Evening star., 1939-11-30
Artificial Incident
Becomes Powerful
Weapon Of War
Observer Holds New
Technique a Foetor
Along With Arms
NV MAI. GEORGE FIELDING
ELIOT,

It used to be a favorite remark
with news commentators in time of
European crisis to say that "Eu-
rope is at the mercy of an incident" "
and to expatiate upon the dire con-
sequences which might attend the
nervous Tightening of some recruits
trigger-f1nger on threatened from
tier. But authentic incidents" of
this sort, like authentic atrocities or
authentic grievances, are now lit
tie old fashioned; indeed, they have
lost almost all importance, when
compared with the results obtained
from the manufactured article.
Like so many other notable items
In the field of international intrigue,
the artificial incident" seems to
have reached its most polished and
effective form in the Orient, while
its use in the West has tended to be
q little on the heavy-handed side.
The explosion" at Mukden, the
killing of the Japanese naval men at
the Shanghai airport, the fight"
at the Marco Polo Bridge are all
incidents which served Japan we'll;
In conception, execution and dra-
matte value, they ranked we'll above
the Czech and Polish "atrocity'
stories and the affair at Walwal,
just as their Oriental predecessor,
the Indian mutiny tale of the
creased cartridge, was immeasurably
more plausible than Bismarck's lit
tie telegram device.
Russians Fail to Measure Up.
The latest product of this sort,
the Russian story OF the Finnish
artillery ruthlessly firing into the
peace-loving ranks of the Red army,
is really hardly worthy to rank with
even its European predecessors, and
causes one to wonder whether Rus
sia's reputation for semi-Oriental-
ism should extend into the realm OF
intrigue or beconfined to stoical
endurance of tyranny and an aver
sion to sanitary engineering.
It Is interesting to observe that
the artificial incident has brought
along with it as an almost inevitable
companion, curious company Of
artificial "aggressors. Under the
regime of the League of Nations,
the term aggressor was one Of
dire reproach, set aside for appli-
cation to those laWless disturbers
of the worlds peace against whom
the stern penalties of international
sanctions we're to be applied in
the interests of justice and order.
But with the dimming Of the
Genevan luster, we have had in the
last few years a very odd list of
aggressor nations, branded as such
largely by means of the synthetic
incident Ethiopia, China, Czecho-
Slovakia, Poland. and now Finland
perhaps tomorrow the Netherlands
will have her turn-have been held
up one by one by outraged govern
ments of various great powers as
intolerable and dangerous aggres-
sors against whom the firmest de
fensive' measures required to be
taken-and were taken.
For Home Consumption.
Indeed, it is increasingly clear
that so useful and flexible an &C
complishment as the art of manu-
featuring incidents is not likely to
perish from lack of use. To be sure,
there is very little originality or
ingenuity employed, save perhaps
in the Far East; but then, there
does not need to be. 1t takes so
very little originality to create an
incident satisfactory to the people
of a country who are unable to
Judge it by comparison with ac-
counts from unbiased sources; and
of course, these European Incl
dents are for internal consumption,
since-unlike their Oriental coun-
terparts-the meanest intelligence
could not hope thereby to deceive