FREE CITY OF DANZIG.

(By Leonard Spray.) It is for the moment an amazing place, this "free City of Danzig."' By future historian* it will doubtless be coiinttd the first-born of the League :>i Nation?, and they will record its growth to maulicod a- marking an era in the di vSlopuient of that new wo'rld planned at Paris. But just now —well. )tr; progenitors are too much occupied in crii;firmiiig their own existence lo pay much attention to this infant cf their*. .S« it is that Danzig is like a waif.' ttranded hero on the shores of the Haltic, to whom someone will have to stand for the time in "loco parentis:.'" and that someone must be England. It is. a ;"art that has to be faced, that on England fails the main burden of responsibility for the upbringing of this offspring of the Peace Treaty. Danziir itself tells you so. "Wo have confidence that. Sir Reginald Tower.*' whose .arrival in the capacity of High Commissioner is expected in a few da vs. "will art as father to the free City cf Danzig." Those words were said to me by Oberburgermeistor Herr Salmi, whose pn«sent office is equivalent to that- of lord i mayor of an Engli-h city, and whom one day. perhaps, popular choice will make the first President of the Republic j cf Danzig, if. as is quite likely, the city is so destined to become. The words are echoed by nearly everyone you meet, be he German or Pole. Tt is England, they tell you. which will decide their future relations with neighboring Poland: England which will fix the currency; England which will see that the infant State gets proper nourishment. But even before these things are done there are some vastlv important preliminaries, such as the fixing of the exact frontiers, establishment of a convention between the Polish Government, and the free citv. not to speak of the drafting, for .subsequent submission to the League of Nations-, of a Constitution. These bisks. too. are mainly in the hands of England's representative, as head Commissioner, in cc-oncration with representatives of Poland, of the free city itself. and of Prussia. It is only a few days since the Prussian garrison itself inarched out of Danzig with banners flying and drums beating: with the singing of "Deutschland uebcr Alles." and with the townspeople—that is to say some of them—waving handkerchiefs and shouting "Auf Wicelersch.cn.'' Now most of the martial figures in the streets are those of British blue-jackets from a couple of destroyers lying in the bight, officers and soldiers of the advance guard of the coming British and French occupation forces, and a few glittering warriors of the Polish Legion. With them all—and this is one of the amazing .symptoms of an amazing city —the citizens, who a week ago were cheering the departing Prussian soldiery, appear to be on the best of term::, however as may be the fact, as Herr >Stahm assures me, th/it the population of Danzig is over 90 per cent. German. And certainly not all traders who have scrawled "English ■Spoken Here" on their shop windows can be Poles, not to speak of the vociferous vendors of "'English cigarettes" at every street oorncr. _ Things being what they are, it is not surprising after this swift transformation to find the people of Danzig in a state of considerable excitement, mingled with some uneasiness. They are questioning and wondering; speculating,- and a little apprehensive. \With the folk in the considerable hinterland lying within the prospective boundaries of the "free city," they number a quarter of a million, and the _ future welfare of this great community depends on the policy now, awaiting decision.

OF all outstanding questions, perhaps the most bewildering is that of what currency the "free city" is going to be. At present it is a sort of jigsaw puzzle that seems to baffle solution. Said Herr Sahtn to me on this subject: "It is a most difficult question. Choice has to be made of one of three alternatives. We must choose between a German. Polish, or an _ Entente currency, or one of our own invention. At present- we have the German, but the Poles naturally wish the Polish. You know how little the German mark is worth in'international currency, and the Polish equivalent stands to-day at little more than one half of that. You can imagine, therefore, what awkward circumstances we are in. One question we are asking is, what will England dp to strengthen the future economic position of the 'free city?' " Herr Sahtn went on to_ point out the important bearing of this question on the actual physical existence of Danzig."AYe cannot possibly," he said, "produce enough within our own border* to feed ourselves. . You will realise how precarious is 6nr situation when I tell rou that at, this moment'our supply of rve for bread, which onr people eat, is

only sufficient for 10 days. "We are negotiating with the Polish Governliient. and we hope they will supply us frith ihe foodstuffs we'necd, but it is as yet very uncertain." Jt was at this point that Herr Suhm made the remark 1 already quoted as to Sir Reginald Tower, as High Commissioner, acting in parental capacity. "What it all comes to is this: Danzig has had the Prussian fetters struck off its limh.s. It is a little anxiojis jest free-; iloni to think and speak as.il' likes may mean freedom also to starve. It realises that new chains must be forged—chains which won't bind it like the old to militarism, but which will link it up economically with the rest of the world. And it is looking to England to see that those chains are cast in the right mould.