Evening star., 1936-09-02
Brown
Continued From First Page.)

gained so much in the last year. he
believes that they will hesitate to
plunge the world into another war
out of which they have nothing to
gain and everything to lose And if a
war can be averted this year, Europe
will enter after this last crisis into an
era of peace which will last indefi-
nitely.
Czechoslovakia is Frances ally, and
intends to stand by its agreements as
long as possible. This does not mean,
however, that the Czechs will &c
blindly into a war regardless of how it
may come about
Out of sheer desire to please the
French government Benes has signed
a treaty of alliance with the U. s.
S. R. There was a good deal of
opposition to that treaty among the
Czechoslovak soldiers and in the
country at large. But Benes over
looked the sound objections of the
opponents of this dangerous alliance
and rammed down the throat of his
Parliament the treaty which the
French general staff demanded of
their Central European ally.
Soviet Pact Bars Aggression.
Benes is liberal and q democrat
and as such considers all engagements
taken by the government of q country
in the light of what the country itself
will ultimately decide. In plain words,
his philosophy is that treaties should
be signed in peaceful times as the
government Of country in such times
is in a position to better Judge what
international agreements should be
entered into. But when there is an
actual war, it is for those who are
going to do the fighting to decide
whether any fighting should be done
The treaty of alliance with the
Soviets guarantees Czechoslovakia
against an aggression. In that light,
it was wise thing to sign it. But
should by any chance the Moscow
government decide to provoke directly
or indirectly conflagration, Czecho-
slovakia might decide to remain neu-
tral despite the agreement. Benes is
no longer q foreign secretary and a
party man. He is the young father to
100000 people and feels compelled
to look after their interests and fol-
low their wishes despite agreements,
treaties, and staff arrangements.
If public opinion in the country
Is opposed to any participation in a
conf1agration, Benes will be forced
morally to follow the supreme deci-
sion of his fellow citizens, even at the
price Of his resignation from office.
The Czechoslovak President is now
less of an idealist; he is no longer
proud of the title Geneva had bestowed
upon him "the great European" He
aspires to remain known in history
merely as "the great Czechoslovak."
Adapts Castle to Self.
And this metamorphosis Is not sur
prising. The man who as a little boy,
the son of farm laborer, looked with
awe at the Hapsburg palace which
dominated Prague and was roughly
pushed aside by the Emperors guards
when he dared come too near the
sacred precincts is the master OF the
palace now. 1t took some time before
the little Czech intellectual, who had
spent most of his life in exile in a
little furnished room, adapted himself
to the cold splendors of the castle. In
fact, he adapted the castle to his
tastes. There are no longer guards
and lackeys with knee breeches around.
A few traffic policemen can be seen in
the many courtyards which lead to the
Presidents apartments. And in the
place of the flunkeys, with gold but
tons on velvet coats, there is a servant
in dark suit, who takes your card.
He does not hesitate to interrupt the
President during his conversations
with the question, do you want your
coffee now?" And he brings on q
wooden tray, a pot of coffee, three
slices of heavily buttered rye bread
and two cups. Then, turning to the
viSitor-I happened to be the one
that day-he adds, with a polite smile:
THE second cup is for you"
Czechoslovakia Is a democracy and
will remain such, because its, people
are intensely democratic. President
Benes is less worried about the pos
sibility Of Hitler developing a "Czecho-
slovak complex" than his allies in
Paris. There are, of course, some
3 500 900 Germans in the country, and
they live mostly on the Czechoslovak-
German border. The previous govern
ments Of the republic have made mis-
takes in the treatment of those minor.
tiles, but Benes has made up his mind
to mend the past errors, not by yield
ing to the German leaders, such ~
Henlein, but by appealing to the COM
mon sense Of the German Cseclns. He
Is willing to liberalize the policies Of
the country toward those minorities
and hopes to come to an understanding
with them. But the chief reason why
he is not unduly worried about Ger
man onslaught Is that he realizes that
the Reich cannot actually desire the
of Czeckoslovakia. Hitler,
q former Austrian himself, knows that
if in the last 800 years the Austrians
have not been able to digest" the
Czechs and the Slovaks, who are Slavs,
the racist Reich win have still less
chance to do so.
Reich Wants to Dominate.
What Germany is after, in the
opinion of the President and all his
advisers, 70 thu domination q Cen
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