Evening star., 1936-02-16
BY LOUIS p. LOCHNER

Associated Press Foreign STAFF.
~ ERLIN.-The representatives Of
x So nations accredited to the
Reich's government as ambas-
- sadors, ministers and charges
d'affaires are running about the
capital these days with worried faces
worried because they can't fathom
Adolph Hitler's foreign political in
tentions
The detached observer sees the same
picture wherever he encounters men,
bers Of the diplomatic corps.
They buttonhole each other. They
walk off into some quiet corner with
some minister or other high function
ary of the Reich. They interrogate
newspaper men. They ask pointed
questions of captains of industry and
czars of finance. They put out inno-
cent feelers to Nazi party bigwigs.
Problems Always Same.
And the problems to which their
discreet questioning always leads are
always the same:
/. Is it true that Germany will soon
WILL O1IC dCl1l1A1Odl lGCo 1O1ACs
2. Is Germany determined to de-
mand colonies? If so. how?
8. Where does Germany stand with
reference to the Ethiopian conflict?
Especially, what is her attitude toward
Italy and Great Britain?
Adolph Hitler is fond Of surprise
maneuvers. Even the most intimate
~I1 III, Dc i,,Fa ~ hi
ultimate intentions only shortly be-
fore he acts. That was true when he
called the cabinet together in March,
1885, to announce Germany would re-
arm. That was also true when the
anti Semitic legislation which depriveS
the Jew of citizenship rights was
passed by the Reichstag convened at
Nurnberg last September.
The German capital has therefore
become a rumor factory of the first
magnitude. The discerning correspon-
dent can gleam from the maze of con-
fiicting stories only those which seem
to be well founded.
There Is general agreement in po-
litical circles that the question of
cccupying the demilitarized Rhineland
zone has been under discussion in
high quarters. From the Nad view
point, Germany has not achieved full
international equality until and unless
she is allowed to place her troops
within the borders wherever she
pleases.
Locarno Binds Germany.
( The treaty of Locarno, however,
binds Germany to the provisions of
articles a and 43 of the treaty Of
Versailles, according to which the left
bank Of the Rhine may have police
only, and no soldiery. How to get
away from this irksome restriction
without violating Locarno has kept
German legal minds busy.
s Industry appears to be resigned to
the idea of keeping the Rhineland
rome demilitarized, for concerns like
The Krupps, Rheinmetal and Thyssen
have erected duplicate plants in the
Interior Of Germany, evidently with
the intention of abandoning their
Rhineland plants in the event of
8llCInUtAO3l6L COktA pAxt1SkO1Ac.
@The army, it is claimed on good
suthority, sees political difhculties in
the ofing should Hitler command
tyVcps to enter the zone. But the
army was told that political questions
are not its concern-and the army
washed its hands of the affair,
according to an informant whose
connections with the war ministry
are excellent.
The opportunity for denouncing the
Iocarno treaty as allegedly violated
by Great Britain and France and
hence as no longer binding upon Ger
many seemed TO come when, In Janu-
ary, the general staffs Of England and
France met TO consider joint. policies.
The German press hinted again and
again that this meeting was In viola
ton Of Locarno.
The British foreign minister, Capt.