Poland Takes Advantage There has been no more distasteful feature
of the whole unhappy Czechoslovakian affair than the attitude of Poland. Mr. Chamberlain in his earlier talks with Herr Hitler endeavoured to keep the immediate issue to the question of the Sudetendeutsch, but Signor Mussolini insisted at Munich on bringing in the question of the Hungarian and Polish minorities in Czechoslovakia. According to the Statesman's Year Book the total number of all Poles in Czechoslovakia at the last census was 81,737. That may be an understatement, but no responsible estimate puts it at much above ioo,000. On the strength of that the Polish Government demanded the immediate occupation of the frontier district of Teschen, which is rich in iron and coal, and when President Bones returned a conciliatory reply, followed the original Note with what was in effect an ultimatum with a time-limit. Representations by the British and French Ambassadors met with a reception falling little short of actual discourtesy. Poland has various discontented minorities within her own borders. She can expect little sympathy if they cause her trouble, as some day they no doubt will.
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