Evening star., 1933-03-26
NEW SERAJEVO THREATENS
TO IGNITE EUROPE AGAIN
Attempt to Recssats Balance a Power
Will Make War 1nesoapable,
Just as In 1914.

, ter TO Geneva, in the end she must use
coercion, for Germany means to re-
arm-haS already done so in large part,
II confidential information Is accurate.
What OF Poland? Obviously the Poles
are in greater immediate danger. But
IN the complex situation in Danzig,
clashes between German and Pole are
| OF daily occurrence, and Hitlers fol-
| lowers in this free state are resorting
| to defiance after defiance and incident
after incident. Since it would be easy
to prove Polish minorities in Danzig
City are In danger, how long could a
military dictatorship such as now rules
In Poland refrain from moving in its
troops? That would mean war? Oh,
yes, but 1t would mean war made in
evitable by German purpose and only
prec1p1tated at the moment when Ger
many is still unready. May I the1ron
| this point call your attention to the
| recent action of the Polish Sejm in
giving dictatorial powers to the gov
| eminent in this precise matter to act
f1rst and get approval afterward?
What Of CzechoSlovakia? Well, you
will recall that it was the pressure of
Prague that drove France to oppose the
German proposal of an Austro-German
tar1H union two years ago. 1t was
Prague that led the fight against the
recent shipment of arms from Italy to
Austria, with Hungary as the ultimate
| destination. In the matter Of Hunga-
r1an ambitions so perilous for the ma
tionS of the Little Entente you must
recall that the answer has already come
IN the shape OF reconstruction Of the
Little Entente, which, so to speak, has
put itself on a war basis.
As to the Italo-Yugoslav situation,
you have noted the long series of Incl
dents In recent days, beginning with
the mutilation of the Venetian Liona on
Dalmatian soil, which awakened the
thunders of Rome. Faced with do
mestic separatist difficulties, confronted
by the perpetual menace of Italian pur-
pose, what more natural for the Serbs,
still sure Of French backing, than to
repeat in 1888 the performance which
In 1914 precipitated the deluge?
What Is taking place in Europe-or
what perhaps has already taken place
is not the construction of a new bal
ance OF power, but the creation of a
situation which, like that of 1914, makes
a preventive war almost inescapable.
For mark the parallel between then and
| now. Nineteen years ago there was a
state Of balance of power, far more real
than today. France, Britain and Rus
sia-the Triple Entente-faced Ger
many, Austria and Italy-the Triple
Alliance. The equality of forces was
obvious. as the war proved. Yet war
came.
At Mercy Of Incident.
And today what Is it that the Euro
pean press, the European diplomats in
Washington and elsewhere are saying.
while even the voice of the Pope is
raised in warning? Just this: That
today European craftsmanship and Eu-
ropean peace are at the mercy Of some
Incident, some new crime OF Serajevo.
A clash Of Germans and Poles. irre-
sponsible bands in the streets of DAN
zig could, between one edition and an
other Of the daily press, bring US to
the edge Of the abyss.
But how can it be that European
peoples which have known the horrors
of the last war, are now ready to
plunge into another? For the very
simple reason that for France, Poland,
the nations Of the Little Entente, the
choice Is not between peace and war,
but between a war while they are still
superior in strength or a war when
their foes are ready. For recall, there
is nowhere the smallest hope of achiev.
ing any adjustment of the basic issues.
Germany will not resign the Corridor
or the Austrian Union; Hungary her
Irredentism; Italy her Dalmatian aspi-
rations. German, Hungarian and Ital-
ian nationalism, each has declared its
purposes. France and her allies know
what to expect. Are they to wait
quietly at the church while their own
funeral procession forms?
Please do not misunderstood me to
say next war in Europe is henceforth
inevitable. What I do say IS that a
deliberate attempt to create a new
state Of balance of power in Europe, if
persisted in, must precipitate a con-
flict. Because such balance of power
would threaten the unity if not the ex-
istence Of nations containing 125,000, 900
inhabitants. War in the abstract is
equally horrible to all peoples. But war
as the alternative to complete and
otherwise inescapable ruin is something
quite different in the eyes of peoples
In danger.
1t was the exact appreciation Of the
existence of this sense of danger which
led the most acute of European diplo-
mats to say to me this very week: "Eu-
ropean peace IS now as in 1914 at the
mercy of an incident. Another Sera-
jevo today could hardly fail to bring
a repetition Of the events of 1914"
| (Copyright. 1889