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Show I Weekly News Analysis 1 Europe Watches Tiny Ruthenia For Next Step in German March I By Joseph W. La Bine I 0 BERLIN POJ.AND I 0 WARSAW G E RMANY 'Czechia Slovakia carpatho- HITLER'S PATH TO .German" protectorate:1 "Indrpmdcnt" Rate UKRAINE THE UKRAINE tantamount to complete created by HiUer and Biggett storm center. WHEAT FIELDS? absorption by the Reich. Mrongly pro Nari. Hitler fights iu aUorp- Populace anti-Nazi Populace charged old t ion by Hungary, which Prague government would provide common Xfe -.-V ' B ' I with unfair rule. Polish-Hungarian bor- Jr '.'')''' jfc. AkC der and possibly block f tW Germany' drive to the Austria ySssr 4 Jljp.v .' J HUNGARY RUMANIA - . (WNU MA? BY ft. C FISCHER) ' THE DISMEMBERED CORPSE OF CZECHOSLOVAKIA Mr. Chamberlain wasn't interested in the funeral. EDITOR'S NOTE When opinions are expressed in these columns, they are those ot the news analyst, and not necessarily oi the newspaper. Europe Died, at the age of 20, Czechoslovakia; Czechoslo-vakia; born of World war opportunism, succumbed a victim of its own unnatural unnat-ural unity. Adolf Hitler might place that inscription in-scription on the national tombstone of a nation he snuffed out. Partially Partial-ly he would be right. But Czechoslovakia's Czecho-slovakia's "unnatural unity" might have become natural had not the flames of discontent been fanned by Berlin and Vienna. Immediate cause of death was a Slovakian independence in-dependence movement, but good international in-ternational physicians look behind the immediate cause to make their post mortem decision, finding that Czechoslovakia's death agony conforms con-forms with diagnoses made throughout through-out its short life: Birth: On May 30, 1918, Czechoslovakia Czecho-slovakia was born at Pittsburgh, Pa. Attending physician was Thomas Thom-as G. Masaryk, a modern George Washington who pooled the causes of two depressed peoples. Until the war Czechs were dominated by Austria, Aus-tria, and Slovaks by Hungary. What could be more natural than a joint independence declaration? Though Czechs dominated the negotiations, ne-gotiations, shrewd Doctor Masaryk foresaw trouble if Slovaks were mistreated. mis-treated. Said the Pittsburgh pact: "Slovakia shall have its own administration admin-istration . . . parliament . . . courts. The Slovak language shall be official . . ." But not until November, 1938, did German pressure pres-sure force the central Prague government gov-ernment to grant Slovaks an autonomy auton-omy which had been denied because "changing conditions" demanded a solid national front. Another excuse: ex-cuse: May 30, 1918, was a U. S. national holiday, hence the pact was not binding. Illness. Pride may keep the patient pa-tient from admitting his ill health, but sometimes the body builds physical phys-ical resistance to a point where the ailment becomes unimportant. Slovakia's Slo-vakia's autonomy cry has been the Czech nation's headache for 20years, but meanwhile both Slovaks and Czechs found enough mutual delight in their newly won democracy to keep the autonomy movement well under cover. Even this novelty can wear off, however, and by 1938 Czechs, Slovaks, Sudeten Germans, Ruthenians, Hungarians, Poles, Ukrainians and Rumanians each found cause to complain of racial discrimination. This was the era of national unity, when Adolf Hitler was "rescuing" all good Germans from foreign flags, and when Poland, Hungary and Rumania followed the leader. Throughout last summer Berlin fomented dissension among Sudeten Germans in the Czech borderlands. bor-derlands. At Munich a defeated Prague government deserted by London and Paris ceded Sudeten-land. Sudeten-land. A month later Poland and Hungary each took their share, but debilitated Czechoslovakia soon regained re-gained its feet. One successful medicine med-icine was autonomy for both Slovakia Slo-vakia and Ruthenia, which gave the patient rest if not recovery. Another An-other was the Munich pledge by Britain and France: "His majesty's government . . . and the French government have entered into the (Munich pact) on the basis that they stand by the offer of-fer ... of Anglo-French proposals of September 19 relating to an international in-ternational guarantee of the new boundaries of the Czechoslovak state against unprovoked aggression." aggres-sion." Death. (See Map). That Adolf Hitler Hit-ler hopes eventually to control Russia's Rus-sia's rich Ukraine is no secret. Since Munich his overlordship in Czechoslovakia Czecho-slovakia has aimed in that direction. direc-tion. Both Slovakia and Carpatho-Ukraine Carpatho-Ukraine (Ruthenia) held the father of. their autonomy in high .regard, willing that he should build toward the day when German troops could use Czechoslovakia as a corridor to the Ukraine. But one weak state is easier to handle than three young upstart nations, hence Hitler preferred pre-ferred autonomy to independence. He also hoped Hungary would dare not grab Ruthenia to get its common border with Poland, since this might block the Ukraine drive. Alwaye an opportunist, Der Fuehr er made the most of overnight developments. de-velopments. Slovakia revolted against Prague. Carpatho-Ukraine declared its independence and was immediately gobbled up by Hungary and Rumania. Remembering that Bismarck once said "he who controls con-trols Bohemia is master of Europe," Germany forced what was left of Czechoslovakia (Bohemia and Moravia) Mo-ravia) into the Reich. Slovakia was granted "independence." The operation op-eration having been successful, the patient died as expected; Czechoslovakia Czecho-slovakia was no more. In Memoriam. Only a few days earlier London and Paris were boasting that dictator appeasement was ended, that democracy's star was rising and totalitarianism's falling. fall-ing. Prime Minister Chamberlain and Home Secretary Sir Samuel Hoare even proposed a disarmament parley, showing their blissful ignorance igno-rance of the situation. When Prague collapsed, France and Britain blandly bland-ly declared it was no concern of theirs because (1) the Czech guarantee guar-antee had never been ratified and (2) anyway, this was "internal disruption," dis-ruption," not "unprovoked aggression." aggres-sion." The real reason was far more cunning, though it could be interpreted inter-preted only as a continuation of the modern Anglo-French disinclination disincli-nation to face issues squarely. Europe's Eu-rope's democracies realize that Italy would never push her Mediterranean demands against France without German help, and digestion of his new conquests will keep Der Fuehrer Fuehr-er busy for some time.. But most important Germany moved its theater the-ater of activity away from western Europe and toward the borders of hostile Russia. France and Britain forlornly hope Hitler will march blindly into the Ukraine, engaging Russia in a war which might spell death for both Naziism and Communism. Com-munism. But both Hitler and Russia's Joseph Jo-seph Stalin are probably too smart to invite such chaos. Even as Hitler ! "i . , - ; I 1 L K' , j. ft. v DICTATOR STALIN Whither Hitler after Prague? marched into Prague the eighteenth Communist congress was meeting in Moscow. Dictator Stalin sent a prominent Ukrainian delegate to the platform with this unpleasant message: "Whoever dares . . . cut our frontiers will be destroyed like a mad dog. Fascist ringleaders send secret agents to our country . . . But let them know that we will annihilate them like loathsome creatures." Careful observers see one of three solutions, listed in order of likelihood: likeli-hood: (1) Hitler will reconcile differences dif-ferences with Russia via a trade and military pact holding fearful implications impli-cations for world democracies; (2) the entire Russ-German issue will be dropped, blocked by Polish-Hungarian-Rumanian unwillingness to surrender Ruthenia as a German path to the east; (3) a middle-Europe campaign will be started to nationalize all Ukraines, inevitably leading to a Russ-German war. People Discovered, at work in an English Eng-lish motor works, 22-year-old Grand Duke Vladimir, claimant to the Russian Rus-sian throne. Reason: "Russia will need our practical experience." Selected, as U. S. ambassador to Russia, Laurence A. Stcinhart, now ambassador to Peru, succeeding Joseph Jo-seph Davics, who was shifted to Belgium Bel-gium last May. j Congress Said Virginia's Rep. Clifton Wood-rum, Wood-rum, house economy leader who was ousted as head of the relief subcommittee: subcom-mittee: "I have not changed my belief be-lief that the amount appropriated was sufficient to carry WPA through the year. However, I am open to conviction." Answered President Roosevelt, who has repeated his request for $150,000,000 more WPA funds: "The responsibility . . . rests .... with congress." Spending is the woe of most U. S. senators and representatives, yet the early March economy bloc which threatened to wreck administration administra-tion financial plans has already reached an amazingly effective stalemate. Reasons: (1) by placing plac-ing responsibility for an economy-inspired economy-inspired business slump on congress' shoulders, President Roosevelt washes his hands of the consequences, conse-quences, thereby causing constituent-wary legislators to backwater; (2) both the President and congress realize that while the legislative branch will fight new spending proposals, pro-posals, the White House can similarly simi-larly exercise veto power over anti-New anti-New Deal legislation. Facts of the impasse: Debt. Mr. Roosevelt is willing to drop his request for a boost in the public debt limit from $45,000,000,000 to $50,000,000,000. But the alternatives, alterna-tives, offered by Secretary of the Treasury Henry Morgenthau Jr., are little more inviting: (1) increase the bond limit over its present $30,000,000,000 to be reached by September Sep-tember 30; (2) borrow funds for the treasury through Reconstruction Finance Fi-nance corporation or other agencies not falling within the general budget's bud-get's scope; (3) issue $3,752,000,000 SECRETARY MORGENTHAU His alternatives were uninviting. in notes and bills, all that remains before the $15,000,000,000 limit is reached on these types of securities. White House insistence on one course or the other indicates the unlikelihood un-likelihood of shaving expenditures. Taxation. Though repeal of capital capi-tal gains and undivided profits levies is a major congressional aim this session, the normal tax rate must then be boosted unless a substantial budget slash is effected. The new burden would fall most heavily on the smaller 153,000 firms out of some 200,000 corporations which pay federal fed-eral taxes. One of the few alternatives alterna-tives is to lower income tax exemptions, exemp-tions, which would mean political suicide for congressmen. Relief. Though $750,000,000 in deficiency de-ficiency funds were voted in February Febru-ary to maintain WPA until June 30, the President has twice requested restoration of the remaining $150,- 000. 000 on pain of discharging 1,200,-000 1,200,-000 workers. White House estimate: If the $150,000,000 is not forthcoming, forthcom-ing, 400,000 must be dropped April 1, another 600,000 May 1, another 200,000 in June. This would also have major political repercussions. Miscellany Probably lost by Chicago Jews, their vote in Chicago's mayoral election April 4, which is observed strictly by orthodox Jews as the first day of Passover. |
