaria. Rumania and Serbia would
thus be reduced to the level OF pre-
war time, while Czechoslovakia would
be abolished. Such is the punishment
the Duce prepares for the Little En-
tente, which has SO far thwarted his
plans In the Danubian area and on the
east shore of the Adriatic.
1t is obvious, then, what such a pro-.
gram Of treaty revision as Hitler ana
Mussolini contemplate must signify Tor
FRANCE. Germany is to dispose OF Po-
Land. italy to scatter Yugoslavia to the
four winds. Together, with the ap-
proyal of Austria and Hungary, they
are to demolish the states OF the Little
Entente. When the process was COM
pleted-doubtless at the cost OF two
wars. for patiently both the Poles and
the Serbs would resist-France would
find herself without an ally or friend
on the European Continent. Instead
she would be confronted on the Rhine
by q Germany of ninety million and
along the Alps by an italy rapidly
marching toward fifty, to her own sta
tionary forty.
But what If the new and dispropor-
Honately strong Germany should pres
emily seek to recover Alsace-Lorraine
and thus abolish the last vestige Of
the territorial decisions of Paris? And
what if Italy, no longer restrained by
Yugoslav hostilities, should undertake
to carry out that Fascist program of
colonial expansion which could only be
realized at the expense of France?
What, indeed, if Germany and Italy
should agree to divide and rule-the
one enjoying the hegemony Of Europe,
the other supremacy In the Mediter-
ranean? Then Strasbourg and Tunis
would be the respective booty Of a
combined attack at the Rhine and
along the Alps.
A Double Specter.
1t is this double specter of German
mastery of the Continent and Italian
domination of the Mediterranean which
today haunts the minds of all French
men. 1t is, moreover, the rise of explo-
Eive nationalism in both countries, per-
sonif1ed by Mussolini and Hitler, which
gives the danger tenfold magnitude in
French eyes. Nor is it possible for the
French people to forget that while for
10 years Italian Fascism has been
frankly discussing the appropriation
of French territory, concomitantly with
The triumph of Hitler in Berlin Nazi
bands appeared in Kehl, just across
the Rhine from Strasbourg
Five years ago, while Stresemann was
still alive, while Locarno was as yet a
name to conjure by. there were French
men, Of whom BRAND was only the
most conspicuous, who were ready to