Evening star., 1938-01-23
PREDATORY STATES.
ARE D|SLLUS|ONED.
Italy Finds Involvement in
Ethiopia and Spain a
Handicap.
BY A. G. GARDINER.

LONDON, Jan. 22.-H there is OBJ
servable here q growing undercurrent
Of confidence in regard to the world
outlook, it's in no small measure
due to the feeling that things are not
going well with the predatory powers.
That a nation armed to the teeth
can play havoc with an unarmed and
helpless people, especially in these
days Of mechanized warfare, needed
no proof, but what is becoming ap-
parent Is that these spectacular feats
are likely to be only the overture to
the real business of conquest
Three examples are now before us.
1t Is 18 months since Italy stamped
out all organized military opposition
in Abyssinia and entered into nominal
and unobstructed occupation of the
country But. If the victory has been
calamity for the Ethiopians, 1t is
proving no less calamity for the
Italians. Instead of the Golconda
which was promised them, they find
themselves burdened with q white
elephant which they can neither ex-
plot nor let 60.
Army Is MarOOned.
The army OF occupation Is ma
rooned in the midst of a hostile
population Of II millions, who, as the
Jibuti correspondent of the Times of
London points out, are refusing to
till the land or contribute to the pro-
duction OF raw materials. Exports
have fallen of disastrously, and, as a
consequence, the value Of Abyssinia
as market for Italian exports has
equally declined.
In short, so far from enrichinp
Italy. the new empire is bleeding her
white, and even If the passive re-
sistance OF the population can be
overcome, there is no prospect OF an
economic return without vast
capital expenditure, which Italy can
neither provide herself nor borrow
elsewhere
Nor has Mussolin's other great ven.
ture been more prosperous. It was
his backing that made Frances re-
bellion really formidable, but the gov
ernment's victory at Teruel has COM
pleted the process Of disillusionment,
and Mussolini is left with the task of
washing his hands Of an enterprise
which has done more to discredit him
with his own people even than the
Dead Sea fruits of Abyssinia. More
over. instead Of making Spain an in
strument Of his far-reaching ambi-
tions In the Mediterranean, he has
embittered the relations between the
two countries beyond repair, no mat
ter what the issue of the civil war
may be.
Lesson Due for Japan.
There is deepening conviction here
that Japan, too. is destined to learn
the lesson that barbarism does not
pay Things are not going with her
according to plan. Six months ago
she set out to destroy the Chinese
armies. overthrow the Chang Kali
shek government and beat China to
her knees. There was to be no pause
until China sued for peace on terms
of unconditional surrender. This was
to oe accomplished before Christmas.
But Christmas has gone. and the Chi
nese armies are still intact, and the
government, SO far from suing for
peace, has contemptuously rejected
the terms put forward by Japan.
Superficially. the invaders are tri-
umphant. They have been victorious
on every front. They have occupied
vast territories and have set I'D dummy
administrations in the great cities and
areas they have devastated. But they
have not destroyed China or her gov
ernment. They have made nation.
The soul of united China has come
to birth. And the deeper Japan gets
into the morass, the more acute grows
the dilemma with which she is con-
fronted.
(Copyright 1888, by Consolidated Press.)