Evening star., 1933-08-28
Jitters in Geneva.

ClrcumStantlal reports arrive from
Geneva that the League of Nations
hesit&tes to burn its fingers with the
gestion that the League is incompetent
! to deal with the German threat against
Austrian independence. either at the
Vienna governments own request or at
- instigation Of other member nations.
Geneva's reluctance to call Germany
! before its bar ard demand that the Hit
Ter government respect the sovereign
rights CT the Austrian Republic Is due
exclusively to the fear that such action
would impel Germany 20 follow Japan S
example and bolt the League.
Japan walked ont" Oh Geneva last
Spring. it Will be remembered, under
circumstances not dissimilar from the
situation which German threats against
Austria have produced. Japan had vio-
lated the integrity of China in Man
churia. For that breach of international
law. as the League saw it. Japan was
haled before the court c. international
public opinion and was about to be ad-
Judged guilty. Before such a verdict
could be passed upon them, however.
the japanese summarily quit the scene.
leaving the League high and dry and
to its own devices. Nippon retains her
nominal membership in the body. but
by her action five months ago served
notice that its cdictS mean nothing to
her
With that humiliation in mind it
appears, the League authorities are not
disposed to run the risk of the detection
Of another great member nation by dis
ciplining it as it was proposed to dis
cipline Japan. Instead. Geneva dis
patches narrate. the plan is to let Italy
handle the thorny problem of Ger
many's menace to Austrian independ-
ence. Only in the remote event of con-
nivance" between Rome and Berlin
that is to say the possibility of an Italo-
German deal that would play into the
Nazis' hands, instead of frustrating
their anti-AuStrian conspiracy-would
the League develop sufficient intestinal
investiture to intervene.
1t is an Illuminating commentary on
the spinelessness of Geneva, though
not demonstrated for the first time,
that in so supreme a crisis as the
Austro-German affair the society of
nations" including all the great powers
in the world except the United States
and Russia. lacks the courage to thwart
the most impudent challenge to its au-
thority yet offered in Europe. 1t is
revelation designed to strengthen the
fear that in the presence of a genuine
emergency the League is incapable of
generating more authority or punch"
than any international debating society
History will not excuse its impotence if
Geneva stands by with folded arms and
sees the sovereign life of the Austrian
Republic snuffed out at the behest of
Adolf Hitler 1t will wonder why tWen-
tieth century nations troubled to main
tain world organization that only
curled up and died when confronted by
something really worthy of its steel.
French influence at Geneva is almost
paramount Perhaps if France emissions
the prospect of enhanced Italian pres
tige resulting from liquidation of the
Austrian situation through Mussolini's
diplomacy she may be impelled to in
sist that the League quit shirking its
international duty before it is too late.
Geneva has sometimes boasted that
while it might not be able to function
effectively where the Far East or the
Western Hemisphere is concerned, its
authority in purely European affairs is
indisputable If it fumbles the Aus
trian business the League cannot claim
to be good for anything, even on its
home grounds. Chancellor Dollfuss is
said to be in a precarious position, and
there is evidently no time to be lost if
his government and Austrian sovereignty
are to be saved.