Evening star., 1936-07-05
BY LORD STRABOLGI.

| BY LOnD S1hAbOLOI.
~ EFORE this year is out, the
- world will hear much of the
! German demand for colonies
- 1t will be remembered that
earlier this year Herr Hitler included
among his peace proposals a demand
for colonial equality for the Reich.
Whether this means that Germany
demands mandates over her own for
mer colonies, or certain of them; or
whether she demands their return in
full sovereignty; or whether she re-
quires certain colonial territories now
held by other nations and which we're
not previously in German possession,
is not clear
But what is clear is that this de-
mand for colonies is regarded by the
Germans as matter of prestige. The
German peoples are being told that so
long as the treaty of Versailles re-
mains, this former colony-owning
power is stigmatized as being unfit to
have dominion over backward or prim-
itiVe races, and is, therefore, morally,
on lower plane than Britain, France,
Belgium, Portugal, Holland, Japan and
/ the United States of America.
This demand is not new. Bitter
protests were made when Germany
was deprived of her colonial empire
at the time of the drafting of the
Versailles treaty. Moreover, German
/ dissatisfaction with her comparatively
small colonial empire was one Of the
| causes Of European unrest prior to the
outbreak of the World War. An at
tempt was made by the late Sir Ed
ward Grey, as British foreign secre-
tary at that time, to placate the Kaiser
and his ministers by offering them the
reversion OF the Portuguese colonies
in Africa-an astounding proposal
which deServedly failed to avert the
catastrophe of war. But that offer
will be remembered in Germany in
due course-which is an argument
against opening the. door to precise
demands for "compensations" today.
The German government possesses
a wonderful propaganda machine for
the education of its own people; it Is
! Wy tliC lCNOuOldDlC LII .
Goebbels. AS long ago as January II,
1881, Herr Goebbels, in a speech to
| the Berlin branch of the National
/ Socialist party, staked out this CO.
lonial claim, described it as just de-
mand which could not and must not
be refused, and ended with the warm
ing that 1t is dangerous for the world
not to concede such demands, because
some day the bomb will explode"
Demand Is Reiterated.
! That was more than five years ago.
and ever since then leading Na1
statesmen have at intervals reiterated
the demand, though it has never been
defined in precise terms. 1t is. how
ever, known that in recent months the
British government has begun to re-
gard this demand. or grievance, with
more friendly eyes 1t is stated on
apparently good authority that pro-
visional assurances have been given by
Whitehall to the German foreign Of
flee that at any general conference for
the settlement of outstanding difficult
ties such a demand from Germany's
side would be sympathetically re-
ceived.
This knowledge has already aroused
storm in British political circles
A strong and active section of the
Conservative party is bitterly opposed
to the return to the Reich of any
former German territory now held
under British mandate. Their atti-
tude is the old imperialistic one. They
are principally exercised over the
former East Africa, now known as
Tanganyika, where a good deal of
British capital has been invested.
Also, section of the other two po-
ntical parties in Britain, Liberal and
Labor, is opposed to any such policy,
which is described as attempting to
buy off the wolf with gifts, and is
based partly on general hostility to
German FaScism.
Certain of the governments of the
British dominions are directly con-
cerned, but so far only one has come
out into the open-that of South
Africa, which holds a mandate over
the former German colony of South
west Africa. The South Africans
have declared themselves utterly op-
posed to Southwest Africa being
taken away from their jurisdiction.
Nevertheless, there is a growing
movement in Britain which would
be disposed to meet German demands
in this respect, especially if 1t is part
OF a general settlement. Here is a
grievance, real or imaginary, which
is certainly genuinely felt in Ger
many, and bad trade, unemployment
and economic difficulties will always
be explained as being due to the
closing of colonial markets to Ger
man products and the difficulty Of
purchasing colonial raw materials
until the matter is settled in Ger
many's favor.
America Directly Concerned.
AS party to the original arrange
ment under which the former German
colonies were inundated to Britain,
France, Belgium, Japan and certain
OF the British dominions, America
Is directly concerned. Furthermore,
the German Pacific islands north of
the Equator are now under japanese
mandate. The attitude of the jap :.
anese government is not known. One
OF two things might happen: Toxic,
foreseeing a war with Russia and
desiring Germany as an ally. in the
west, might offer these former Ger
man Islands back to Germany as
part Of the terms of such an alliance,
or Japan might refuse to make any
concessions at all.
A good deal of pressure would have
to be brought on the Japanese to
get them to agree to all Germany's
colonies being put under direct
League of Nations administration, as
they value their former German
islands in the Pacific for strategical
reasons, and this, again, must di-
rectly affect the United States OF