Evening star., 1935-04-07
WAR TREND CRYSTALLIZED
BY RECENT CONFERENCE
German Purposes and Activity Uniting
Foes With Certainty of New Outbreak.
U. S. Circumspection Necessary.

I Germans alike of Austria and Czecho-
slovakia the privilege of deciding their
| own allegiance by plebiscite.
1t is true that in this respect the
right of Germany to unity comes into
collision with the right of Europe to
security. 1t is evident that as the
German peoples seem to be preparing
to fight to establish unity, the peoples
of other states are getting ready to
fight to maintain their security. Nee
esSarily Germany will be the techni-
cal aggressor because the status quo
which she is seeking to destroy con-
stitutes the public law of Europe
based as it is upon treaties. Unques-
tionably the domestic record of Ma
tional Socialism will be made the
basis for endless denunciation by
those who sympathiZe with the VIC
TINS of NaZi prosecutions, who loathe
the principles set forth in Hitler's
book, who identify Germany as the
culprit because the Reich has quit .he
League and rejected the postwar
ideals of collective peace.
But simple justice demands that
UllS IcCUSlllZc tlldI I1lC UICdIy
law was framed by victors, that the
unilateral disarmament imposed by
the treaty rendered a great people
defenSelesS, and that the countries
which at Paris denied the German
populations of Austria and CZechoSlo-
vakia the right to choose their own
allegiance, claimed that right for the
Poles within the frontiers of pre-war
Germany and thus shattered the unity
of the Reich. And, above all, 1t must
be remembered that to escape from
the restrictions placed upon her means
of Self-defenSe and her right to ethnic
unity on equal terms with other
peoples, Germany has no resource but
armed conflict.
Danger of U. S. Confusion.
Personally, do not think any one
will accuse me of sympathy either
with National Socialism or with pro-
German tendencies. Nevertheless I
do feel it essential to point out that
there is grave danger that American
opinion will be unthinkingly led to
confuse the basic case of Germany
with the character and performances
Of the men who at the moment con-
troll her destinies. We are not here
confronted by the simple phenomenon
of militaristic and imperialistic ma
ton plunging the world into war anew
to crafty ambitions which are selfish
and aspirations which are unfounded
On the contrary, we are faced by the
spectacle of a great people which,
denied rights which others hold i'm
prescriptible, has turned to violent
leaders and violent means to attain
ends which in many instances cannot
be condemned.
BY contrast, those peoples which
are arraying themselves against Ger
man purposes and have stood fast
against the restoration of German
rights, are in their turn faced by
the inescapable fact that If Germany
reaches her objectives she will be
fully able to proceed from that point
and destroy the liberty of the con-
hnent and abolish the independence
of other nations. And the intention
to achieve these further ends is dis
coverable in the prospectuses of Hitler
and of his recognized spokesmen.
Thus it is equally unfair to denounce
the nations and the statesmen who in
the past have resisted and still oppose
German rearmament.
In a word, as the probability of
a new war in Europe-perhaps next
year, perhaps not for five years
prOwS oyer rloipor Ar,,orioopc eLo,,ld
be on their guard against being
seduced into seeing such a conflict
as a combat between right and wrong,
with the balance on the moral side
tipped by the character or the per-
formances of the men who lead on
either side. Ever since the close OF
the World War the United States
has been drenched by a sort Of
pseudo morality which asserted that
peace was an ethical, and not q
political, question, and that only the
wicked could undertake new con-
flict.
The truth is that the World War
changed nothing in the relations be-
tween European nations, because
there was no way under the sun by
which the right of the German people
to unity and to parity in ornaments
could be reconciled with the right
of the rest of Europe to security
and the means to insure their own
independence. And, while many have
argued convincingly as to the wrong
done Germany in denying her unity
and parity, none has ever been able
to prove that she would not employ
the power thus assured her to DOM
mate continent and disturb world.
In word, while two wrongs do not
make a right, two rights not infre-
quently make war. And we are
face to face with the collision be-
tween these rights.
Collisions Appear Certain.
During the next few years, unless
all signs fail, we shall see Europe
divided into two camps and witness
ever-recurring collisions between the
countries belonging to the two camps.
If war ultimately comes it will prob
ably come through some German
action, just as the present crisis in
Europe is the direct consequence Of
German policy and performance
alike. In such circumstances the
first instinct will be to denounce
as an aggressor the country whose
act is technically the signal for the
catastrophe. And such a reaction
will flow from the fact that Ameri-
cans have been taught that a country
and a people no longer have any
moral right to fight, save in self
defense. We shall be told that If
only she had waited Germany would
have had her rights recognized, but
the truth is that Europe can never
in any calculable time recognize Ger
man rights without compromising its
own.
At the Berlin meeting, Hitler's
statement to Great Britain was
challenge to Europe. He laid down
a program of military expansion and
territorial revision which, taken to-
gether, would constitute q peril to
Europe, collectively. That challenge
will doubtless be taken up by the i'm
periled countries other than England
in no long time and probably by
Britain eventually. But let US Amer