Askov American. [volume] (Askov, Pine County, Minn.) 1914-current, 1939-07-06

tlOuSly given as reported, "ru-
mored," lit is said," and so on. There
is not one concrete statement to be
found anywhere. Most of the stories
are based on what is known as hear
say.
Facts of Situation.
The fact of the matter is that the
city and free state of Danzig is not,
as has. been claimed, Polish territory.
Danzig, as one of the consequences
of the Versailles peace treaty twenty
years ago, was handed over to the
League of Nations under the super
vision of Poland. That country
wanted an outlet to the sea-that is,
to the Baltic-and has been develop
ing Danzig with that goal in mind,
at the same time constructing and
building the city and port of Gdynia,
which serves exactly the same pur-
pose as that of the seeming acquisition
of Danzig.
Treaty Obligations.
Ignace Moscicki, president of Po-
land, the other day in a radio speech,
heard in this country, too, maintained
that Danzig was Polish territory and
that the Poles would fight to the
very limit for the retention of it. The
president was wrong in his premises,
for DanZig is overwhelmingly Ger
man, and Poland is merely the guard
ian responsible to the League of Ma
tons.
But-as was reported here-some
time ago Great Britain and France
signed treaties with Poland pledging
themselves to rush to aid of that
country in the event of aggression.
Would Danzig coup by Hitler man.
ipulated through propaganda and
persuasion be considered such a coup?
That was a question arising from the
fact that statements were made in
London and Paris to the effect that
the British and the French govern
ments would resist and intervene
in case Hitler annexed Danzig by
force. Judging from all reports, he
has no such intention. He wants
Danzig, but not ardently enough to
go to war about it. But Poland in
sists that even peaceable coup in
connection with Danzig is a bellig-
erent act which means war, and so
calls on Great Britain and France to
fulfill their treaty obligations. 1t is
doubtful that they will.
Unjustified War.
OILY n
burning issue, Mussolini in Turin a
few weeks ago made the statement
that there was not in Europe any
problem serious or important enough
to justify war. That is, most like
ly, still true. No great power feels
like going to war on that score, espe-
cially in view of the undisputed fact
that Danzig is, after all, judging by
population and language, a German
city.
The daily press day by day ex-
cites its public with big and scary
headlines about the imminence of
war, and it is supported, to a certain
extent, by some of the governments
notably the British and the French
carrying on as though ''the next war"
were just around the corner. There
is no visible reason to believe that
that is the case. If war comes, Dam
zig will provide merely the desired
incident, and that possibility is bit
remote.
Negotiations.
For several weeks the British have
been painfully irked by things that
have happened at Tientsin, north
Chinese city under Japanese control;
the British part of the international
section of that city has been seriously
molested by the japanese, and diplo-
matte notes have been flying back
and forth between Tokyo and Lon
don for this reason, Tokyo maintain
ing that the British are too sympa-
thetic to the Chinese cause, and Lon
don insisting that the japanese have
no political, moral or other right to
order them about.
The upshot of a series of incidents
likely to disturb the officially friend
ly relations between Japan and the
British empire is that this week at
Tokyo a conference between the
Japanese and the British has been
started. They want to settle the
matter amicably, and there is some
good reason for believing that they
will succeed.
Russia and Japan.
But while there is possibility that
Japan and Great Britain will arrive
at an agreement of some kind, hostil-
tiles break out between Japan and
Russia. Outer Mongolia is not an
integral part of the Soviet republics
but very much under their domina-
tion-in other words, part of the
Russian sphere of influence" Man.
chukuo, taken by Japan from China
a few years ago, is to all intents
and purposes japanese possession,
and between Outer Mongolia and
Manchukuo there has, according to
not yet verified report, been good
q IL