Evening star., 1938-12-25

ATHENS, Greece.-In the brief weeks
since Hitlers Czecho-S -Slovak coup (some
call it the triumph of Munich, the Nazi
chieftain has performed the miracle of
perfecting and bringing under his will
in Central Europe and the Balkans a
vast economic empire which will go far
toward giving Germany the self-suf-
flciency she seeks.
Der Fuehrer's feat is one of the most
Astonishing things of its kind in history.
Indeed. the whole thing is almost un-
believable, but having just completed a
flrst-hand survey of this entire part of
the world cannot refuse to believe what
myself have found.
1t must be said that actually Germany
long has dominated trade in this area.
But it is an entirely new set-up which
we now have.
The smashing of Czecho- -Slovakia, and
Frances abdication of her influence have
enabled Hitler to impose a control I'M
der which these comparatively small
countries henceforth will live not for
themselves but for the benefit of the
fatherland.
Embraces Granaries
The nations which thus far have been
chosen to tote the bulk of this economic
empire on their backs are the lame
Czecho-Slovakia. Rumania. Hungary,
Yugoslavia and Bulgaria-the last four
being the so-called Danubian countries
which constitute one of the worlds gran
aries They will be largely assisted by
Poland, Turkey and Greece.
True, at the time of the Czecho-Slovak
crisis there was brave martial display
in most of the affected countries, just to
advertise that they weren't taking any
nonsense. However, generally speaking,
it proved that the sound of marching
feet was merely the echo of a hope, and
that the rattling of spears against shields
was due to fright.
That is fguratlve but no exaggeration.
I went into Czecho-Slovakia with Hitler
when he made his triumphal entry over
flower -streWn roads, and visited neigh
boring countries and the Balkans i'm
mediately afterWard. Some of the cap
itals were in state of near-panic, fear
ing not only the imposition of economic
control on them but political domination
and even annexation.
Officials Disclose Fears.
In more than one country officialdom
asked me for inside news of what was
happening, knowing that I had just come
from Germany and CzechoS Slovakia.
One official astonished me by asking
whether I thought Germany was likely
to annex his country-a fair indication
of the condition of nerves people were in.
My own observation and conversa-
sions with many privileged observers led
me to believe that Herr Hitler had no
present intention of creating minority
problems for himself by annexing non-
| Germanic races.
Der Fuehrer, it was generally felt,
most certainly intended to control this
| part of the world both economically and
| politically. This new empire, however,
was merely a subsidiary which would
help support his Germanic confedera-
tion-a fatherland composed of the peo-
| piles of one blood
All the countries in the danger zone
Immediately started scurrying about to
see if protective alliances couldn't be
| formed. One of the first schemes was
that whereby Poland and Hungary hoped
the latter would be able to secure
| Czecho- -Slovak Ruthenia and thus make
| common Polish-Hungarian frontier.
The idea of this was to form a bar
rier for protection against any German
aggression. That pot is still on the fire,
with Germany blowing cold on it to keep
! it from boiling.
Seek Mussolinis Support.
This plan also envisaged some sort of
entente, friendly to Germany but still
a protection against trespass on SOW
ereignty comprising Poland, Hungary,
Rumania and Yugoslavia. These coun-
tries hoped to secure the moral support
| of Mussolini.
Then, too, the Balkan entente -Yugo-
slavia, Rumania, Greece and Turkey
held palaver, but they didn't get very far
except in the way of exchanging SYM
pathy. Bulgaria, which is holdout
from the entente, also advertised its
good-neighbor policy.
rJou,ox,or IIiflok uorked so fo st that he