GENEVA TRAGEDY

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 107, 2 November 1933, Page 11

GENEVA TRAGEDY

UNRECONCILED NATIONS

WILL NOT COMPROMISE

LEAGUE'S HANDICAP

"The League of Nations •touches ; aothing it does not adjourn." The remark was made in bitter tones by a well-known international journalist in the lobby of the Batiment dcs Commissions just before the last adjournment of the World Disarmament Conference, writes Norman Hillson in the London "Daily Telegraph." . This same Conference 3 after seven years of preparatory committees, had ; reached yet another stage of apparent abortiveness. In fact, its first anniversary was made the subject for derisive laughter in many quarters. After several more long and ineffectual, even tedious, sittings under the patient direction of Mr. Arthur Henderson, as president- of the Conference, and the somewhat less tactful guidance of M. Politis, the vice-president, the delegates departed from Geneva, some in arrogant frame of mind, some in resentful mood/a few in real sorrow, and the remainder in utter indifference; The Disarmament Conference adjourned some months ago. Since that time, much water has flowed beneath tho sweeping arches of the Pont dv •; Mont Blanc. The face and opinions of ; Europe have changed with an alarming rapidity. The astonishing success of Hitler's ' Nazi movement beyond the Bhine has revived the deepest fears of France and even brought the Quai d'Orsay into real speaking terms with Moscow—a circumstance of profound significance, considering the diversity of. political opinion between the Elysee and the Kremlin. ■'"',' ' " ' ■ FRENCH DEFENCES. Becently^ M. Daladier (then Prime Minister of France), rejoiced in the security which must come against Ger- *■ man aggression, from the elaborate field works and fortresses which have, been constructed in the vicinity of Metz and along the chain of the. Vosges mountains. At the same time, the Belgian Government is'being importuned for a grant of £28,000,000 to reconstruct the fortresses of Liege on a new model, and not on the design which proved so j worthless against the invading Germans hi the early days, of August, 1914. The World Disarmament Conference ..'. must face the fact that .the international position is changed. The revival of pre-war Prussian ; nationaEsm is causing the liveliest alarm in Poland. The declaration of a prominent Nazi leader that in 1937 Danzig and the Corridor will be united to the Fatherland by force of arms was not calculated to ease a' situation/''al> ready tense to the point of breaking. Then again there, is the '. precarious position of Austria fighting against the Anschluss and Nazi propaganda, and trembling lest Mussolini should change his mind and depart from his present policy of inexplicable neutrality., ' Add to all this the failure of the World Monetary and Economic Confer-, ence to .arrive at any valid, concrete , 'decision; and you have a fair idea of out present-day Europe drifting towards an. unknown dark destiny—a, destiny which, unless the spirit of the' nations • changes, seems certain to involve economic chaos; ',; Geneva and the League of Nations have been much. criticised for the present state of Europe. A great deal of • that criticism has been unfair. On the. other hand, much'of it has been-.en-' i ? i tirely! 'justified.'; Geneva, is the embodiment of the Conference idea, the public meeting with everyone talking at cross purposes. . FOUR-POWER PACT. It; was to rf-ach some kind of decision among the Powers that Mussolini first drafted his Four-Power Pact. When its terms became known there, was a • loud, putery among many Powers, mainly because it was a departure from, the conference' idea.: Th£ very1 constitution of the' League makes it difficult to see.how these in(terminable conferences are to be avoided, but it would go far to reestablish confidence in this institution of the nations if occasionally there was aome greater definition in its deliberations. ' ■''•■'■■. If there is the least difficulty the Conference'dissolves either into a number of investigating committees, or else adjourns the matter sine die. This procedure has become practically customary. It is almost impossible to keep track of all the various committees and Commissions which have been ' appointed to .investigate every kind of problem, from traffic in women and children to the question of non-recognition ofVthe so-called State of Manoliukuo."" The tragedy of G'encva and Geneva methods is the fact that nations are urtwilling to compromise. They start' off ; with wonderful grandiloquent speeches, but when it becomes a-matter,of concessions, that is quite another story. It ;: is then that' we reach the committee or adjourning stage, and the' world public, buoyed up by a promising start in a. dis- ■'. cussion, is once more disappointed of its.hopes. ■■"■.-■'' : ■. ■ ■■~... The League of Nation's1 has rightly lost in popularity and world esteem because its achievements in settling disputes between the Powers are so fewr. The question remains whether the new : meetings of the Council, the Assembly, and the World Disarmament Conference will do anything tore-establish its prestige. 810 ISSUES. These three bodies are faced with mighty issues. No one knows to what limits the discussions may extend. What ~, of the Anschluss? What of. Nazi propaganda in Austria 1 What of the many frontier incidents in Czechoslovakia; Switzerland, and Belgium! What of treaty revision as envisaged in the Four-Power Pact and permitted by the Peace Treaty? What of the future monetary standards of Europe! ■ And finally, what of' disarmament? Will the French recognise that their line of fortresses gives the Third Bepublic adequate security? Will. Germany be able to convince the Belgians and Poles that the Storm Troopers are not soldiers, but only harmless unofficial gendarmerie? Perhaps in desperation tlic ■will get together to do something to' ' ward off impending disaster. Pacts of non-aggression have partially removed the Bed Bussian terror, which has long ' been an obsession in many parts of Europe. America is withholding her naval and army plans until she sees what happens in Geneva, although Japan announces that she will build her Navy to the Treaty limits at once. But whatever happens in the future history of the world, the first act of the drama will be played on the Geneva stage. Never was there a greater op- • portunity for the League to show its powers for peace. Never was there such an opportunity for nations to live up to thir professed ideals. Never was .there such an opportunity for deeds instead of words, decisions instead of adjournments.