Askov American., 1935-08-22
INTERNATIONAL
NEWS REVIEW
Continued from Page -

On the following day discussion
centered around the British-French-
Italian Ethiopia treaty of 1906 which
outlines the spheres of interest of
these respective powers in the Afri-
can kingdom. Nobody thought of ask
ing Ethiopia for an opinion about it {!
No agreement being obtainable on
the basis of the treaty, Great Britain
demanded that Italy make a clear and
concise statement of her demands:
What did she want? Was it really
MuSsOlini's intention to make Ethi-
opia an Italian colony?
Aloisi had to reply that he must
decline to answer definitely until he
had heard from Mussolini
EthiOpia's Voice.
At about this stage in the proceed
ings, Ethiopia seemingly feeling hui
inflated by not having been asked to
the conference, stepped in with an
offer, as follows: The government
at Adds Ababa would willingly un-
dertake to guarantee the security of
Eritrea and Italian Somaliland and
to offer Italy certain valuable con-
csssions in connection with the mines,
the railroads and the agricultural re-
gions of Ethiopia if-and that was
important-if Italy would reciprocate
by granting Ethiopia, an inland coun-
try, access to the sea-
An unofficial but, withal, definite
reply was rushed from Rome to the
effect that Italy wasn't even the least
bit interested.
New Approach.
Then Great Britain and France
tried something else: They suggested
that four-power government be in
troduced in Ethiopia which, accord
ingly, was to renounce her nearly
two-thousand year old independence,
and that certain Ethiopian areas were
to be ceded to Italy for colonization;
also that neutral zones were to be
established between the Italian colo
nization districts and Ethiopia proper.
According to the best information
available, Ethiopia was not consulted
before these propositions were pre-
sented- propositions that, as a matter
of actual fact, meant the cold-blooded
partition of a sovereign country.
Even that did not satisfy Mussolini
nor is it likely to have pleased King
Halle Selassie-and the upshot of it
all was that the Paris conference ad-
journed with the publication of an
official communique in which it was
stated that "the powers have not yet
been able to find basis for discus
sion which would permit solution of
the conflict
September 4.
So, the failure of the Paris meet
ing as we'll as the failure of all other
Cancellation attempts that have gone
before, will mean that the entire
Italian-EthiOpian question will revert
to the League of Nations council for
consideration on September 4.
And what are the prospects then?
Well, whatever they may be, they GER
tainly are not better, the hopes for
peace no brighter than heretofore.
Indicative of the pessimism with
which September 4 is to be ap-
preached is an official statement
from Rome to the effect that Italy
expects nothing from the meeting at
Geneva" with the added opinion that
there really is nothing to discuss"
and with a strongly implied threat
that if the council interest itself in
the Ethiopian matter, Italy may re-
tire from League membership.
And, as though to emphasize this
pessimism, word comes from London
that insurance circles close to Lloyds
feel that the chance for averting
war between Italy and Ethiopia is
about 1 to SO. 1t is even specified
that the long-feared war is probable
some time in September. Mussolini
himself in his most recent inflam-
matory speeches confirms that i'm
pression-at least. makes it seem
quite plausible that everything is in