Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1934-08-30
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW
Continued from Page ~

tain a size approaching those Of
Great Britain and the United States;
Japan is tired of being considered
second-rate power, and has already
limited that while she may take part
in a conference, she may decline to
sign a treaty which does not recog-
nize the principle of approximate
Japanese parity with the British and
the American navies. Preliminary
negotiations have taken place in
London during the present summer,
and the results have been so hope
lessly negative that Great Britain
now is preparing to move for post
ponement of the scheduled conference
until 1887. AS long as naval dis
armament must needs consist In
naval increases there is really no
good reason why any conference
should be held at all.
Belligerent Mussolini
In the British proposal for con-
ference postponement it is emphasized
that conditions in Europe just now
are pretty insecure, and that too
much international excitement pre-
walls.
Part of that comes from Benito
Mussolini, Italy's prime minister,
who. claiming that he saved Austria
from the Germans" when he sent
troops to the Austro-ltalian border
Immediately after the assassination
of Chancellor Engelbert Dollfuss, the
other day at Bologna delivered a fiery
speech in which he claimed that
a military or militaristic, but ac-
tually warlike nation; the idea of
war is floating in the air." he said,
land it behooves us to be ready for
war-not that of tomorrow, but the
war of today"
When Signor Mussolini sees Wis
ions of war, he is not, however, to be
taken literally; in spite of the fact
that there was, in the latter part of
July, no indication whatsoever that
Germany would attack Austria, the
Italian prime minister feared an out
break and set out to prevent it-much
like Don QuiXote when he fought the
windmills. So, again, when he adj
monishes his army to be ready for
''the war of today" There is none.
There is no threat of any-not at the
present moment. But it all adds to the
excitement of Europe.
That Mussolini the other day had
a conference with Kurt Schuschnigg,
| chancellor of Austria, and promised
| him Italy'sl full protection, was a
news item of the week; it means but
little since it is mere repetition of
what Mussolini has said on former
occasions.
Hitler and Saar.
More significant than Mussolini's
militaristic outbursts, which, after
all, mean SO little, was a speech de-
| livered by Adolf Hitler, Germany's
Leader and Chancellor, last Sunday
when he at Coblentz made it clear
that the Saar district is, ought to be,
and forever will be a part of Ger
many-provided the plebiscite, set for
January 13, 1885, is favorable to the
German cause.
In view of the fact that Hitler's
anti-CathOlic policies have caused a
lot of bad feeling among the Saar
Germans, it is by no means certain
that majority of them will vote
for a return to the fatherland; on the
other hand, socialists and communists
| oil ho1 in
out Saar, are declaiming that if the
district becomes German while Hitler
| is at the head of the government,
nothing but misery, war and terror
may be expected.
The Saar agitation is assuming
aggressive form, and for that reason
the commissioners in charge of the
preparations for the plebiscite have
| appealed to the League of Nations for
1000 additional international police
troops.
ManchukuO Trouble.
In the British statement concern
ing the desirability of postponing the
| naval conference, it was also claimed
that the Far East situation was a
disquieting one. Developments in
Manchukuo are serious, but not criti-
cal, and it is generally thought that
the friction pending between Russia
and Japan can be eliminated by nego-
tiation.
| Russia claims that Japan unjustly
has arrested SO Soviet citizens en-
ployed by the Chinese East Railway,
passing through the empire of Man
chukuO; Japan maintains that the
prisoners are guilty of robbery, muir
der and sabotage, and a Russian note
of protest insists that they be set
| free at once. To which Japan again,
blandly, replies, that this is really a
Manchukuo-not a p n-affair.
| Very transparent subterfuge-fo the
whole world knows that Manchukuo
not only was organized by Japan on
conquered Chinese soil, but that the
empires administration is actually
controlled by the government of ia
pan.
There is lot of bad feeling in the
| Russian and the Japanese press, but
the responsible statesmen in Moscow
and Tokyo are not quite as outspoken
as are the newspapers. If the two
| Co. I,n