16 SEPTEMBER 1938, Page 2

Some Salient Facts To counter a tenth of the misstatements

in the German Press regarding the Sudetendeutsch question would be a superhuman task, but the repeated references to the 3,500,000 downtrodden Germans in Czechoslovakia must not be allowed to mislead readers in this country. The number, to begin with, is under 3,250,000, and of these close on a million were, till the seizure of Austria in March made the danger of being anti-Nazi apparent, supporters of the Czecho- slovak Government and had Ministers in the Cabinet. When Austria went, two of 'the three anti-Henlein parties (-hanged -sides for obvious reasons, but they were " down- trodden " neither before their change of front nor after L. The German Social Democrats, headed by Herr Jaksch. and numbering perhaps 400,000, are still anti-Henlein, and have been suffering gravely through terrorist method, in consequence. Herr Jaksch on Wednesday issued t powerful manifesto, declaring that the door was wide open for peace and that if there were war the Sudeten German, would inevitably be the first victims—an obvious truth which neither Herr Hitler. nor Herr Henlein can clisregare. The future of negotiations at Prague will no doubt determined by what may have happened at Berchtesgader. Dr. Hodza's wise course would be to announce that he was ready at any moment to resume the discussions where they were dropped last week, and that meanwhile orde: would be maintained with a firm hand throughout the country.