Evening star., 1935-08-18
CERMAN-POLISH PEACE
THREATENED BY DANZIC
Free City Seeks to Force Hitler Into
Intervening in Behalf of
Vanishing Trade.
nv FRANK H. SIMONDS.

can interest has been SO COM
pletely centered either in the
- latest phrase Of the domestic
New Deal or the newest crisis in the
Ethiopian affair that scant attention
has been bestowed upon the slow de-
velopment of still another danger in
Europe. Little by little, however, the
dispute between the Danzig Free
State and Poland has crept into the
headlines, and today it threatens to
become a major peril to European
peace.
What is interesting and novel about
this Danzig episode is the fact that
the present crisis is desired neither
by Germany nor by Poland. HitlerS
activities in Austria last Summer
and Mussolini's projects in Ethiopia
at the present hour were and are the
expressions of deliberate purpose. The
Reichsfuehrer was attempting to de-
stroy Austrian independence, and the
Duce is trying to transform Ethiopia
into an italian colonial possession.
Clash Not Desired Now.
But neither Hitler nor the heirs
of Pilsudski-and notably Col Beck,
who directs Polish foreign policy
desire a clash over Danzig at the
present time. Two years ago Hitler
and Beck made their non-aggresSion
past, which remains the most consider
able achievement of both in the field
of foreign affairs. Hitler, eager to
obtain a free hand to deal with Gen.
trail European issues, and even more
anxious to break up the close rela-
tions between Paris and Warsaw. pro-
posed that the question of the Polish
Corridor, which had menaced Euro
pean peace ever since the Paris Peace
Conference, should be adjourned for
a decade and that Poland and Ger
many should agree not merely to a
political truce, but also to economic
cooperation.
Beck, for his part, welcomed the
proffer for two reasons. France had
recently declined to join Poland in a
war of prevention to restrain German
rearmament, and the Left govern
ment, now in control in Paris, had
disclosed on more than one occasion
an unwillingness to continue to guar
antee Polish possession of the Cor
ridor at the price of permanent bad
relations with Germany. Not unrea-
sonably the Poles felt that their
French ally might sacrifice them at
some future time in the hope of
arriving at an agreement with Ger
many which would establish French
security.
Terrific Blow to Danzig.
Neither in Berlin nor in Warsaw
did this non-aggression pact awaken
general enthusiasm. For the Prus-
SLAMS it meant at least a temporary
abandonment of the issue nearest to
their hearts, namely. the suppression
of the Corridor. For many Poles it
meant losing French support perma-
nently while winning at best only a
respite from German attack. Never
theless the pact was made and be-
policy thereafter. The question of
the Corridor was effectively elimi-
mated from the field of immediate
controversy, better trade relations
were established, and Poland. on the
one hand, resigned all concern for
German action in Central Europe and
on the other resisted both French
and Soviet pressure to join in an
Eastern Locarno.
But for the people of the Danzig
Free State this truce between Warsaw
and Berlin was a terrible blow. For
nearly a decade and half hey had
been carrying on a desperate resist
ance to Polish penetration. BY the
treaty of Versailles. while they had
been erected into a free state under
the supervision of the League, they
had also been included within the
customs frontiers of Poland. The
theory had been that Danzig would
thereby serve as the port of the new
Poland, and prosperity thus insured
would lead to the gradual disappear
ance of resistance to the new order.
Move for Protection.
Unhappily for themselves, however.
the Danzigers guessed wrong in the
Russo-Polish war of 1920 and under
took to prevent the delivery to the
Poles of the munitions shipped to
them by the French. Having re-
pulsed the Soviet invasion the Poles
presently were free to deal with the
Danzig question. Realizing that what
the people of Danzig had actually
done in 1920 they might attempt
again, the Poles resolved to protect
themselves and proceeded to construct
upon their own territory the port of
Gdynia and also, with French money,
to build railway on Polish soil be-
tween Gdynia and the hinterland.
AS a consequence, Poland today
possesses in Gdynia a magnificent
modern port, far better equipped with
machinery than Danzig, easier of ac-
cess and capable of handling all of
the export and import trade of the
republic. AS the resistance of Dan
zig has continued, too, the Poles
have gradually transferred traffic to
Gdynia until today the new port has
passed the old, alike in tonnage of
ships entering and leaving and in
the weight of goods and commodities
exported and imported. Danzig has,
therefore, become like city besieged,
us SCd-DOLHC up, 4Lo
economic situation becoming ever
more desperate.
Ten years longer of this sort Of
peaceful blockade, therefore, prom
ised the final ruin Of Danzig. As a
result, the Danzigers themselves set
out to destroy the Polish German
truce by acts of sabotage. First of
all they threw themselves into the
hands of the Nazis and organized
local branch of the Hitler party. At
recent elections this new party just
failed to get a two-thirds majority
and thus capture control Of the politi-
cal machinery of the Free State, but
they did disclose a remarkable gain
in numbers.
Sought To Force Hitler.
The next move and the move
which has produced the present crisis
was a declaration of free trade pro-
gram with Germany. German goods
vere tn be admitted without duty to