IN THE SHADOW.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 299, 18 December 1935, Page 20

IN THE SHADOW.

AIR-RAID TERRORS. EUROPE'S WAR FEARS. MUNITION WORK GOES ON. . (By WALTER DURANTY.) "Look at that," said the i Polish official, waving his arm across Warsaw. "Look and you will understand why we made the pact with Germany and why we have to spend upon' our army so much of the '•> money that is urgently needed for national reconstruction." I looked and saw nothing. The gay Polish capital, which five minutes before had been ablaze with lights and humming with post-tlieacre traffic, had suddenly vanished into utter darkness, and there- was no sound save the dramming throb, ofmoto'rs' in the sky, no light save the firefly twinkle of the aeroplanes overhead. .. That .Slight Warsaw was staging one df the "test air raids" which have become -Kf 'common!,feature of European life in this seventeenth year after the "war to end/all wars." No taxis move, no autos, no street cars. The subway, too, is dead because that may be one of the principal refuges against bombs from the air. The streets are dark and silent and the crowds that throng them move slowly and in fear. They know that-it is not real —not this time —but their hearts are held by terror of the future and by memories of the past. Greater and faster aeroplanes, bigger and better bombs, newer and deadlier gases—the people think of that

iis they slink along the darkened streets;

" Across all Europe to-day this shadow of coming war, looms black and threat ening.

Visualise a different picture, which you can see at any time in Warsaw, Brussels, Berlin, Paris, or Antwerp— crowds outside a newspaper office or movie theatre or travel bureau —anywhere that they display a big map of Abyssinia or give news from the ItaloEthiopian front. Mingle with the people and. listen to what they say. They do not- care about Abyssinia, they have an equal,distrust for the Italian bulletins of victory. ■

What these people? are saying and what they are thinkiflg is, "How does this affect us?" and' "Will this war spread back, to our country?"

• Antwerp is-a cosmopolitan city in the truest sense. It lives by trade and the free passage of merchandise, but it has not forgotten the dirk nights twenty "years ago when Zeppelins sailed roaring through its skies and dropped their bombs which were re-echoed by the thunder of the German siege guns. In Belgium ono gets, a clear cross-section of the common mind erf Europe, a view of the feelings of the average man—or woman—uninfliimed by. race hatred or wild ambition, asking nothing save to g-o about their business and live in peace.

Ife is interesting ot note the Belgian reaction to the League of Nations' progress of sanctions against Italy. "But we have to live," ran the headline of the leading Antwerp newspaper, and its editorial explained that Belgo-Italian trade was no unimportant item in the nation's commerce. If that trade were cancelled Belgium would lose heavily at a time of general unemployment, when all too many mills and factories were idle. From this angle, the editorial stated, sanctions were deplorable—just one more jbarricr to trade-in addition to the' Barriers already-erected by "contingents" and "quotas" and "valuta restrictions."?

Nevertheless, Belgium must support tlie League as the sole hope of peace. As .I read 'this I was reminded of a remark which Stalin made to me, somewhat sardonically, on Christmas Day, 1933. He said: "The Fascist-Nazist war danger is evident, and'will grow greater. To. us Bolsheviks the'League-of Nations is full of imperfections, but in so far as it constitutes an obstacle—lie used a popular Russian word meaning a hump in the road—to war/it is neither to be ignored nor neglected."

£ These words, although I did not know it at the time, had a historic significance; they foreshadowed the entry of the TJ.S;S.R. into the League of Nations. It is not wrong to say that Stalin's statement at the end of 1933 is echoed by Belgium to-day. Belgium has no great confidence in the League, and knows that the sanctions which it has imposed against Italy will do harm to Belgian trade, but the League is a "hump in the road" which may impede the advance of Mars' chariot. Therefore Belgium supports the League.

The same may be said about most of the League members in Europe. They have little faith in the. League, but in their fear of coming war they clutch at the League as a drowning man clutches at a straw. Yet in the meantime, as the Antwerp newspaper said, "We have to live.",. Business is business in these days of depression and Antwerp is one of the principal channels through which the raw materials for war-making reach Germany. It is, too, a point from which small arms, rifles and machine-guns, the product, of the Great Belgian Steyr factory, are 1 : exported. Cargoes of arms leave this country consigned to Shanghai or Constantinople. There is a transhipment en route and the cargo is diverted to Albania or Djibuti.

No less than Warsaw, Antwerp dreads the Shadow, but business is business, and the profits of the armament trade are too great and too quick to be frustrated by any talk about death.-mer-cliants and powder magazines that only await a spark to bring a vast explosion.

That is the fatal and dangerous contradiction in present Europe. On one hand you have the universal fear of war, 011 the other, the concrete fact that in a time of depression the armament god is might, and returns rich dividends

to tlioso -wlio §erve him, and—as the Belgians say—"We have to live."

All over Europe the armament factories are working full blast, three shifts day and night, and giving prosperity to their shareholders and employees and to the towns where they are situated. For what purpose? Obviously, for war. It is one of the most singular factors in the present situation that, with the exception of Germany—and, of course, Italy —every nation in Europe, from Ilussia to Britain, is shouting that its military preparations are directed solely towards the defence of peace. As if one makes matches except to light a fire.

Europe to-day is preparing for the coming war. When the war will break and where and how is on the knees of the gods,' but neither the statesmen of Europe nor the man in the street doubts

for a moment that it is coming l or believes that it can be averted. All they hope is that by increasing their own strength and doubling their own armaments they may escape some of war's worst evils, invasion for instance, and the> destruction of their factories and .homes. Even then the air menace stands above them as an indeterminate horror, with which they cannot cope beforehand. It is a grim and sorry outlook that the peoples of Europe are facing with only one small bright spot, if' one can call it bright, in the gathering thunderclouds. I mean the fact that Germany is not ready, that at least two years must elapse before the German fighting machine is completed. On this timelag hangs the slender hope of peace in Europe. Perhaps, somehow, something can be arranged; perhaps the leaders will really lead, upwards instead of down towards the precipice; perhaps England and France—-perhaps Russia, too—the three countries which do not want war in Europe, can get together and stand firm against catastrophe. Perhaps America will help—perhaps.— (N.A.N. A.).