The Danubian Project
If the Danubian project is no ' nearer consummation it is definitely further from being abandoned.- No one pretends that the States concerned, AUStria and Hungaiy, • Czechoslovakia, Rumania and Jugoslavia, can simply he left to fend for themselves. They Manifestly cannot. The economic condition of each of them is getting worse and worse. But about both the method of procedure and the nature of the ultimate remedy opinions still differ. Preference arrangements betWeen the States in' question are essential. But are they to be five States only ? Or is Bulgaria to come in ? and Poland ? And. how is the position of Germany and Italy to be defined ? These countries form the chief market for the Danubian States' grain. If they are to give it tt preference Canada and the United States and the Argentine must waive their most-favoured-nations clause Claims. That might be arranged, though not easily, if Germany and Italy were content to refrain from demanding a quid pro quo in the ,form of a preference for their industrial products in the Danubian States' markets. To call on other industrial countries, notably Great Britain, to agree to that ..would be asking too much. The Danubian proposals will be carried further, no doubt at Geneva, and whether the five -States immediately involved and the four Great Powers discuss the project in separate
groups or together, does not greatly matter. Our own position, in view of the demands of the Dominions for grain outlets, is difficult, but Europe must somehow be revitalized. a * *
