| Show I I N M 5 SI I I Pi D. D DE F E 5 ST T I U I F F The News Behind the the- News By PAUL MALLON WASHINGTON A A fancy game of diplomatic window dressing is being arranged diplomats diplomats diplomats dip dip- for tho the benefit of the man manin manin manin in the thc street Best dressed scene so far is that disclosing Britannia asking Hitler whether he ho is going to live up to future treaties he signs No one h his hs s laughed at It yet and Hitler did not indicate that he considered tho the question insulting The Tho reason is everyone knows the answer and tho the diplomats privately know the purpose Hitler's Hitler's Hitler's Hit Hit- lers ler's response will be the same as that of anyone who is ia asked You are an honest man arent aren't you The stock diplomatic answer to touch such uch an inquiry would be that Hitler will respect his treaties just as long as other signatories respect the letter and spirit of ot them He could even oven promise non-aggression non in the east cast under that condition Then when he is ready to attack in the east h he can contend that others others' have havo violated the spirit of the tr treaty aty and his hisgun guns gun will go forward This is accepted diplomatic practice No diplomat here hero has any any doubt that it will be followed to the letter in the existing situa situa- tion Note The Note The main inside purpose of oC the British questionnaire was to stall for time while the French government is being reorganized as result of the elections The Record If Ie If such assured expectations seem to be farfetched consider not only Hitler's waste basket full of torn treaties but that of Mussolini Hitler asserts that the treaties treaties treaties-he he tore up were wera dishonorable dishonorable dishonor dishonor- able sha shackles kles imposed on his de de- de- de people but Mussolini could not use that excuse He was on the winning side In 1933 the Argentine antiwar pact was signed pledging of territory acquired acquired acquired ac ac- ac- ac by force as a definite com corn Italy adhered to the treaty in March 1934 and started sweeping up Ethiopia by force 18 months later laler Italy also signed the the Kellogg pact renouncing war and pledging tho the settlement of all aU Intern International differences by pacific means She adhered to tho the covenant of the League of Nations pledging non- non aggression until a league committee committee com corn of ot neutrals was given opportunity opportunity opportunity op op- op- op to arbitrate She signed the tho poison polson gas treaty forever re renouncing renouncing re- re flouncing that barbaric weapon of warfare and md yet turned mustard gas on the Ethiopians to defeat them and officially admitted it Incidentally she used the tho stock excuse Ethiopian atrocities as the reason for the gas The situation is adequately presented presented pre pre- seated by tho the fact that fact that while tho the U. U S. S and every other nation has signed the poison gas treat treaty all aU allare are experimenting in the use s oC of gases and Jn ta n. n them Waiting British officialdom is far more moro excited about bout Mussolini than Its public composure wo would ld indicate What they really think is that the Italian dictator has made a ghastly mess of world affairs he must bo be going Jing out of his mind success has caused his imagination tion to run wild Such lan language is commonplace in American politics but when employed even privately by a British official it reflects top British temperature v Yet the British take talce the customary customary customary cus cus- tomary long range view of the final outcome As they see sec i it it autocratic regimes like Hitler's and Mussolini's are able to move much more quickly than The autocrats can control the more efficiently but generally succumb to rising masses much sooner than Eventually tho the growing boldness of autocracies becomes their undoing They expand quickly until they burst burstAll burstAll All of which suggests that tho the British are arc content to wait on the Italian and German mass masses s rather than employ British battleships Distraction The British naval demonstration at Malta is supposed to be just a minor side window show arranged arranged arranged ar ar- ar- ar ranged to coincide with the League of Nations meeting on Ethiopia Confidential State Secretary Hull promised to furnish the house committee with some additional confidential Information showing wh why he did not send Bend a battleship to Ethiopia His confidential Information con concerns erns the fact that Britain and r d Ital Italy were on the verge of at war and therefore he considered it highly dangerous to send even a canoe into the Mediterranean Of course coure no one knew w sv about that except people who could read reador or hear The newspapers headlined headlined headlined head head- lined for far days that very information tion which now has become con con- Tho explanation is that diplomats diplomats diplomats diplo diplo- mats often dare not confess officially officially what is already generally known Copyright 1936 for The Telegram |
