Evening star., 1934-07-01
CHANGE In GERMANY SEEN
AS HITLER FORCE WAVES
Nazi Failure to Better Economic Con.
ditions and Hostility Abroad May
Provoke Overthrow of Regime.

many stew in her own juice-that is
the French prescription. She is iso-
lated, bankrupt, economically hard put
to it..
From the French point Of view
the Jewish boycott has something Of
the value of a preventive war. 1t is
a kind of peace blockade, an economic
sanction without League Intervention.
German default on her debts-private
and public-is also welcomed by the
French, who hold little of them. and
can protect themselves. But 1t in
sures new British and American con-
demnation of the Germans. And, since
the British have also defaulted on
the American war debt and the
Italians have followed suit. the
French no longer have any feeling
of isolation in this respect. AT least
they can now share their unpopu-
larity in the United States with every
other important nation.
Germany therefore will not get the
legal right to rearm, no matter how
much Rome urges or London appeals.
The present adjournment of the Dis
armament Conference is, in effect, an
adjournment until Hitler and his crew
are disposed of. Even to arm Illegal
iy, Germany must purchase largely
abroad. But as her exports shrink
her available resources to purchase
also diminish. She may starve her
people-for her drought has cut down
her domestic food supplies-to buy
iron and nickel and copper, but that
way leads to domestic upheavaL Bor-
row she cannot. Imports on long,
term credit are also out Of the ques-
| ton.
| What. then, can Germany do to
help herself in situation which be-
comes increasingly desperate? So far
as one can see. nothing while the
Hitler regime lasts 1t has no friends,
no foreign resources. Germany is Wis
sibly going downhill again, despite all
the brave statistics of increased pro-
duction and reduced unemployment.
The standard Of living is notoriously
shrinking, Just as there seems to be
no end to the decline in exports.
Even a war of madness has become
almost out of the question, in the
light of present conditions.
On the other hand. it seems far
too early to predict that Hitler will
disappear and the national Socialist
revolution "go right" 1t can hap
pen. The German people have a do
cility which defles all calculations
But in history revolutions don't GO
that way. Groups rarely give up
power peacefully. For the Nazis to
surrender now would be to see them
selves stripped of all power and ex-
posed to the vengeance of the large
sections Of the German people whom
they have terrorized and prosecuted.
Underneath the surface there must
be literally millions who have suf-
fered, who are now waiting and who
will never forgive.
All Attacks Miss.
Probably all calculations Of this
sort are premature. The German sit
uation is doubtless ripening. rather
than ready for explosion. But the
direction in which events are moving
is not to be mistaken. Like Luden-
dorff's great offensives of Is years
ago. Hitlers attacks have all missed
a decision. He has conquered terri
tory, taken prisoners, amassed a
booty, but he has not reached his OBJ
Jective, he has not achieved national
prosperity or international recogni-
ton. He has not restored Germany
materially at home, while abroad he
has morally wrecked her. He was to
make her strong. and she is weaker
than at any moment since the close
of the war
Not improbably months may vet
pass before the German people
themselves become in any measure
aware of their situation abroad, be-
fore they realize that the coming of
Hitler has proved a greater French
victory than the Marine or that the
persecution of the Jews Is as great
a German disaster as the invasion of
Belgium. Domestic economic truths
will doubtless strike home before for
elgn political veracities. But the ma
ture of both is now unmistakable.
What remains incalculable is the
German people. They have staked so
much on this Hitler gamble. It was
Tor them last resort of desperation.
They have suffered so much physi-
cally and morally in the past 20
years. And at the end of each des-
perate undertaking there has been the
same disastrous conclusion. The en-
pire failed in war, the republic in
peace and the National Socialist
movement in revolution. What is
now before them?
What Chance Of Recovery
Suppose, for example. that the Hit
Ter regime peacefully makes way for
a monarchy, that order is restored at
home and peace re-established
abroad. How much of the ground
gained by Stresemann in the years
between 1925 and 1929 will still have
to be regained? And who can believe
that the world will again pour in its
credit as it did after the making of
the Dawes plan? This side of a rev.
olution in the present tendencies of
international trade what chance is
there for the Germans to recover
their old standard of well-being?
Even before Hitler came the Ger
man problem was primarily patho-
logical. The delusion of persecution
which had grasped this great people
was devastating in its consequences
upon the German mind. The attack
| "a SAAS dHOll IGd-
son, religion, its burning of the books.
its suppression of the press-these
were evidences of madness explicable
only in terms of past suffering
moral as well as material. But where
has it all led to? And what may be
the next stage?
Personally, I think We are still a
long way from that next stage, al
though I confess that the time has
come when 1t seems to me that the
days news may bring portentous tid-
ings. But I do remember Germany
in the last days of the republic. I
do recall the physical suffering and
the mental anguish of my German
friends. their sense of impending
tragedy everywhere discoverable in
the Germany of 1881. 1 do recall
with what accord the most reason
able asserted: This cannot 60 on.
Better anything than this
| AS a consequence I find the newz