THE FACE OF EUROPE

Evening Post, Volume CXXVI, Issue 50, 27 August 1938, Page 8

THE FACE OF EUROPE

STIRRING EVENTS

MILITARY AND DIPLOMATIC

BRUSH WITH THE POPE

i (From "The Post's" Representative.) ■ LONDON, August 3. Significant incidents and activities on the Continent have been reported during the past few days. One is "a feverish and almost demonstrative erection of fortifications in Western Germany"; another, the open breach which has evidently occurred between Mussolini and the Pope. A third is the blow dealt to Italian shipping in the Adriatic by the union of Austria and Germany, while the signing of the Balkan Peace Pact by Bulgaria is also an event of importance. The Berlin correspondent of "The Times" says that a belt of German territory, averaging 35 miles wide and running the whole length of the Belgian and French frontier, is being fortified and prohibited to foreigners. Every German national over the age of 15 mustycarry an endorsed photograph or they run the risk of being arrested and held until their identity has been established. The work of fortification has bsen speeded up tremendously since the Czechoslovak crisis of May last disclosed the international dangers to which the Sudeten German question can give rise. CONSCRIPTION OF LABOUR. "The. labour difficulty would have been insurmountable for a democratic Government in Germany's position," it is stated. "Here it was solved in a moment through a decree of FieldMarshal Goering establishing labour conscription. It has not been disclosed how many men have been taken away from other jobs to work on the fortifications, but rumour in Berlin puts it as high as 200,000, and from various parts of the country come reports of building work being held up because of the contractors having been deprived of employees. "Official statements have assured workers that the period for which any man was likely to be conscripted would j probably not be more than three months; whether that can be taken as a guide to the time required to complete the fortification programme is a matter of speculation in well-informed circles." Parallel with the fortification of the Western frontier goes an increased tempo in the munitions factories. Two 10-hour shifts are. it is stated, not uncommon. This, of course, may be due to the combination of labour shortage and the necessity of re-equipping the Austrian Army as quickly as possible rather than to fears as to possible international developments in the near future. Press and speakers in Gei"many, however, miss no opportunity of impressing on the public that powerful forces in the democracies desire a preventive war against the Reich. This propaganda and the feverish re-armament activity continue to give the German public the impression that their Government's hopes of a peaceful solution of the Sudeten Ger-! man question cannot be rated very high. It is also reported from Berlin that the Reich Government has for the second time within two years increased the corporation tax on the profits of public companies. The higher rate will be levied for three years, and only on companies with a yearly income over 100,000 marks. The reason given for increasing the tax is the State's need of money. The tax was raised from 20 to 30 per cent, in December, 1936. It is now increased to 35 per cent, for 1938 and to 40 per cent, for 1939 and 1940. A limited class of companies at present paying 15 per cent, will pay 17.5 per cent, in 1938 and 20 per cent, in 1939 and 1940. THE QUESTION OF RACE. A prompt retort to the Pope's assertion that Italy had copied her race theories —she has now become antijew—from Germany was made by Mussolini. "Everyone must know," he said in a public address, "that in the question of race we shall go straight ahead. To say that Fascism has imitated someone or something is simply absurd." The Pope, in an address to Catholic students, 'strongly attacked the antiJewish and racial movement of Fascism in Italy, and warmly defended the Catholic Action Movement, which he described as "the apple of his eye, and in the middle and in the depth of his heart." He challenged the claim that it was possible to strike at the Catholic Action without striking at the Church. "He who strikes at Catholic action strikes at the Church," said the Pontiff. "He who strikes at Catholic action strikes at the Pope. This is very true. ... Be on your guard. I advise you not to strike at Catholic action. I advise you, and I beg you for your good, because he who strikes at the Pope dies. That is a truth, and history demonstrates this truth." "II Giornalissimo," a weekly paper published in Rome, attacked the "Osservatore Romano," the Papal organ, for declaring that the antiSemitic pamphlet known as the "Protocols of the Wise Fathers of Zion" was a fabrication. It inferred to its readers that Pope Pius XI is not in entire possession of his senses because of the things he has said against racialism and exaggerated nationalism. BLOW TO ITALIAN SHIPPING. Reuters correspondent in Rome reports that the union of Austria and Germany has dealt a blow to Italian shipping in the Adriatic. As a quid pro quo for the continuance of a part of Austria's foreign tr^de through the Italian port of Trieste, a German shipping line, the Schmidt Orient Linie, has started a regular service from Trieste to the Near East, it is stated. The virtual Italian monopoly of Adriatic shipping is thus broken, and the competition of the new line is already being felt by Italian ship owners. The Adriatica Line used to carry big consignments of sawn lum- j ber from Yugoslavia to Palestine for the manufacture of boxes for fruit. The lumber was loaded into the Italian ships at the Italian port of Fiume. The Schuldt Orient Linie, however, has quoted a lower freight rate for loadings at the Yugoslav port of Sussak. In order to retain the trade the Italian line has also had to agree to load at Sussak. This represents a double blow to Italy, first because it is a further loss of trade for the languishing port of Fiume, and secondly because the Adriatica Line will have to pay much heavier harbour dues at Sussak than at Fiume. The main features of the treaty of friendship signed between Bulgaria and the Balkan Entente Powers, Turkey, Greece, Yugoslavia, and Rumania are: Bulgaria adheres to the non-aggression and arbitration understanding already in force between members of the Entente. The other signatory Powers agree to the renunciation of clauses in the Treaty of Neuilly, signed after the war, which limited Bulgaria's armaments and abolished conscription in the country, and also to the renunciation of the conditions of the Lausanne Convention of 1923 dealing with the frontiers of Thracp.