14 JANUARY 1938, Page 2

* * * * M. Goga and Rumania The immediate

results of M. Goga's appointment as Prime Minister of Rumania, as opposed to his pronounce- ments before attaining office, have so far been less alarming than was at first to be feared. In an article on another page a particularly well-informed correspondent compares M. Goga's position with that of Herr von Pape.n in Germany in 1932, but gives reasons why it may be less favourable to the victory of full-blooded Fascism. It is clear indeed that for everyone M. Goga is the lesser evil : for King Carol because the alternative to him' is M. Codreanu and the Iron Guard, for M. Codreanu because the alternative is a dictator- ship of King Carol, even for the Jews because his successor may be one who acts as brutally as he speaks. What is most remarkable, however, in the Rumanian situation is that, whoever takes power and is to retain it, can choose what policy to follow only within limits ; for Rumania's policy at present must recognise the existence of three predominant forces. The first is Anti-Semitism, for which, as our corre- spondent shows, conditions in Rumania itself are responsible ; the second• is the attraction exercised by the German and Italian dictatorships ; the third, a consequence of this, the necessity for an authoritarian system.