| Show Merry Round Go By DREW PEARSON and ROBERT S. S ALLEN Editors Editor's Note The Note The Round Merry grimly tosses a Brass Ring to the diplomats of Europe who have given the world its roughest and costliest ride in many a decade WASHINGTON WASHINGTON-As As you look back through the vista of Europe's precarious peace the road is littered with broken pacts and the debris of diplomatic double crossing Iii Poland would not be be- bein in t desperate desperate desper desper- ate plight if she had not engaged in the game of double And the British would not now nov stand humiliated before the world if they had hadnot hadnot hadnot not soiled their fingers in the same game The game gathe began in dead earnest shortly sho after Hitler the master player of them all took over the reins in Germany One of his first moves was to negotiate a non-aggression non pact with Poland Po Po- Po- Po land For 10 years there was to be no war between between between be be- tween them Poland and her once bitter enemy Germany were to be bosom friends This was a c complete reversal for Poland Chief spots sore-spots on her body politic long had been Up Upper er S Silesia lesia the Corri Corridor lr and th the Kree Free City of Danzig torn from Germany ermany at Ver ver- sailles sallies To protect herself Poland early had negotiated negotiated negotiated ne ne- ne- ne an alliance with Fra France e natural enemy of Germany France had tr trained ned the Polish army lent money for munitions steered Polish foreign policy But in 1934 French influence vanished overnight overnight over over- night The alliance with Fran France e never was denounced denounced denounced de de- de- de it was merely put on shelf Hitler Strikes Meanwhile Hitler bided hi hiS time me built up his army aruty waited until he was was strong st strong ong enough to strike That time had almost ome by March 7 7 1935 1936 almost almost but not quite a 4 That was the date on which German troops stepped goose-stepped into the Rhineland an area guaranteed guaranteed guaranteed guar guar- under the Versailles treaty as an unfortified unfortified unfortified buffer for the protection n of France All AU day on March 7 the French cabinet debated debated debated de de- de- de bated Hitler's of the Rhineland To permit the occupation meant the neutralizing of French fort fortifications the neutralizing of the Maginot line But to oppose occupation meant risking war What the French did not know at that time was that German officers had double marching orders the orders the first to advance into th the Rhineland the second to retreat in incase case of French tance Secretly Hitler was vas not tready for a military showdown jI I But what the French did know t was that if there was war with Germany E l land nd the their r time one-time ally was bound b a non non-al non aggression pact not to fight against Germany Hitler who now has proved himself the smartest manipulator manipulator manipulator lator in all Europe was pf proclaiming laiming Poland his staunch and lifelong friend Poland Deserts Czechs Next scene in the u me e of double- double cross shifts to the fall faU of 1933 and ana Munich Hitler Hitler Hit Hit- ler was about about to walk into the Roosevelt was making makin frantic ct efforts to support belated French and aid British efforts for a general t E e conference Mussolini w was u t E e conference Mussolini w was u Europ European an p peace amenable Hitler BlUer was not Suddenly tipping the scales cales against a Iene general funeral ad 1 conference came caine Poland and nd Hungary both a af avid for small pieces of Cz Czechoslovakia ch And so f for or one one small smaIl scrap ng from the timer Hitler conquest table table Poland Poland contributed to the downfall downfall down down- fall of Czechoslovakia and own pres present en predicament v Polands Poland's End Next scene Is the present Sill too vivid to need eed portrayal here Hitler has torn his 10 year non aggression pact to shreds Adding in insult insult in- in sult stilt to injury he barked his termination of the pact over the radio not even bothering to notify the Polish government By now also German Gennan troops have been flung down into the long arm which once was Czechoslovakia ready to close in on Poland from the south If Poland had not double crossed her Czech neighbors if she had not deserted France she would not be where she is today Editors Editor's Note Note Another Another Go Round column on how th the British and even our own o state itte de department have played the game pOle of double-cross double will follow loUo Distributed 1939 United Feature Syndicate |
