Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1937-08-16
SPANISH FACTIONS
REACH STALEMATE
August DOG Days" Hamper
Military, Diplomatic
Operations.
RY JOHN ELLIOTT,

PARIS. August 16.-August dog
tavs have come and paralyzed 9TH
military and diplomatic operations
N the European front. In Spain in
tnse heat has forced suspension of
fighting. A stalemate appears to pre-
vii in the peninsula. While the reb-
ds so far have shown a marked super
brity over the LoyaliSts. who have yet
Il recapture a single important city
u year of fighting, nevertheless
Gen Franco does not seem to possess
Gficient resources to force a de-
dsion Barring active Intervention
h European power, 1t does not look
now as if the war would end this
YEAR
Another stalemate exists on the
diplomatic chessboard The Month";
tTvention Committee in London has
adjourned to prevent rupture. AL
though the British and French gov
enments have been able to prevent
tie Spanish civil war from develop
ilr into a Furopen conflict, due to
tie fiction of on-intervention, they
hive not succeeded in getting a with
d'eUal of foreign combatants from
S,ain
Danger in Alien Forces.
So long as Premier Benito MusSo-
LII maintains 10000 to 100000 Ital-
Ian soldiers with Gen. Franco and
tn Germans lend him 10000 pilots
ard terhnicians, the danger of
European war arising out of the Span
isl conflict will always Turk in the
background.
Meanwhile. Premier MusSolini has
m,de overtures for more friendly re-
lstons both to Great Britain and
Prince. Rumor has it that II Duce,
disappointed at his failure to win more
active support from Reichsfuehrer
Hitler for his policy of adventure in
Spin. has decided to make it up with
Great Britain. 1t remains to be seen
whether the coming Anglo-1tallan ne
cniations will get any further in
PACKING up relations between London
and Rome than the much-heralded
"cntlemen's agreement of last jan
uay.
Possibly the meeting of the Assem-
hn of the League of Nations next
ninth may furnish the test. III
Gtneva decides that Ethiopia has
cesed to exist as state, a road may
be opened for the return of Italy to
TIN League and may make possible the
| log deferred "Locarno' Conference
in London to arrange new Rhine
laid security pact to replace the
agreement denounced by Hitler in the
Spring of 1885.
League No Rubber Stamp.
But it must be remembered that,
contrary to common impression. the
Lague ofNations Is not rubber stamp
toreeister the decisions of the British
ani French foreign Offices as was shown
lat September, when the little nations
reused to unseat the delegation Of
Halle Selassie as London and Paris
uthed The small states, fearing for
tfrir own skins If such a precedent of
recognizing the fruits OF aggression
WIS established, may balk again this
yer.
Meanwhile. unwonted quiet has
falen on the European scene and the
cster OF public interest has been
transferred to the Far East, where
China and Japan are clashing, never
tleless, the nations of this continent
az continuing feverishly their prep
aations for the next Armageddon and
marty every country seems ripe for
explosion. Great Britain alone offers
q spectacle of comparative tran
Uillity and security, but even there
tie elaborate air raid that was staged
DER London this week shows that that
country is grimly taking precautions
e,ainst the dread eventuality. And
., the same time that Premier Mus
SLIM is making big play for peace
With England, he is carrying on secret
military msneuvers on a vast scale in
Sicily. obviously directed against Malta
sid Great Britain's Mediterranean
Ines OF communication with the en-
nre.
(copyrieht. 1897. by New York
Herald Tribune)