Evening star., 1935-01-27
BY FRANK s. SIMONDS.

a the question that has been
NV on all lips since the plebi-
scite in the Saar. The size
of the majority for the
Reich, moreover, has significant i'm
plications for the Austrian situation.
Suppose the Germans should now
come forward and propose that, with
or without League supervision, as the
interested nations pleased, the Aus
trian people should be permitted to
choose their own rulers and their own
sovereignty.
In supporting that proposal they
could point with justice to the fact
that the Austrians had, at the close
of the war, proclaimed their desire to
unite with Germany. They could with
equal justice cite the fact that as re-
Gently as 1881 the Austrian govern
ment had agreed with the Reich to a
tariff union. The political union was
forbidden by the peace treaties, the
fiscal union was blocked by French
veto, conveniently covered by an ad-
visory opinion of the World Court.
Minority Rules Austria.
Today Austria is governed by a
minority which derives its real sup
port not from the Austrian people but
from Italian bayonets. The fact that
any violent overthrow of the present
government might prove the preface
to occupation of the country of Ital-
ian, Czech and Serb troops exercises
a restraint upon the Nazis and the
Socialists alike. But for all practical
purposes the Austrian people are the
captives of a divided Europe, agreed
only on the point that Austria must
not join the Reich, but unable to
agree upon any constructive program
which would make possible prosperity
in the unfortunate state.
If Hitler should now propose to let
the Austrian people choose, he would,
of course, be confronted by opposition
from France, Britain and Italy. But
both the French and the British would
find themselves in an awkward situa-
ton, since they would be denying the
right of a free people to decide their
own political destiny. And so long
as the will of the Austrian people
could not be consulted, Hitler could
claim that the AuStrianS were SUBJ
ject people and that the Germans
were denied rights of self-determina-
ton for their minoritieS, in fiat con-
tradiction of the professions of Will
son and his principles.
Could Embarrass France.
If Hitler should now resume his old
tactics of violence in Austria he would
rapidly consolidate British and French
public opinion against Austro- German
union. On the contrary, if he should
stick to the line he took Immediately
after the Saar plebiscite and continue
to assert that there was no territorial
dispute left between France and Ger
many, thus renewing the remuneration
of any claim to the recovery of Alsace-
Lorraine made by Stresemann in the
Locarno pactS, such tactics would en-
barrass any French government.
For, although at the moment the
French have made a new deal with
the Italians and are presumably COM
mitted to joint military as we'll as
political action to preserve Austrian
independence, the French people are
visibly weary of the Central European
mess and eager for some settlement
with Germany. And they are inStinc-
lively aware that there cannot be any
settlement if the French join in an
effort to block German advance down
the Danube, thus renewing the old
system Of encirclement of the pre-
war era.
Rejected Obstruction.
The fact that the French deliber-
ately rejected any program of OBJ
struction in the Saar plebiscite, de-
spite the opportunities NaZi violence
gave them to interfere, and openly
renounced all idea of preventing the
return of the Saar to Germany, con-
stituteS fairly clear indication OF
the present state of the French mind
At no time since 1918 has the French
desire for peace been more dominant
and, in addition, at no time has the
economic situation of the republic
been more critical and public attention
more completely concentrated upor
domestic matters.
On the question of arms, the French
are resigned to German rearmament
But they are prepared to recognize
that right only as they obtain salts
factory guarantees from Britain anc
acceptance by Germany of regiona.
pacts. The milk in the coconut is
not, however, the matter of guns, but
Of Notifications. BY the treaty Of
Versailles Germany was forced to dis.
mantle all her frontier fortifcation;
and forbidden to reconstruct them
With the return of the Saar all of this
enormously valuable industrial regior
is actually within range of the new
system of forts the French have bull
between the Rhine and the Moselle.
As long as Germany is not free tt
fortify her frontiers or does not at
tempt to do it willy-nilly France ha:
great measure of security. Most oi
the Rhineland is more or less host
age, and a new conflict would almost
lueflCdDIy DeSlu Oh GeTIHdn SOIL. bu
the Germans are resolved to change
all this, and when they talk about
parity in security they are thinking
more than all else of these frontier
regions open to French attack anc
within range of French guns. Fol
this reason they have been demanding
the destruction of the new system Of
French Notifications as a part of the
parity program.
Object to Forts.
To that, of course, the French viii
-