Locarno Treaties Signed

Locarno Treaties Signed

The Scene. A huge room be-frescoed in tarnished red and gold --the Great Hall of the British Foreign Office. At either side three tall windows, dull-bright with winter sunshine. Down the centre a huge table, covered with blue baize and vermilion-splashed by three official despatch boxes. Around the table a group of the most distin- guished statesmen in Europe--all clad in mourning (for England's Dowager Queen). At smaller tables other statesmen and ladies--like- wise in black. At one end of the room eight rows of seats, tiered like a grandstand, for the press. Above and over all, the unearthly white-green glare of mercury-vapor arcs. Conspicuous upon a red-draped raised platform, several uncouth persons in sweaters or shirt- sleeves, cranking unceasingly at cinema cameras. Such was the setting, dramatic and bizarre, amid which the famed Locarno Treaties* were signed at London last week.

The Preliminaries. Sir Austen Chamberlain, recently knighted British Foreign Secretary, headed the table, with Premier Baldwin on his right, and on his left Sir Cecil Hurst, famed British jurist, whose duty it was to officially certify the credentials of the plenipotentiaries: M. Briand, Premier and Foreign Minister of France; Signor Scialoja, head of the Italian delegation to the League of Nations; MM. Vandervelde, Benes and Skrzynski, respectively Foreign Ministers of Belgium, Czechoslovakia and Poland; Chancellor Luther and Foreign Minister Stresemann of the German Reich.

Speaking in French, the official language of the assembly, Sir Austen first read a greeting from King George, and then lauded extempore the now familiar "spirit of Locarno."Mr. Baldwin, ever at ease, tilted back his chair and hooked his thumbs in the sleeveholes of his vest. One by one, the plenipotentiaries rose and spoke for a moment on the great step toward peace they were about to take.

Only the delegates of the Reich spoke in German. The characteristics of the speakers were described/- as follows:

Dr. Luther: "Twinkling-eyed . . . loudly guttural."

Herr Stresemann: "Perfectly happy."

M. Briand: "Pounding on the table . . . glancing shrewdly at his hearers . . . the best orator of all."

M. Vandervelde: "Calm, incisive, quietly confident."

Signor Scialoja: "Day dreaming . . . had to be reminded of his turn to speak . . . voluble."

M. Benes: "A soft, meek voice."

Count Skrzynski: "Suave."

Mr. Baldwin (the only plenipotentiary to speak in English): "His usual self . . . very much the English country gentleman ... as ever, a John Bull."

The Signatures. Sir Cecil Hurst, taking the Rhineland Security Treaty from an envelope, presented it first** to Dr. Luther and Herr Stresemann, who "laboriously affixed their names without flourishes . . .their bald heads like immense pearls under the powerful spotlights."

The square-shouldered Vandervelde signed next, without causing comment. But "A. Briand" was "fairly dashed into script." Mr. Baldwin signed "easily and casually." Sir Austen, however, created practically a sensation by "taking off the monocle, without which he is never seen . . . adjusting a pair of horn-rimmed spectacles and signing with a golden quill-pen presented to him by the British delegation to Locarno." Signor Scialoja signed with "an ordinary quill."*

The Rhineland Security Treaty was of course not signed by M. Benes or Count Skrzynski, since neither Czechoslovakia nor Poland participates in the pact to guarantee the peace of the Rhine frontier. When the Arbitration and Guarantee Treaties were passed around, however, they had an-opportunity to sign agreements which are expected to make the frontiers between their countries and Germany vastly more secure.

A Flourish. With the treaties properly signed, sealed and berib-boned,/- the assembly was formally declared terminated by Sir Austen, but not until another round of speeches had been indulged in. M. Briand's address was the only one either greatly moving or notably significant. Rising to his full height, he cried: "At last the spirit of solidarity takes the place of that of distrust and suspicion. . . . Opposite me I behold the German delegates. That does not mean that I do not remain a good Frenchman! They are good Germans! But in the light of these treaties we are good Europeans only! . . . By and over our signatures we declare for peace."

Auditors opined that the adjective "good" has not previously been coupled with "German" by a Premier of France since a good while before the War. Auditor Winston Spencer Churchill, Chancellor of the Exchequer, was reported to have "listened with his hands folded over his stomach . . . smiling approvingly."

Later the genial Winston did his colleague Sir Austen the favor to "loan" him "No. 11 Downing,"** at which Sir Austen and Lady Cham- berlain proceeded to entertain the plenipotent signatories. A tea was likewise given to the delegates by the King and Queen at Buckingham. Elaborate festivities had originally been planned, but had to be abandoned on account of the Queen Mother's death.

The action of Mr. Foxen Cooper, "British Technical Adviser of Cine- matography," in permitting only a single cinema firm to photograph the signing of the Locarno Treaties, precipitated a furor of protest from rival firms. Mr. Cooper imperturbably remarked: "I am sure that this restriction was wisely adopted."

The British press in general declared that "much dignity was lost" to the assembly by letting in the camera men at all.

*They consist, as everyone knows, of: the Rhineland Security Treaty among Britain, France, Italy, Belgium and Germany ; the four identical Arbitration Treaties between Germany and each of her neighbors, France, Belgium, Poland and Czechoslovakia: and the two identical Franco-Polish and Franco-Czechoslovakian Guarantee Treaties. For their summarized texts see TIME, Nov. 2.

/-By T. R. Ybarra, New York Times man.

**The order of precedence was determined alphabetically by countries according to the French spelling of their names: L'Allemagne (Germany), La Belgique, La France, La Grande Bretagne, L'ltalie.

*Certain despatches reported that Dr. Luther and Herr Stresemann used "gold pens;" others said "steel."

/-Blue, "the color of peace," was used for the ribbons of the Rhineland Security Treaty. The other treaties have ribbons in which the colors of the signatory powers are interwoven.

**The official residence of the Chancellor of the Exchequer. As all the world knows, the Premier live at "No. 10."