OCR Text |
Show A MILITARIST ECHO Four of the littlo states of Europe Switzerland, Belgium, Luxemburg and Norway are neutralized by International In-ternational agreement. Because of her geographical Isolation tnis is a safeguard ot comparatively littlo importance im-portance to Norway, but ii Is ot great moment to tho other states. Especial ly in the case ot Belgium Is nautral-lzatlon nautral-lzatlon important, tor Belgium has always al-ways been the battleground of tho nations na-tions when Europe has blazed into war. The ncutrillzatlon agreement Is a solemn pact, solemn pacts are not so solemn when war breaks out. Belgium seems to appraise tho safeguard at somewhat below face value. She has enacted a law to make military training train-ing universally compulsory, thus providing pro-viding herself with a possible nr,my ot 340,000 men. Of course If the neutrall zatlon were sure, an army" of 340,000 or ot thirty men would be superfluous except for guarding against domestic disorder. That Belgium has some cause for fear is indicated by the question propounded pro-pounded recently by a Socialist member mem-ber ot German relchstag. He inquired whether or not Germany would respect re-spect Belgium neutrality in case ot war, and received a perfunctory affirmative reply from the war mln-, mln-, later. That such questions are raised Is proof that Europe generality places little faith In the agreements and guarantees of modern diplomacy. |