DISTANT WAR SIGNS

Waikato Times, Volume 108, Issue 18159, 25 October 1930, Page 14 (Supplement)

DISTANT WAR SIGNS

SEEN BY AMERICAN. “BIG EXPLOSION” PREDICTED.

The Leviathan of the United States Lines, on arrival at New York recently, brought .Mr- Fred N. sackett, Ambassador to Germany, and Mr Hugh S. Gibson, Ambassador to - Belgium. When Mr Sackett was asked about the rumours of warfrom - Europe he smiled and replied that it required considerable money to start a war these days., Another passenger was Representative Fred A. Britten, of Illinois, bignavy advocate and chairman of the Committee on Naval Affairs. He said that Europe is increasing her armaments / against “the big explosion that is bound to, come, instead of preparing to disarm.

Predicts Increase In Armament. Mr Britten said he had toured Central Europe for two months and embodied his observations in the following statement he prepared for the Press; — “It would be an exaggeration to say that war clouds are hanging over Europe, but to predict that armaments and war preparations will be increased rather than diminished in the near future is but a logical conclusion when one understands the distrust the various nations over there have for each other. “I would seriously say 'that all Europe is much , more precariously poised to-day than it was in 1912, two years before the war that shocked both hemispheres. “It certainly is much more heavily armed, and much more ysensitive. The French Army manoeuvres on the Italian /border and their fleet demonstrations at Toulon directly overlooking Italy, recently, were nothing more nor less than deliberate answers to the constant rattling of Mussolini’s sword. The spectacular French manoeuvres on the German-Lorraine border might have been good military practice, but coupled with the statement of the French War Minister at Meaux the other day, that he was sorry the Rhine had been evacuated, it looks to me like mixing dynamite with fireworks. Most of Europe Involved. “When the big explosion occurs,

and It is but a matter of time, there will be an immediate realignment which will again involve most o Europe. Germany and Russia will play predominant parts. The elections in Germany presage a reconsideration of the Versailles. Treaty; boundaries will be redrawn; President Wilson’s fourteen points which brought about-the armistice will be recalled and the- right of self-deter-mihation will be more accurately applied; the world will then be con-vinced-that the last war has been fought in vain.. The United States will never again actively participate in a European war, except in defence of its own honour.

“Prospective war preparations are costing Europe £1,200,000 a day, to say nothing of the countless billions still unpaid for past wars. The Polish corridor, which cuts Germany into two parts, i 3 a thorn in the side of every German; Russia is awaiting an opportunity to take back her seaports in Esthonia, Latvia and Lithuania, and to force the return of Bessarabia, now a part of Rumania. Three million Germany in Czecho-Slovakla are ready to fight for self-determina-tion. Yugoslavia and Italy have been at swords-point for three years. Austria will starve to death if she Is not permitted to annex with Germany. England is secretly killing the Briand scheme for a United States of Europe. It Wants to Fight. The League of Nations Commission for Disarmament has been sitting for five years or more without accomplishing .a single thing. Europe does not want to disarm; it wants to fight. These are but a few of the reasons why another war in Europe is almost inevitable, and it behoves the United States to be prepared to enforce peace, in so far as we are concerned, when the illfated hour arrives. An American navy capable Qf v protecting American commerce in all parts of 'the world is the answer. Failure to provide this simple form of national insurance would not be in keeping with our much-advertised sound business judgment.. . .