Evening star., 1934-11-11
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.

TINE 10th anniversary of the
armiStice falls in not inappro-
priately with the virtual COL
L lapse in London Of the naval
conversations between Japan,
Great Britain and the United States.
That collapse confirms the futility of
the last of many attempts at disarma-
ment which have been made during
the years since the war. Although it
is not until 1896 that the existing
naval agreements actually expire.
nothing of them all is left now but
the Anglo-American agreement as to
parity.
In actual fact we are rapidly getting
back to the point at which We started
at the close of the war. The League
OF Nations, the Kellogg pact, the
Washington treaties-all are now
revealed as having no binding power.
They differ from those other notorious
scraps of paper" only in that they
are postwar instead of prewar In
something like half generation. then,
the world has run through its re-
sources for peace and thrust them
aside.
All Nations Arming.
Today We are face to face with the
fact that all nations are arming and
that war is an immediate possibility
all through the Danubian Basin in
Europe and at least possible even
tuality in the Far East. Nor is it less
evident that in the face of these pos
slbllltles the postwar peace machinery
is bankrupt and already in the main
abandoned. When the Nazi putsch
took place in Vienna last July no
one thought Of appealing to Geneva.
1t was to MuSsolini and his mobiliza-
tion that France and England looked
for preventing war-and that inter-
ventlon was effective.
During the current year crises and
political crimes have continued to dis
close the precariousness of peace. The
violent deaths of Duca, Dollfuss and
King Alexander each in its turn
served to reveal few of the many
forces working beneath the surface
and driving Europe toward a new war.
The fact that Mussolini's mobilization
averted war in July was due only
to the incompleteness of Germany's
rearming. The Germans have not
abandoned their purpose to take
Austria, but only postponed it until
they are ready to move with adequate
force.
During the current year the face
OF European affairs has changed enor-
mously. The French system of al
liances has visibly crumbled and the
dlstlntegration continues. For Italy,
Hitler's program has been even more
disastrous. For until the crime on
Vienna, Mussolini had clung to his
familiar plan of building up an Italian
German partnership to counterbalance
the French system of alliances which
gave France leadership of the Cont
nent. After the murder of Dollfuss.
nope that Germany would abandon
per plans in Austria and as a result
ne had to turn to France.
France Loses Poland.
But already France had lost Poland,
which had cheerfully made a non
aggression treaty with Germany. Mus
sollnfs mobilization, in its turn, sent
Yugoslavia off the reservation and
was the starting point of conversa-
tons between Berlin and Belgrade. It
was to save the tottering Franco-Serb
alliance that King Alexander set out
upon the journey which ended in
tragedy without having first accom-
pushed its purpose. The detection of
Yugoslavia, while arrested for the
moment. still seems highly probable,
ana with it would come the end of
the Little Entente, for Rumania would
certainly follow the Yugoslav example
and make terms with Hitler.
4ugoslavia and not Italy seems des-
tined therefore to be Germany's part
ner. More and more the situation is
coming down to a point where France
and Italy will be forced into each
others arms by the common menace
which threatens one on the Rhine
and the other on the Danube. With
the liquidation of the Little Entente
only Czechoslovakia will remain friend
ly to France. But the exposed posi-
ton of the Czechs makes it well nigh
impossible that they should be able
to hold out either automatically or
militarily against the Germans.
Can Italy hold Austria in the face
of rearmed and determined Reich?
1t seems increasingly unlikely. In
case of conflict, Italy would have to
deal with a Yugoslav attack in the
rear. She could not count on the
help Of the Austrian army or the
sympathy of the Austrian people. She