Evening star., 1935-03-10
BY RANDOLPH LEIGH.
Special Dispatch to The Star.

special DlSpatCn 10 Inc oIaT
Y YIENNA.-The Prince of Wales
recently completed visit here
" which created quite a sensa-
tion. From the tourist -busi-
ness standpoint. it was a most
excellent thing for Austria. and was
the cause of good deal of demonstra-
ton on the part of those directly ben
eflting, as we'll as by the disinterested
public.
Behind the trip, however there was
probably a good deal more than a
mere pleasure outing Indeed. the
prince was welcomed so enthusiastic
ally that. although he theoretically
travelled incognito. he had scarcely a
quiet moment In Vienna. at least.
it assumed the proportions of state
visit. and importance is to be attached
to it in that connection.
Simultaneously with his visit here,
the Austrian chancellor and for
eign minister made visits of amity
TO Paris and London At practically
the same time announcements came
from those capitals which indicate
strongly that within the next few
weeks the diplomatic fiction of Ger
many's military impotence will be
dropped. and negotiations toward Sc
curing the peace of Europe will pro-
ceed on more realistic lines.
Struggle Touches Austria.
This change in the Franco German
struggle (for that is what it is pri-
marily) touches Austria more vitality
than almost any other nation outside
the principals although it concerns
all Europe. The changed status Of
Germany has been due. in the more
spectacular sense, to Hitler. In the
deeper sense. 1t has been due to the
almost incredible skill and persistence
OF the Germans in seeking in the air
that supremacy in which they proved
deficient on land and sea.
The belief in that German air
supremacy is now so generally ac-
cepted in Europe as to have the actual
value of an established fact in the
stingy give and greedy take of diplo-
macy. 1t is pawn to be traded with
at an accepted value, just as the
British fleet pawn has its value and
the French frontier fortification sys-
tenn pawn its value. That is the new
realization which is putting the little
and big states in agitation again.
Germany has not merely some de-
ferred and intangible potency with
which her neighbors must reckon, but
in this very year (if the opinions of
the experts are correcO she is capable
OF defending himself against attack
by her immediate neighbors, and, in
addition, she has, through the air, a
striking power against which there is
no certain defense.
Lifting of Treaty Seen.
Every sign now points, therefore, to
a lifting of the disarmament treaty
regulations against Germany, as a
preliminary to negotiations with her
on a basis of equality, with a view to
coping with the actual facts of her
present military condition. Then, or
soon thereafter. will follow the re-
moval of the guilt clauses in the treaty
(Which Germany has always claimed
to have accepted under duress).
But If there was no guilt, why, the
Germans will say, such terrible pun
ishments and exactions? That ques-
ton will have it's repercussions
throughout Central Europe. Here in
Austria, for instance, it will mean q
great deal to people until recently a
world power embracing some 55,000.-
900 persons and now a weak city.state
Of some 1000, 900 citizens.