The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1936. THE FEARS OF FRANCE

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 255, 28 October 1936, Page 6

The Wanganui Chronicle. WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 28, 1936. THE FEARS OF FRANCE

|7HA.\CE is a fear-ridden country. In this she is not an exception, but she suffers more acutely than do other European countries. This fear-ridden psychology leads to singular results. She seeks to buy safety. When Russia was considered to be the European menace, she strengthened the smaller States which border Russian territory, thus providing Europe with a curtain of protection. There was, nevertheless, a vacuum within Europe, and that vacuum was Germany. Nature abhors a vacuum. It has been charged against France that she played “gold politics’’ with both England and Germany, and there is much to support the charge. This charge of playing “gold polities’’ amounts to this: that when cither Germany or England were at variance with the views entertained by the French Foreign Office there was a conspicuous withdrawal of funds from either London or Berlin, as the case may be, and a consequent weakening of the currencies of the countries concerned at a time when such weakening was inconvenient, to say the least. The countries of the Little Entente, which comprise Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Yugoslavia, were supported by French loans, which were used to a considerable extent for the purposes of rearmament. Poland was similarly treated. The allegiance of States to a country which supports them with loans, however, is not to be reckoned on, for such countries are in the position of u.crcenary soldiers. Both are likely to desert one side and go to the side which can offer the largest recompense. The countries of the Little Entente are, therefore, to be expected to count the cost of their allegiance to France. Poland has already entertained doubts to a sufficient extent as to enter into a nonaggression pact with Germany. This disturbed France very deeply and resulted in the conclusion of the Franco-Soviet Pact. The countries of Jugoslavia, Bulgaria, Greece and Rumania have all received financial assistance from France at various times. In fact, France has aspired to oust the Italians from their position of the Jews of the Balkans. But the time has now arrived when the Balkan countries and the countries of the Little Entente must have European markets. Germany is a market for the grain of Bulgaria and Rumania, and more particularly for the oil of the latter country, while France is unwilling to open her domestic market to the produce of these countries. With the drying up of French loan monies and the absence of a market for exports to Fiance, the countries of Eastern and South Eastern Europe have a waning interest in the French connection. Further, there is another factor to be considered. King Carol, of Rumania, is not a Liberal monarch. He is not even a constitutional monarch, and in his personal conduct he seems to be capable of any irregularity. An absolutist regime, therefore, is more to his liking, and if he can succeed in establishing such a situation he would, in his present state of mind, be a happier man. Possibly he would be nearer to his own demise, but that is his own affair. For the moment, however, this domestic factor in Rumania is favourable, not to the Frencn, but to the German connection. Whether the countries of Eastern and South-eastern Europe arc sincere in their inclinations towards Germany, or to put it in the current phrase, towards neutrality, may indeed be doubted. To east their lot in with Germany would be to divorce themselves from the Russian regime and the Slav of Russia is the big brother of the Slav of the Balkans. There is a spiritual and racial affinity between the two. Whereas German elements have consistently maintained a domineering attitude towards other elements with which they have been associated, the Slav peoples of Eastern and South-eastern Europe have in the past found on occasion real help from Tsarist Russia. This racial affinity can be expected to play an increasing part in a period when Teutonic raciality is being emphasised with such belligerency.

Further, the population of those countries which have found a market in Germany for exports, have also found that this does not dissolve their problems, but creates others. In the first instance it is easy to sell to Germany, but very difficult to get paid. Germany blocks the credits which are due to her foreign suppliers. This means that the credits which are the result of the sale of produce within Germany have to be used in the purchase of goods made in Germany. The low rate of exchange, and the discount at which the blocked marks are saleable to the Reichsbank, increase the price of the goods purchased from Germany to about 40 per cent, above the level of prices at which similar goods could be purchased from France and the United Kingdom. It is essential to Germany that the southeastern European market be held, because her exports to Western Europe are suffering a serious decline. France fears that this dominance, arising out of necessity on the part of the various countries of Europe, will break up the system of alliances which the French have built up by the aid of their gold. These fears are well known to the international debtors of France, and they may now be engaged in exploiting the position enjoyed by a debtor in such circumstances.

On the other hand, unless the countries concerned eannot find a market for their exports, they will be faced with a position which is difficult indeed and will lead those countries to intensify their own industrialisation, in which case even the disadvantages which are entailed in trading with Germany will not prove to be an insurmountable barrier to such commercial intercourse, for Germany is essentially a country capable of exporting the tools of industrialism.