Evening star., 1934-06-17
CONVICTION PREVAILING
NAZIS APPROACH A FALL
Belief Is Dominating Factor Behind
Half Sabotaging Tactics Against
Arms Conference.

ready to prevent the nation falling
into civil war or drifting toward Boil
| shevism If Nazi-ism disintegrates too
rapidly.
Another count the German people
have against Hitler is that he has
failed miserably to carry out any Of
his promises. Having Stirred the
people to red-heat over the injustice
and outrage of the Polish Corridor, he
promptly made peace with the Warsaw
government on a basis OF forgetting all
about the region for 10 years. The
deal was made, presumably. in order
to give the Nazis a free hand to ex-
pand in directions which did not con-
Germ Poland, namely, toward Austria,
CZechoslovakia and the Saar
| But Hitler found it more difficult to
influence England. France and Italy
outside the League than through
Geneva. The front those three states
put up against the threat to Austrian
independence was stronger by far than
any action through the League would
ever had been. In fact, Hitler has
lost all around through quitting the
League-and Wilhelmstrasse knows
and privately admits. The German
people also are beginning to realize it
despite the anti-League clamor that
is kept up in the censored and in
spired Nazi press. which alone can be
read in Germany.
The NaI promises to break up the
huge landed estates of Prussia also
have failed to materialize. Not one
acre has been appropriated for the
good of the agrarian masses.
An alarming symptom of military
DETECTION has appeared in the action
of Stahlhelm (Steel Helmets) leaders
Capt. Ernest Roehm, chief of the
Brownshirt Militia has been seeking to
enroll the old Steel Helmets into the
Storm Troop Reserves. The Stahlhelm
is monarchist to the core and its lead
ers have been quietly obstructing the
transfer. Franz Seldte, leader of the
Steel Helmets, is known to be hostile
| to Hitler. and President Won Hinden-
burg, being an honorary member of
the Stahlhelm, is not likely to be SYM
pathetic to its disruption.
Old Regulars Oppose Extinction.
AS for the old regulars-now mostly
found in the ReichSwehr-they are
as opposed to extinction or being
merged into the Brownshirt Sturm-
truppan as were the Italian regular
army officers to being supplanted by
Mussolini Blackshirt militia; and more
capable of resistance.
The French-especially at Geneva
believe that If they stand pat they
will soon see Hitler's regime collapse
of its own weight. Marshal Petain,
minister of war, has definitely aban-
doned his ambition to wage a pre-
ventive war against the Germans.
Not that the French militarists have
any doubts as to the outcome-even
without sthe cooperation Of the
French population, which is opposed
to any military adventures beyond
national borders-but because France
is getting everything she wants as
things stand.
The steel ring" around Germany
never was stronger Not even imme-
diately after the peace treaty, when
Poland, Czechoslovakia, Rumania and
YugoSlavia, to say nothing OF the
Baltic States. looked to France as
their preserver. Now the lineup
against Germany has been strength
ened by additions of the Russians, while
the Italians are playing with Paris
not because they love the French any
more these days but because they love
Germany less.
Whether Hitler collapses or re-
mains, the French have nothing to
lose in being unsympathetic toward
the Nazis. They have everything to
gain. With Hitler out the French
can again make concessions, or be
reasonable, and get some sort Of credit
for it. AS things stand any assistance
to the Brownshirts would be regarded
in France as weakness and in Ger
many without gratefulness.
Anything Herr Hitler gets from
France these days he will have to
fight for, even if he is entitled to it..