STRICTLY HONORABLE

The announcement by Germany and Austria that they intend to form a customs union has been diversely received throughout Europe. According to the communique, serving as the source of information until the text of the agreement is published, the union is to be strictly intact. The tolls existing between Germany and Austria are to be eliminated and a common customs and trade code established. The revenues obtained under the three year plan are to be pooled and divided proportionately.

France and her allies are leading opposition based on the fear that an economic union will inevitably develop into a political union, a move which would be in direct contradiction to the terms of the Versailles and St. Germala treaties stipulating Austrian independence. France feels that the union will be extended further to include her allies, Roumania and Gzechoslovakia, in an attempt to create a Central European bloc under German leadership.

Germany and Austria and many of the countries of Central Europe look with favor on the proposal, maintaining that the union is purely economic and hence does not violate the peace treaties. Germany claims, in addition, that the toll union is the first practical step toward the realization of the Pan-European ideal which France now champions.

History has no doubt taught France to dread the consequences of a German Zollverein, but in this instance France seems to be taking an unreasonable view of the matter, unwarranted by the actual facts. Austria and Germany have been forced to take this step from economic necessity, created by the World War, which left Austria with practically no resources and Germany little better off. As long as the participants are bound by the restrictions imposed by the allies in the peace treaties, the union can not be politically aggressive. For France can always check the actual union of the two countries through the Council of the League, which must give its sanction to any undertaking involving the violation of Austrian sovereignty.