Evening star., 1939-05-28
1talian>German Alliance Curbs
Wishful Thinking of Opponents
Signing OF Pact Eliminates Possibility Mussolini
Can Be Had for a Price
as Once Was Belief
By Constantine Br0,vu.

fIUG DfO2Vn.
there is sufficient basis for that feeling
in their history, in their cultural achieve
ments during their great period at the
end OF the 18th and beginning of the
18th century, or in the Franco-P -Prussian
War, depends on the point of view
Is it any wonder, In view of these
grouped facts, that the supreme dream
of the German leader should be the de-
velopment of the German race and its
expansion into the vast area to the east
of it, which to the crowded German eye
seems almost empty?
Hitler Hates the Town.
Hitler is countryman and hates the
town. with its factory coolie" labor con-
ditions. His one central idea is to bring
the German race back to the land, and
to sufficient land; to enable that race to
expand eastward in this century, much
as our American forefathers expanded
westward in the last century. In "Mein
Kampf" he has laid down the criterion
by which he would wish to be Judged at
the bar OF history 1t is this: If, 100
years from now, the German race has
again more than trebled itself, if there
are then 250,000,00O Germans in exist
ence, and if they are mainly country
men, having adequate lebensraum Civ
Ing room) on the land in Eastern Eu-
rope, as a result of his efforts. he will
have accomplished the whole of his de-
sire That ic hjc
turn him from it. If he is too much
thWarted by AngloPolish alliances in
the east, he may conceivably turn west
for reckoning, but that reckoning can
not for him be anything but an un-
welcome interlude, pause in his ex-
panslon to the east. In Eastern Europe
alone is the land which he wants for the
German people.
If he could rely permanently on good
commercial treatment by the Balkan
countries, it is safe to say that Herr
Hitler would not seek to annex them.
He would be content with such a regime
| as we have in Panama, or Great Britain
has in Egypt, or as he has himself set
up In Slovakla-enough control to Sc
cure reasonable give and take and rea-
sonable security for German capital and
enterprise; at the most with corridor
to East Prussia.
Here Is where the commercial policy
OF the democratic states in Eastern and
Northern Europe has been singularly
sllort-sighted. 1t has coldly aimed at
! diverting Balkan and Baltic trade from
| Germany.
What Is the Wise Policy?
What then, is the wise policy for deal
ing with Germany? Europeans of long
experience in government say: Leave to
her the field of Balkan trade That
alone will decrease her military activity.
She cannot send endless technicians, en-
gineers, overseers, foremen nor capital
on substantial scale to develop the
Balkans without diverting it from her
army. This would serve to meet the
immediate and most pressing problem
Of Germany-the feeding of her present
industrial population.
| With that sphere of unthWarted de-
velopment open to them, the possibility
of dragooning the German people into
a war adventure would be much less. In
economic desperation the Germans will
follow their leader anywhere With
reasonable outlet for their energies in
, developing the iron, manganese, bauxite.
copper and-above au-the potential
vegetable wealth of the large Balkan
Peninsula-including vegetable oils, cot
ton, tobacco and perhaps coffee-they
will be much less easy to dragon. In
deed the Germans themselves believe
that German conquest of South Euro
pean Russia can only come from the
natural breakup of Russia from within
"a consummation which well-informed
Europeans believe to be in process of
CESSATION.
But, it will be said, If we allow Hitler
the dominance of the Balkans, the he
; gemony of Eastern Europe and-if Russia
does break up-a vast territory in East
ern Europe, will he not become alto
| gether too strong? Will he not seek to
dominate, will he not, in fact dominate
the world?
Europe is very, very old, and full of
the callosities and rigidities of age. If
| AAACACA oAAOAAo 4ANC GAlc dCCdDle Euro.
pean racial material with a light rein.
he would have a militarily ramsnackle
empire, reminiscent perhaps of the old
| Austro- Hungarian Empire, not an eff
cent military unit. And if he rode it with
a tight rein, If he attempted to discipline
it on uniform lines to a prearranged
pattern, he would provoke such stresses
and strains as would make that empire
not source of economic strength, but
one of military weakness.
No West European country has ever
felt the call of the east and answered
1t with moderation and circumspection.
Just as Great Britain was drawn on from
India to Burma, Malaga and Hong
Kong; just as the Portuguese and the
Dutch were drawn; just as Russia her
self was drawn to the east; so Hitler's
Germany would find herself drawn from
the Ukraine and the Crimea to the
Caucasus and Georgia, to Baku and the
Caspian, to the riches of the Donetz
Basin, Of the Urals, Of the Altai Noun
| tains.