THE CORRIDOR ISSUE

EEVISION NOT POSSIBLE

POLAND AND GERMANY

Politically, the Polish attitude towards the rest of the world is definitely one of peace above all things. Few 'people realise the skill of Marshal 'Pilsudski in playing ofi one country against another, .in accepting French aid and yet not b*ecoming_a vassal of JFrance, and In the dignified handling of Russian' frontier questions. It is, indeed, doubtful whether any other statesman in Europe could havo achieved such results^ and to: appro* ciate them one must remember how this modern Poland is made up. Its citizens are lately of German nationality, of Russian, of Austrian^ and of any other neighbouring' State which. existed in pre-war Europe (writes tha ; Warsaw correspondent of the "Morning Post"). Before 1914, Polish was a forbidden language in the Russian portion of tho country, and'if not forbidden at any ( rate, frowned jOn by German rulers. Today education ia progressing ia every-town and'every village, and a national mentality 'of is being evolved from what previously was qnly ; rather a skefchy national tradition. Poland, .in fact, today; is an old king. dom in a new cradle, and there is overy reason: to expect that the infant now in the cradle; will grow up into one o£ tho moat. powerful- adults'; in-Europe. •'But control of'theirifant is at tho moment necessary, and-that is exquisitely managed by, the. Pilsudski machine. No, demonstrations,. whether anti-Russian or ; anti-German, are permitted; even the.persecution of Jews in Germany has not been allowed to become an anti-German slogan where Jew* are popujar; the maxim is freedom for all, Poland for the; Polish, and friendship with all neighbours. ABEAI. FREE STATE. The Poles do not wish for troubla in any direction, and least of all in that volcano of Northern Europe, i.e., the Corridor* ■•• Eesponsible pei^ona in Warsaw Are just as much afraidof an incident in Danzig as are ,the people of Danzig themselves, b.ut for a different reason. Danzig as ' a Free Stato is more valuable to Poland than would Danzig be ■as .Polish territory, since if Poland were forced to occupy'her tha explosions *would: be recurrent/ and tha ill-feeling never, healed.' ■ "As a. Free State, with all tho traditions of tho. past, Danzig, could, and should,, be. the generous entrance gate of _ modern, Poland, combining,. with. Polish friendship the ancient history of German.chivalry. . The Corridor cannot be- euch'fa permanent sore in German eyes if tho Free State continued , as" it would ba were,the whole territory.Polish. From a trade point of view, as well as politically, Poland needs the free harbour of Danzig as well as, her own new; creation of Gdynia. ; - .-..■;.-.■ The Free State herself should be made* or perhaps remade is the word, tha genuine Free State that was originally] intended. ■To her would then come the itrada and the banks of Poland, the products of Silesia, the'exported glass and boots and shoes of Czechoslovakia, the timber, of Central Europe; and; the normal East Prussian trade. '' -'■ ' ;. ■'.'' ' The financial houses o)F/Warsaw .jvroulel be as much at home then as in^their capital, and the aristrocacy and mer< chants of the interior would flock thera in the. .summer for'holidays at Zoppot and bathing on the Baltic- beaches. There is, indeed, no reason why Zoppot should not become the Monte Carlo of the north; she has the climate and and situation for six month's in the year, and she is already complete ; with ~ a properly run casino, good shops, ■ villas, and: everything else. , \ ' : GERMANY AND THE CORRIDOR. The common ' sense of Germans and Poles may yet lead to some' solution of this sort, but no solution "can^ be obtained while wholehearted, revision i> demanded. ~-.■■■■■: The Poles wish for a.solution; the best Germans in Danzig hope for one. Why should not the May elections point the way to a real settlement?, The Polish creation of Gdynia is one of the greatest achievements of the post-war world. The Poles have-every, right to retain it, and-the value.that the approach to it may give >theni. It should be perfectly possible, m niyj opinion, to internationalise the i railway, from Konitz ■to Dirshau (Tczew), thereby giving German nationals a sort of transport corridor of their own from the Beich to East Prussia. > It would not. be possible,; nor as it necessary/to hand back to Germany the land between that rail way. and. the sea. In no country will the events of the next few months be watched more closelr than' in England.- •;■ Sobieski'a friends, anT the heirs of the "Englisk Factory'? in. Danzig... of 1391,.have aa equal interest in a^ peaceful solution. ■ The statesman or nation which oppose! such a solution can hope for no sympathy in English minds; they will receive every assistance m the practical working put, of an agreed policy.