Evening star., 1937-08-15

The desperate emergency most to
be feared Is. as has just been said,
the economic one. Everybody Ia
agreed on that One OF the few things
upon which all Europe is unanimous
Is that Secretary of State Hull has
got hold Of the right end OF the stick
when he says the greatest threat to
world peace is the continuance Of the
present economic nationalism. But
that does not mean that the threat
is imminent, that the stories, for in
sance, that Signor Mussolini may soon
explode under economic pressure need
be taken seriously.
asked friend and adviser Of ths
Duce about them. "Of course" he
said, "the economic situation Is diff.
cult. But the idea that it is going
to bring us to desperation for q very
long time is ridiculous Various fac
better, the remittances from Italian
emigrants in North and South Amer
lea are extremely useful So is the
growing tourist trade. Our armament
program will give work for some years
more. Ethiopia is absorbing labor
rapidly because we are carrying out
our huge program of road building
and construction with Italian labor
rather than with native labor. And
II We do have to tighten our belts,
We have an advantage over you and
the Americans in a far lower standard
OF living. Our people can be kept
going on much less than yours"
Full Of Prosperous People.
Nor did Germany, in spite Of the
grumbllng. look like an economic
crash. There, too, armaments and a
comparatively low standard of living
help. No more than in Italy were
there signs of depression or hard
times, IN spite Of the grumbling Of
the business world. Both countries
seemed 10 be full of prosperous people
on carefree holidays and their towns
had lost the strained atmosphere OF Q
few years ago.
AS for planned war or war from
some accident, those two possibilities
really go together, for, unless some-
body wants war. the chances OF an
accident producing one are small. The
comparison between what happened
in 1914 after the murder of the Aus
trlan archduke at Sara jevo and a year
or two ago after the murder of the King
OF Yugoslavia at Marseilles proves that.
Both crimes had all the makings of a
European explosion. In 1914 the ex-
ploslon came because some people
wanted war. In 1884 nothing hap
pened because nobody wanted war.
In 1887 the democra cies are certainly
as peaceful as ever. and. when one gets
under the froth of their militant ma.
tionalism, there is good reason to be-
lieve the dictatorships want TO avoid
war If they possibly can. In Germany
the leaders of the army, whose inf1u.
ence is very great indeed. are uni
versallv believed to be pacific. Being
scientific soldiers, they have no delu-
sions about the suicidal destructiveness
Of modern warfare. Herr Hitler is
quoted as frequently saying that,
though he proposes to make Germany
the strongest country in Europe. he
hopes to be able TO do it by peaceful
methods.
MuSsolini a Realist
Slgnor Mussolni is Just as much q
reallSt as any one else. Nor can he be
judged by his infammatory bombast.
Italians are surprised when the out
side world takes it seriously Cannot
YOU realize" they say, that the Duce
has to do that sort of thing. that We
Italians need a continual display Of
violent verbal fireworks II We are to
pull ourselves together? But nobody
hopes more than We do that his visions
OF war and glory will remain visions"
Last, but by no means least. the die
tatorships. especially Germany. the
dominating figure in their combina-
tion. are dong too we'll by dipomacy,
backed by bluff and bullying. to be
seriously planning to change their
technique and challenge their rivals
on the battlefield
The object Of that diplomatic game.
as I have already said, is. for Ger
many, the domination Of Central and
Eastern Europe and, for Italy, the
Mediterranean
Copyright. 1887, by the North American
Newspaper Alliance 1nc)