Race War?

Up from the azure waters of Capri last week bald, cerebral British Foreign Secretary Sir John Simon rose on the wings of an Italian seaplane piloted by Ace Major Attilio Biseo, veteran of the Balbo flight to Chicago. Beside Sir John sat the Duke of San Vito, a secretary in Il Duce's Foreign Office. To discuss Dictator Mussolini's bold plan to "reform" the League of Nations (TIME, Dec. 18) Sir John had come from London, pausing to enjoy the holidays at Capri before getting to business.

Swooping down, the seaplane landed just at the mouth of Rome's river, muddy Father Tiber. A motorcar whisked Sir John to the British Embassy. There he found the strongest foe in Rome to any change in the League, patient, sandy-mustached Sir Eric Drummond, now British Ambassador but for 14 years Secretary General of the League. Talks between II Duce and Sir John quickly crystallized around the issue of Disarmament. In Berlin the French Ambassador, bristling M. Andre Franc,ois-Poncet who has personal connections with the French munitions firm of Schneider & Cie., had just delivered to Chancellor Hitler a stiff note, reputedly rejecting Germany's demand that she be permitted to triple her present army of 100,000 men. With France and Germany thus deadlocked, Sir John persuasively urged upon II Duce that the present is no time to take the League of Nations apart and see if it can be put together in a way to make it really tick.

As a background to the Simon-Mussolini talks, Italy's Chamber of Deputies was treated to a stirring speech by Marquis Giacomo Medici del Vascello, rapporteur of Italy's Naval budget. Crediting Italy with a 12% reduction of her naval expenditures for the coming year, the Marquis cried: "Elsewhere the vision of peace for which the world clamors is receding. . . . During the useless [Disarmament Conference] discussions at Geneva, the three major naval powers [U. S., Britain and Japan] worked to add new vessels to their fleets. . . . Japan today invades China. Inspired by race hatred she will plan tomorrow against white men. We face the danger of a race war!" Since II Duce's personal prestige--his Italian "honor"--is involved in the success or failure of his plan to revamp the League of Nations, Sir John required all his suavity to arrange a graceful exit from Rome. "Reform of the League of Nations," said he, "can be interpreted to mean either strengthening the League or weakening the League. My personal view is that the problem can only be taken up with the purpose of strengthening the League and making it more efficient." This satisfied France, which can conceive of the League as strong only if its present principles are strengthened. It also satisfied II Duce whose idea of strengthening the League is to cut out most of its democratic-parliamentary apparatus and vest all League authority in a clique of Great Powers. "Signor Mussolini shares completely the view of Sir John Simon," beamed a spokesman for the Dictator.

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