Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1935-07-14


were signed on May and on May Is,
respectively. They differ from other
treaties of security signed by the
great powers during the last IS years
in that they implicitly provide for
military cooperation of the sigma
tories: they aim to form a combina-
ton of physical forces which in case
of need would check the aggressor
and keep him within the bounds OF
international law.
In other words, the characteristic
feature Of these treaties is that they
have the teeth" which the Kellogg
BRAND pact for outlawing war and,
more generally, all the conventions
of non-aggression, Cancellation and
consultation so sadly lack.
1t is true the Franco-Belgian and
Franco-Polish military conventions
of September, 1920, and February,
1e21-the conventions which gave rise
to the Little Entente" of Czechoslo-
vakia, Yugoslavia and Rumania-and,
more recently February, 1880 the
Balkanic pact-Rumania YugoslaVla,
Turkey, Greece-have been built on
a more or less similar pattern. But
those associations between a major
power and a minor power or between
secondary states cannot bear COMPARE
son to the partnership formed on
May 2.
At first sight the Locarno treaties
also fall within the same category
but in a military sense they cannot
be effective because, in peace time,
the guarantor powers, England and
Italy, are debarred, by the spirit ana
even by the letter of their commit
ments, from making military arrange
ments with one of the powers against
the other. Let us therefore place on
record that the Franco-Soviet treaty
is the first of its kind to be concluded
between great powers.
Outcome of Failure.
Thus, as the outcome of the undiS-
guised failure of the League OF Ma
lions, we are brought back, with the
moral approval of the British cabinet
to the old alliances of the pre-war
type, to the system of the balance OF
power. No other system can be re-
sorted to by a power weaker in popu-
lation or in industrial capacity which
wants to insure itself against the at
tack of a stronger one.
It has often been noted that Pre-
mier Laval, minister of foreign af-
fairs, did not wish to follow such
course. Up to short time ago ne
was rather inclined to feel that some
kind of European settlement could
be reached with Adolf Hitler, and
he talked endlessly with the German
Ambassador in Paris on the subject.
But he never realized that no Franco
German agreement could be arrived
at unless France were ready to leave
Germany a free hand in Eastern and
Central Europe. He naively believed
that his native shrewdness and his
gift for deft maneuvering and wire
pulling would enable him, in a man
to-man talk, to reach some sort OF
compromise.
1t took several months Of disap-
pointing experiment, and it required
all the brutality and outspokenness
of Adolf Hitler's conduct to convince
M, Laval that he could not run the
risk by rejecting the offer of Russian
cooperation for the sixth or seventh
time, of throwing the government Of
Moscow back toward the government
of Berlin. Such step would have
paved the way for a resumption of
the Russo German collision initiated
at Rapallo in 1922, which for a full
decade seriously threatened France
and her associates in Central and
Eastern Europe. Until the last minute
Mr.. Laval showed a good deal OF
hesitation. As late as April 10 he
nearly broke the word given to Mr..
Litvinov, but finally had to bow his
head before a superior necessity.
Ferment of Revolt.
In the second week of May I fol-
lowed Laval to Moscow and made the
acquaintance of the leaders Of the
Communist regime. During my stay
in the Red capital the following ques-
ton haunted me day and night:
Will it prove really practicable for
the French republic, so uncompro-
misingly conservative in its social
structure, to work side by side in a
spirit of trust and confidence with a
country which has mercilessly de-
stroyed its higher classes, reduced its
remnants to untold misery and
throughout the world, whatever it
does, must necessarily act as a fer
ment of revolution?
It is all very easy to declare that
BolShevik Russia is changing apace,
that complete equality doesn't really
exist there, that new social hierarchy
is rapidly being formed. It may be
worth while to observe, by the way,
that the profits made by writer's and
artists of all descriptions are prac-
tically unlimited, subject to 3 per
cent tax levied by the Communist
party.
It remains very doubtful whether,