Evening star., 1936-02-02
BY LAURENCE STALLINGs.


"HE accession of Edward VIII to
tie throne of England mainly
concerns, in It's effect upon the
4 United States, the policy of the
American admiralty in meeting the
problems of the Pacific. So mex
tricably woven, among the strands of
European rivalries in the general
fabric Of the armed truce which the
world has beer keeping since 1918, are
the American threads of naval parity
that it is not fetched to say that
Edward Wits regard for Germany
more or less determines Americas re-
gard for the japanese.
Let us grant. at the outset, that the
Japanese would like nothing less than
a war with America-that the Japa-
nese, building surely upon American
industrial lines. have the greatest ad-
miration for the American Common
wealth, anC one so warmly initiative
that it has survived whatever clumsy
rebuffs America has given that friend
ship. Japan in brief, has her hands
full in MaEchukuo, and more than a
handful IN her trade rivalry with the
Soviet, particularly as each year sees
the power OF the Communists grow
ing with industrial sinews.
1t is Germany, and England's atti-
actually swings the balance in the
Pacific. For as surely as water runs
downhill, or as gas expands, the Ger
mans must inevitably return to their
state policy. A state actually never
changes its objective; and whatever
we may read of Hitler and his corpo-
rative state, we must not lose sight
of the fact that the Germans, re-
gardless Of defeat and humiliation,
have preserved their national con-
tinuity ard have. surprisingly, retained
the major outlines of Bismarcks
structure.
Problems for America.
1t is Germanys concert with Japan,
in the face of Russian power, which
concerns more than anything else
the problems which the young gen.
tlemen leaving Annapolis must con-
slider. 1t is recognized, for example,
that Englands Fastening into the
Franco Russian accord leading up to
1914 was in a great measure ac-
celerated by the rapidity with which
the Germans were building a navy
that might hope some day to chal-
lenge English naval supremacy. Re-
gardless of ties of monarchy, and
despite the fact that most members
of the English royal house through
Edward Wis day spoke German more
naturally than English, the specter
of those heavy-armored cruisers in
the Kiel Canal-manifestly built for
North Sea flghting-precluded any
great kinship between the England
and the Germany of 1912.
There is a vast difference now in
England's regard for Germany. There
is no hope for German Navy, in
many years, which can bring night
mares to the English admiralty. Ed
ward VIII. coming to the throne an
air minded King, himself of the gen.
Grafton which sickened and tempo
rarily lost its sanity after witnessing
the ghastliness of l914-l9l8, cannot
possibly entertain feelings other than
those of friendliness for the Germany
of today.
It need not be that he hearkens
back, within his inmost self, to those
ties of blood which bind the English
sovereigns to the Teutonic empire
Yet. by the same token. Edward VIII
must realize that the Germans, what
ever may be their government Just
now, are actually proceeding along
lines which Prince Won Bismarck,
who unified them, indicated as a
basis of permanent foreign policy for |
the Germans.
England, even now smarting under |
the diplomatic vexation which so |
newly wrought state as Italy has
posed the world with, recognizes
soundly that this poser is a mere |
test case compared to the day when /
Germany inevitably begins again a
wave of expansion. 1t must be that !
the English. when the day comes that
80, 600, 900 Germans seek outlets not |
yet prescribed by European councils,
will make far more formidable ges- |
lures of conciliation than they have |
toward the Italians. (And it cannot |
be said that they have not offered, |
time and again in the last few months,
to cut the Ethiopian cake with the
ItalianS)
1t is this necessity of offering Ger