Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1933. FRANCE AND GERMANY.

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 53, Issue 272, 29 August 1933, Page 4

Ashburton Guardian Magna est Veritas et Prævalebit TUESDAY, AUGUST 29, 1933. FRANCE AND GERMANY.

It is only natural that Herr Hitler’s campaign against Austria should be regarded by the French Press as requiring most drastic remedy. Undoubtedly the position demands firm action on the part of the Powers, but the traditional suspicion between Gaul and Teuton tends to magnify fears that the policy of the German Chancellor may create. That the relations between the two countries rest on a basis of muc,h less stability and security than is desirable in the interests of the peace of the world cannot be denied. The recent utterances by Hitler in regard tb the Saar, and the watchful attitude of France afford proof, if proof were needed. A cable message reports that nobody in France doubts that Germany is re-arming. Several dependable French newspapers detail Germany’s manufacturers of bombing ’planes, heavy artillery and gas. They draw attention to the approaching completion of mechanisation of the Reichwehr and the militarisation of the police and Storm troops. As regards the measure recently passed for maintaining the army at a strength higher than would be the case were the influence of the war period on the birthrate allowed free sway, it must be remembered that the semi-military organisations which are so often clashing provide the nucleus of armies, though they are not comparable with units trained or equipped for modern warfare. A board formed recently “for the physical training- of youth” had as its double object “to lure the youth of Germany away from the party political atmosphere, and at the same time to establish uniformity of training methods.” But there can be no question, according to one competent authority, of Germany attaining the French or even the Polish level of armaments for years to come. The treaty restrictions, however, can never be strictly enforced while other countries, in defiance of the understanding that was implicit in the treaty, continue to add to their armaments. Wisdom is surely on the side of the correspondent of a London newspaper when he concludes:- —“The present arrangement has proved inadequate. The only chance there is, and has been the last fifteen years, of keeping a country of Germany’s size and vigour indefinitely in a state of military impotence is to make the march on Berlin which the former Allies refrained from making, not purely out of consideration for Germany, at the end of 1918. Even then it has to be remembered that Napoleon failed with garrisons of occupation all over the country. It is clearly impossible merely to sit back in Paris and London and tell Germany to go on being a secondclass Power for another fifteen years. The alternative is to foster a spirit of international goodwill that will remove, as far as is humanly possible, the causes that disrupt peaceful relations.