Evening star., 1934-10-14
BY EDGAR ANSEL MoWRER.

. BY EDGAR ANSEL MOWRER.
PARIS.-Two great defenders of the
status quo are dead, the radical Span
ish republic is in agony, and pre-
liminary naval negotiations are be-
ginning in London to decide whether
the existing naval treaties can be
prolonged without dangerous conces-
sions to the aggressive japanese.
Everywhere the aSSailants of the old
order and old equilibrium in favor of
the still older regime of force and
privilege are on the march
This has been a great week for
militaristS and reactionists. The dis
appearance of King Alexander of
Yugoslavia and Foreign Minister Louis
Barthou of France at the present
moment means, in all probability,
that no adequate system can be erec-
ted to preserve peace and order
against impatient expansion.
Naturally the survivors say that
nothing is changed. The French have
their mouths full of assurances that
Barthou's successor will continue the
Barthou policy of straight talk and
obvious force. The French cabinet
and the French people desire such
prolongation.
The question is whether Pierre
Etienne- -Flandin, Francois Pietri or
other candidates to the empty chair at
the Quai D'Orsay possess the pierre
ing intelligence, quick, biting oratory
and superb courage of the dead states
man. Yet nothing but this combina-
ton of qualities could continue to
fortify the Barthou policy.
Barthou Already Alienated.
Rome, which saw in the French
offer of the olive branch an unequaled
opportunity for securing reward, OBJ
viously wishes to go ahead with nego-
tiations tending to unite the French
with both the Italians and the Little
Entente, comprising Czechoslovakia,
Yugoslavia and Rumania.
But, as reported in these dispatches,
the too-obviously itching Italian hand
had already alienated Barthou, who
had postponed his planned visit to
Rome. There is the question whether
Barthou'S successor will consider it
worth while to push matters with the
Ato4AoAAo NAAAOA4 b4IlIC anu
have perhaps cheapened the Italian
price.
In the Little Entente the situation
Is even more serious. King Alexan-
der's loss is irreparable. Naturally,
under the immediate impression of
King Alexander's death, all Yugoslav
leaders announce that every slightest
wish of the late monarch will be
meticulously observed.
But fundamentally the Croatians
and the Serbs do not agree; even Serb
leaders do not heed the. dead Kings
Francophilism It seems all but GER
tain that many of them will sway
more and more to the German side,
since the Yugoslavs frankly prefer
Germany to Italy in VIENNA pref
erence which inspired French propa-
gandiStS have not been able to drive
from their heads.
Carol Free to Follow Whims.
Moreover, King Alexander's disap-
pearance from the scene leaves King
Carol of Rumania free to follow the
whinS of the hour, since it was the
Yugoslav monarch who in critical mo-
ments offered the wisest advice to his
colleague in Bucharest.
With the Yugoslavs divided among
themselves, and fearful of a new sep
aratist crisis in Croatia, and with Ru-
mania wavering on the edge of some
sort of Fascism. the future of the Lit
tie Entente itself seems anything but
rosy. Yet this entente was the great
est stabiliZing element in Central Eu-
rope and once it split, nothing could
prevent the Balkanized fragments of
the old Hungarian empire from
flying centrifugally into. the danger
zones.
The abortive insurrection of the
Spanish radicals has been brutally
crushed and today only the embers
of the revolt smoke and smolder
The attempt of the radical elements,
Socialists, Communists, syndicalists,
anarchists and simple radical Repub-
licans to undo the work of the Span
ish electorate at the elections of last
November, which gave power to the