SMOULDERING VOLCANO

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIII, Issue 19129, 25 September 1936, Page 8

SMOULDERING VOLCANO

CONDITIONS IN EUROPE U.S. JOURNALIST’S VIEWS FORECAST OF TERROR VANCOUVER, Sept. 12. Mr. William Hearst, the American newspaper magnate, is in Europe and •Mr. Arthur Brisbane, his highest paid editorial writer, has just returned from Paris, certain that Europe is a smouldering volcano, waiting for an eruption that will shako the foundations of civilian! ion. In an article published by the Cosmopolitan magazine, Mr. Brisbane says that a survey -.finds Europe faeo to face with the most serious crisis in its history, a catastrophe which only a miracle can avert.

The Magazine of Wall Street, which is a well-known linancial publication, not in the 11 curst- “string,” also contains a leading article forecasting the same terror.

Mr. Arthur Brisbane 'says: “In mizcliglits, unimportant preliminaries precede the main event, in which a black man knocks out a while one, or a German knocks out his coloured brother.

“Europe is waiting for the main event—the next world war. It has been watching the preliminaries—the knockout of Haile Selassie, by .Mussolini in a lew rounds, and the savage and, bloody civil war in Spain, that, rages as this is written. ‘‘The newspapers will have told you of the hideous conflict based' on political and religious hatreds, ex-King Alfonso and the monarchy playing no part. SPAIN’S TURMOIL “The so-called rebellion is a protest against the establishment of a Red government, along Russian lines, centred at Madrid,oiuicl is a. protest also against the. overthrow of religions respect and authority, and especially against tho criminal destruction of Spain's most beautiful historical monuments. “Hatred of the religious and of an ancient Church had already caused trio burning of hundreds of the most beautiful churches in -Spain. Hundreds moi-o have been burned by the partisans of the existing radical Government since (lie civil war started. “General Franco, leader of ihe Fascist uprising against the existing Government of Spain, is a fighting loader, ready to bo killed, hut his face lacks the power of .Mussolini’s nr Stalin’s. “There is probably at the hack oi him, planning mid thinking while he tights and makes speeches, some deeper mind.

■“Statesmen and newspapers in European countries, regardless of their sympathies' with either side, urge their Governments to stand aloof, not taking sides, and avoiding the possibility ol making a new enemy if the other side should win.

“The present radical’ French Government’s sympathies are with Spain’s government’ of extreme radicalism. But France wants no active enemy beyond the Pyrenees, and fronting the Mediterranean. "The uUra-Radical French newspaper, L’lliiinanite. declares that Mussolini and ! tiller have furnished 22. lighting planes lo the Spanish insurgents. “Both dictators doubtless pray tor the victory of the rebels and their dicta, lor leader. Franco—-if they ever pray. But they, too, want no enemy. JAPAN BITES “So it goes in Europe, wailing for ilie main event; and so it goes in faroff China that like some huge, afflicted dragon biting at its own coils, endures a permanent condition of civil war, complicated by famine and Hood. __ - "there the’ South fights the North, while quiet, thoughtful little Japan oites out choice pieces here and there. "Religion is interested in the GennanAustrian arrangement. Ihe present German is generally considered unfriendly to religious freedom of action. Austria, for centuries has been a devoutly religious country. "Possessing since, the Versailles Treaty folly, less than one-tenth of the population of Germany, it- might he expected Lo yield to German influence on religions and race matters.

"The new situation in- European politics shows the united air fleets of Russia

aind- France theoretically to those of Germany and Italy, with England isolated.

“That, however, lias been England’s position largely, for hundreds of years, and she hast always managed to make the necessary arrangements for assembling and financing allies. “The aeroplane presents a difficult

complication, with the heart of the British Empire, the Royal Palaces, the West End shipping district j hotels. Houses of Parliament, the Bank of England, and the .Stock Exchange crowded into a few acres, and six million Londoners packed together, waiting to be bombed and gassed.

“If England could call back Lloyd George and hire a magician to take 20 years off his age, lie would show her ’how to act instead of waiting for some other nation to start. “In the next war the nation that drops the ‘first bombs, explosive and gas, on a capital city will probably win—at least temporarily. In the long run, fortunately, the highest intelligence will lie found, not in any single dictator personality, but in the intelligent will-power of the nation attacked.”