Show weekly Wee BiBy news analysis sharp foreign policy shifts follow rome parley collapse 1 by joseph W alla bine EDITORS NOTE when wara opinion are e pressed expressed in ia these columns they are those th 0 se ot of the news analyst and ma not BOI necessarily of the she newspaper international why they did not know but from every nook and cranny cranny of the world came statesmen bound for geneva where under er leaden skies opened the session of the league of nations spokesmen admitted the league was forgotten in a new era of at power politics in which tour four nations britain france italy and germany appeared destined to guide the world to war or peace genev as convocation would have been dolorous anyway but on its eve two great statesmen met in rome and found they could riot agree overnight with lightning speed the forces of democracy vs dictatorship shifted to more positive more threatening positions when british prime minister neville chamberlain went to rome for consultation with premier benito mussolini he knew his political future hung in the balance for 18 months he had subscribed to the unpopular course of appeasing dictators hs peace treaty had been followed by italian territorial demands against britaina Brit ains ally france invocation of the anglo italian friendship pact had been followed by an even more aggressive italian participation in the spanish war obviously appeasement was a failure when after two days of conversations sat ions mr chamberlain left for home without an announcement the world knew what had happened appeasement pea as a peace weapon was abandoned britain had straightened up deciding to lead with her chin instead of the palm of her hand this news had hardly been flashed before news of resultant developments began flashing back from key world capitals BUDAPEST almost unnoticed the day mr chamberlain arrived in rome was the announcement that hungary had recognized japans puppet state of Manchu kuo the past few years have seen hungary vainly attempt A r t CSAKY he chose to follow dictators ing to straddle the fence keeping peace with germany and italy meanwhile maintaining cordial relations with britain but count stephen csaky foreign minister has been squinting at new developments with an eye to changing his position A week before the rome london conversations poland Hun garys unofficial ally in eastern europe had abandoned her independent position and tightened her bonds with germany count csaky realized this left hungary uncomfortably isolated when news from rome heralded a sharpened definition of policy between democracies and dictators count csaky decided to cast his lot with dictatorships thus hungary joined the italian german japanese pact against communism handmade and made plans to leave the league of otna I 1 na eions A safe prediction is that poland will follow suit T to 0 strengthen the rome berlin axis even more italian count galeazzo ciano foreign minister is making a tour of the balkans with special emphasis on hungary and poland at the same time german foreign minister joachim von left for warsaw to talk with polish foreign minister joseph beck BARCELONA french sympathies in the spanish civil war lie with loyalists italis sympathies and support lie with rebels this animosity has widened the rome paris breach over italian territorial demands in tunisia corsica djibouti and other french points just before mr chamberlain left for rome rebels began a well timed offensive in northeastern catalonia aimed to show the prime minister that loyalist spain was weakening and should be sold down the river by democracies but when chamberlain refused to concede the point controlled press announced it would be absolutely useless to speak of arbitration and mediation in settling Eu ropes problems until the insurgents won the spanish war As if to hasten this outcome the chamberlain offensive swept into catalonia and drew near barcelona obviously mussolini wants to wind up the war release his troops from spain and consolidate his position in the mediterranean in preparation for renewed demands against france meanwhile in paris premier edouard Dala Dal diers adlers radical socialist party demanded government intervention to prevent a rebel victory in spain arguing that such an outcome would threaten francies frances mediterranean communications cat ions PARIS III ar 0 there no longer remains doubt that the french italian argument will supply europe with its next crisis prior to the chamberlain mus conversations it looked like france might have to face this dictator threat alone thanks to brit ains hesitancy over insulting germany and italy but immediately after the conference british foreign secretary viscount halifax left for geneva where he met french foreign minister georges bonnet it was authoritatively learned learne d that halifax assured bonnet that england will go to frances aid if she is attacked by any other country including italy halifax and bonnet obviously held their meeting in geneva just as the league sessions opened to bolster league prestige and give some semblance of international support to the anglo french position TOKYO when london heard that chamberlain had abandoned his chiq appeasement policy the foreign ol 01 office flee immediately emboldened itself like a youngster with a new slingshot looking around tor for places to drain c off if a long pent up wrath it turned attention first to japan conquest of china has been tolerated by britain simply because a stern position would incur the anger of japans anticommunist anti communist friends italy and germany for some time there have been hints of U S british Britis lf pa parallel action against japan for violation of the 1922 nine power pact which guaranteed chinas cainas open door but this parallel action has heretofore been one sided as witness the huge huce U S credit grant to china co compared pared with britaina Brit ains tiny credit allowance but strong protest note to tokyo last december 31 was velvet s compared with the protest british ambassador sir robert L craigie was ilas c called upon to tb hand japan after the rome conversations excerpts his maje government Is at a loss to understand how former japanese premier prince kohoes assurance that japan seeks no territory and respects the sovereignty of china can be reconciled with the declared intention of the japanese government to compel the chinese people to accept conditions involving surrender of their political economic and cultural life to japanese control for their part his maje government desires to make it clear that they are not prepared to accept or to recognize changes of the nature indicated which are brought about by force significance behind the mussolini chamberlain impasse which precipitated these events was the unseen hand of U S disgust over londona Lon dons vaccinating ting foreign policy but just as important was londona Lon dons assurance that the U S planned to build up its armed forces under president Roosevel ts two year VISCOUNT HALIFAX england will come to the rescue eberg emergency ency defense program regardless gard less of the cause regardless of the resultant consolidation moves by totalitarian states both france and britain are inclined to believe they have seen the last of democratic concesa concessions ions to dictators the greatest fear is that this new and sen sensible si I 1 policy has been adopted too late that germany and italy have attained an undisputable upper hand in the few short months since munich religion in prosperous years church membership and attendance remains even or shows a very slight increase during depressions mem T r e an d BANANAS in moscow ba nanas were viere recently sold f tor 0 r the first time since the world war the cost about per pound FAIR germany but not nazi germany will be represented at new yorks world fair private spon sponsors gors will name their exhibit the freedom pavilion germany yesterday Gerr germany nany tomorrow TAXES two berks county pa boroughs have celebrated the start of their sixth year AVIATION two wyoming antelopes te speed champions of the western prairies will get the fastest ride of their lives next summer to london via clipper ship barship and attendant attendance 6 will rise through a return to religion foremost among U S religious statisticians is rev dr herman C weber whose report tor for 1937 has just been released salient facts and figures total membership early in 1933 1938 was church members having increased in 1937 twice as last fast as the population churches increased by 1743 A trend to church unity was evident since ot of the total U S church population belongs to the 50 larger bodies about smaller bodies account tor for the remaining 27 per cent agriculture under secretary henry A wallace the U S agriculture departments men ts original objective has been increased consumption through one method or another last summer came announcement of a new method a two price plan tor for boosting domestic consumption of farm products under this arrangement the U S would subsidize manufacturers whose products would be sold at a below normal price to low income families first objections came from manufacturers and retailers many of whom thought the plan would curtail free enterprise then congressmen turned a cold shoulder s suggesting difficulties in getting the special purchase privilege in the fiands of people deserving them As congress got underway it became certain that mr wallace had bad dropped the plan entirely though still clinging to the original objective jec tive 11 announcement was made that conferences are being held with cotton manufacturers to encourage the lowest possible prices tor for mattresses to be sold to low income families grapefruit will be similarly merchandised said mr wallace we want increased consumption we will use any method to obtain it we hope we can get the trade processors and distributors to do specific things to shave costs to the limit via london U S farmers have learned that the agriculture department proposes to reduce american wheat land from acres to acres resulting in total wheat plantings of acres even if some growers do not cooperate this news came from the international wheat advisory committees mit tees conference where 21 nations had sent envoys to study schemes tor for export and import limitations As the sessions got underway a discouraging note appeared in the international institute of ag ri cultures report wheat available tor for export in the year endi ending ng next july 31 the report said was 1 bushels against a world import demand of bushels congress president roosevelt won little applause january 4 when his state of the union speech referred to the unpopular governmental reorganization bill congress thought it best to leave well enough alone but since the session got under way two reorganization schemes one of them tar far more important than the administrations proposals have been broached relief reluctantly the average U S citizen admits unemployment and old age assistance have become permanent problems created by the new deal pioneering agencies to cope with these needs have worked too independently often wastefully social security and NYA au all have a common denominator but not until this year has anyone bothered to suggest it headed by south carolinas sen james F byrnes a special senate committee on unemployment and relief has now proposed creation of a new department of public works to handle all such du ties except social security the three basic recommendations 1 couii ordination coordination co di nation of state unemployment compensation systems under federal law with U S financial assistance providing 13 week 04 merits ments ranging from 5 to 15 hig y pending on salary over the 26 weeks before an unemployed person lost his job 2 increased federal par to in state federal old age assistance to provide minimum ot of V K 6 SENATOR BYRNES he found a common denominator 15 a month compensation 3 an anticipated annual U S public works appropriation should the proposal be adopted relief and security would still hold plenty of headaches for or coil congress resa left to be ironed out was president Roosevel ts proposal of social security for all under which old ago age and unemployment insurance protection would be given every U S worker as soon as possible other points in the administrations social security program 1 increased protection to aged and dependent children 2 establishment of merit system tor for state social security personnel 3 advancing social tys pension starting date from 1942 to 1940 defense far less noteworthy than the byrnes report but significant ol of the lae reorganization trend is the thus far anonymous proposal to pool army and navy under a single cabinet officer its aim to ordinate coordinate co defense though similar measures have reached congress before most of them failed because of traditional leather necked rivalry between the two branches of defense this sessions bill has a better chance because the proposed special rearmament program needs a single guiding hand not several communication an important weapon weapon in the spread of nazi economic I 1 fluence is propaganda so amp imper tant has this weapon become that at decembers pan american conference in lima peru delegate adopted a resolution condemning it but for five years the government subsidized news service has operated via wireless from berlin to latin america providing slyly propagandized world news coverage to newspapers at small cost its purpose to win latin american markets for the reich meanwhile spreading political doctrines in answer to pan american conference resolutions dews news service is now being modernized and speeded to south america just opened is a new transmitter at buenos aires while another is being built at lima people charged with hit and run drive driel and causing injury to a tour four year old negro child dr william E dodd former U S ambassador to germany will go on trial at hanover courthouse court bouse va march 2 |