RISING TEMPO

Wairarapa Times-Age, 21 August 1939, Page 5

RISING TEMPO

TRANSPARENT CAMPAIGN BY NAZIS UNCONVINCING ATTACKS ON POLAND. “GUESSING GAME” DESIRED BY HITLER. (British Official Wireless.) RUGBY, August 19. An increase in the political tempo appears in the reports from European capitals reproduced in today s newspapers. The outstanding item in the tale of diplomatic activity, which covers all the main centres, including the Vatican, was the conversations of the Hungarian Foreign Minister, Count Czaky, in Rome yesterday, following his recent talks while at Salzburg with the German Foreign Minister, Herr von Ribbentrop. The announcement of a new military arrangement between Germany and Slovakia takes the leading place among the reports, together with the rumours of military preparations by the Reich.

The Polish and German minorities on their respective sides of the frontier have contributed to series of "incidents" in recent days which extend from Danzig to the Hungarian-Ruman-ian frontier.

Prominence is given in the Press to the violent attacks on Poland appearing in the German newspapers as part of a campaign, including the stories of atrocities against the German minority and the assertion of impotence on the part of the Polish authorities, which is said to bear a close resemblance to that conducted last summer against Czechoslovakia. SELECTED MATERIAL. Specious representation of Polish provocation is obtained by citations from unimportant Polish newspapers, speeches of obscure politicians and manifestos of extremist organisations expressing chauvinistic views. It is believed that one object of this misrepresentation, in addition to inflaming German opinion at home, is to create anxiety in Britain about the British guarantee by suggesting that Poland is likely to misuse the promise of Britain and France to come to her aid for the purpose of forwarding aggressive designs. This rather obvious manoeuvre has no chance of success here, because, even if the British public were not as reassured as is Whitehall by the continued evidence of the restraint of the Polish Government —of which the recent speech by Marshal Smigly Ridz was a notable example—and of responsible Polish opinion, their common sense tells them that, in the words of one British newspaper commentator this week, “The country which knows her own soil will be the battlefield if war comes will not wage war while any alternative is open. “WAR OF NERVES.” From the comment of the diplomatic correspondents of the daily newspapers and the expressions of editorial opinion in the weekly journals, it is possible to get a composite picture view of the European situation taken in well-informed but unofficial quarters here. It is a commonplace of discussion that a "war of nerves” is in progress, and the technique, it is often said, is now so well understood that the weapon is thought, to have lost most of its effectiveness. Nevertheless. there is frequent praise for the composure of the Poles under the stress of this campaign and of the selfcontrol exercised by the Polish authorities. Among the responsible writers there is an obvious effort not to be drawn into playing the opponent’s game by taking every measure of menace reported from Central Europe at its face value, because, as the weekly journal "Time and Tide" says. "It is Herr Hitler's aim that the guessing game should now become a national pastime.” So far as the general British public is concerned the picture reflects a mood of quiet confidence, based on the consciousness of having recovered the advantage in strength. At the same time, what clearly emerges as a serious preoccupation among unofficial observers is a feeling that those who today in Europe use the "war of nerves" as an instrument of policy are in constant danger of overstepping the limits of their technique and finding themselves involved in something more grim and decisive.

Among the aspects of the apparent deterioration of the European situation reported over the last few days which attract serious attention are Iho.se indicating a renewal of the tendency to invoke deceptive generalities like "prestige" and “national honour." The concern which this tendency arouses maj,’ be attributed to the thought, expressed or unexpressed, that those who use suph phrases run the risk through neglect of the realities of the situation of leaving themselves with no escape from the path which leads to destruction—destriction in which, unfortunately, all may be involved to a greater or less extent.

ATTACKS ON PEACE FRONT. British commentators waste little time upon the German and Italian misrepresentations of the “peace front,’ which become increasingly extravagant and violent. It is not thought that the suggestion that these Powers arc bent upon aggression is likely to impress any but the most credulous victims of the system of news suppression and propaganda. Again, a contention that Britain is working to rivet some rigid so-called Versailles system upon Europe will not carry conviction with anyone who has been allowed to read or hear the statements of British policy in the speeches of the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, which have never failed to express a willingness to submit all questions to peaceful discussion, nor to emphasize the constructive aspects of peace. It is pointeci out that there is, in fact, nothing rigid about British policy except its opposition —which is fixed and immovable —to methods which challenge not only the hope of better international order, but also the very existence of independent sovereign States, which the the basis of the historic European order. In this connection, .and with reference to the Danzig issue, “The Spectator” is typical in its observation.

If, even now, with the contact between the Polish High Commissioner at Danzig and the President of the Danzig Senate as a starting point, discussions could be developed between Poland and Germany pointing to an agreement in no way prejudicial to Poland’s independence, such a course would have the full approval of Whitehall and the Qua! d’Orsay. But the gulf between what Poland could concede is utterly unbrigeable. The same conclusion is put in a different way by “Time and Tide,” which asserts that Danzig itself is a subsidiary issue, and that, what Herr Hitler wants is the elimination of Poland as an independent Power.