To Disarm or Rearm ?
The diplomatic action taken simultaneously in regard to armaments is significant, for General von Schleicher's outspoken article in the Heimatsdienst has been followed by formal proposals for conversations with France in preparation for the meetings of the Disarmament Confer- ence Bureau's meetings at Geneva. Germany is clearly bent on forcing a decision on an issue there is no possibility of avoiding. She refuses to submit to armament restric- tions from which other countries are free. Either there- fore they must accept similar restrictions voluntarily, which is what the Italian Government has proposed at Geneva, or she will take the law into her own hands and decline to be bound by them herself. It is still probable that general acceptance of the Hoover plan would be regarded in Germany as a reasonable first step to equality by stages, but if there is to be no nearer approach towards the adoption of the plan than our own Government is prepared for, then a crisis involving a deliberate breach of the Treaty of Versailles—with considerable moral justification—is inevitable. No one with any realization of what Germany's present temper is can suppose her to be bluffing in this matter.
