Evening star., 1935-11-10
PEACE ssRACKET"' FORCING
POWERS RETURN TO WAR
18th Anniversary of Armistice of Reth-
ondes Finds Europe in Third
Crisis Within Two Years.

To this Anglo-French alliance will
rally the states of the Little Entente,
who are in the pathway of German
purpose. To the same combination
the Soviet Union will come also. But
once Germany is fully armed and has
made her deal with Italy. then the
Little Entente states can be crushed
at will since they cannot be sup
ported by the western powers. Their
fate again may we'll be the fate which
overlook first Serbia and then Ru-
mania during the World War.
The neutrals of the last war
Spain, the three Scandinavian states,
Holland and Switzerland-will strive
desperately to remain neutral again.
although they have voted with Great
Britain in the Anglo-Italian dispute.
Poland will. in the end, probably
stand with Germany; she hates Rus
sia, has a bitter grievance against
Czechoslovakia and a deep resent
ment toward France. Neither Italian
nor German FasciSm will permit
British and French Intervention per-
manently to block their way to that
place in the sun which is the basis
of their fanatic religion of national
ism, but only war can open the way
to the goals which both seek.
Basic Issues Clarified.
The Ethiopian affair." like the Agadir
incident a quarter of a century ago,
while it seems destined to prove the
prelude to another general war, has
enormously clarified the fundamental
issues. 1t has taught both Italy and
Germany that there is no peaceful
way to get what both are after. 1t
has taught the British that without
French assistance they can accom-
plish nothing.
1t will be very long time before
the mass of Americans will see what
has actually happened to the League
in this crisis. They are still under
the influence of the spectacle of so
, nations voting sanctions and blind to
the significance of the fact that
three of the six great powers have re-
nounced Geneva and others in Eu-
rope, like Austria and Hungary and
Bulgaria, are there only from neces-
sity. In the Agadir affair a rally
of the great. powers to the French
side resulted in the infliction upon
Germany of a humiliation almost as
complete as any which can overtake
Italy.
The very success of economic sane
tions-or the success which the threat
of them may produce-will only serve
to demonstrate to the Italians again
the condition of economic insecurity
in which they live. 1t will emphasize
as nothing else could the thesis which
Mussolini has been pounding into
them for l3 years, the argument
that italy must expand or explode.
acquire new lands and fresh sources
of raw materials or be forever at the
mercy of precisely the tactics which
the British have now employed against
them. Confident of their right to
rank as a great power, they will see
that the British have been able to
reduce them once more to the status
of a second-rate nation.
The lesson for Germany is identi-
cal. Using the League of Nations
against her as Britain has now en-
ployed it against Italy, France can
bring about the same economic suffo-
cation, accentuated perhaps because
Germany is less self sufficient than
Italy in the matter of foodstuffs. To
escape from this restraint Germany
must break through the iron ring
which British control of the seas and
domination of the League permits
Paris. with London's help, to throw
about the Reich. And there is no
other way now, as there was no other
way in 1914, but war
Agadir at last opened the German
eyes to the truth. British veto had
prevented them from sharing in the
Moroccan prize. The whole British
performance in the years since 1905
in respect to Germany now has been
repeated in respect to Italy and must
be repeated in respect to Germany
if she seeks to disturb the status quo
in Europe, since Britain has now had
to give hostages to France in return
for French support of her anti-Italian
policy. And the Germans cannot mis-
take the fact or fail to act in the
light of it.
The efforts of the British and the
French for the future must, there
fore, be directed to keep Italy and
Germany within the limits fixed by
existing treaties, which were them
selves the result of allied victories,
but in the spoils of which Italy was
not permitted to share despite her
great sacrifices and sufferings France
will set her face uncompromisingly
against all German expansion in Eu-
rope in the future as she has in the
past. Great Britain will continue to
warn the italian trespasser of the
lands and out of the regions in which
her imperial interests are vital. And
each will back the other In its own
particular interests.
Status Quo VS.. Revision.
The haves and the have nots. the
status quo and the revision states. are
thus lined up against each other, and
it is far from unlikely that Japan.
which is also ION the make" will at
least coordinate her disruptive oper-
ations in Asia with the movements of
her fellow hungry" states of Europe.
The refusal of the British to sanction
the Italian imperialistic campaign in
Ethiopia and their success in buying
French aid and also in enlisting the
support of the smaller League ma
tions are driving Italy out of Geneva
for keeps, as Japan and Germany
were driven out by the Manchurian
and disarmament issues.
Henceforth the real strength of the
League Of Nations must be measured
by the number of military divisions
and naval war craft, together with the
size of the air fleets which it can
mobilize and put into action. And
when that test is applied, it must be
plain how little significance the rally
of the so nations to the British pro-
gram of economic coercion has for
the great struggle which is now draw
ing on apace. When the League failed