The Old Home Town Wiping away nostalgic, or maybe, glycerine tears, it is hoped that a sense of forbearance will prevail and prevent Miss Irene Dunne, the Hollywood movie actress, from xoing any far= ther with her proposal to develop real interest inthe old home' town, especially as far movie stars are concerned. Miss Dunne, elaim= ing the approval of Mrs. Roosevelt, thinks it i= high time city dwellers should revive interest in their old home towns where they were born and reared, and as far as Hollywood is concern ed everybody should spend one week a year home, resume their contacts with - their family fe and return to Hollywood with a refreshed viewpoint, Apart from the spectacular publicity' value and the astonishment created by this sudden return to the seenes of childhood, it would be interesting to learn how many of Hollywood's glamorous satellites Would confess where they originally came from. Most of them hide their early careers—unless they are exotic or plain "backbone of America" origins—so effectively ina haze. of publicity half-truths or inventions that. it" would "be devastatingly ruinous to divulge some of these interesting personal details. Many of the screen names, for instance, would collapse like 4 bubble if an affection for the old home town ever developed. and became public property, while the languid. beauties who have derived their reputations. from South Sea island. and other exotic atmospheres would simply vanish If too great an insistence were placed on the uninspiring little towns where they. were born. There is still the story of the enterprising American girl {rom a Middle West town who ferashed the gate of Noel Coward's extremely aM-British "Cavalcade" with an accent which made purest Oxford appear slightly vulgar and unrefined. And in this connection the reflee than might be made that Hollywood's crowd of Imported or pseudo-foreign stars might suffer a certain amount of heart-burning if. the scheme became so popular us 10 be compulsory. There would cither be a. tremendous. tourist trafic dislocating the cinema industry or else shamefaced admissions which might change the entire nationalistic tendency, Germany and Poland it eventually transpires that, by means of Nexotintion, Germany, and. Poland "have. been able to settle the questions of the fate of Danzig and the German pathway across the Polish cor= rider the first fruits of Mr. Chamberlain's tempt to form on anti-aggression bloc will have been gathered. "His policy is aimed exclusively against the use of force for the changing of international boundaries andi aggression for the purpose of territorial aggrandisement.. 'The late M, Jules Cambon pointed out many' years ago that the boundaries set by the treaties ancillary to Versailles, and the League of Nations were designed to last for ever, and that in the ordinary course of progress territorial. adjust ments would have necessarily to be made. That, however, is a vastly different thing froma Powerful nation ching what it happens 10 desire from smaller and weaker neighbours, fud It is for their protection that the antic aggression scheme is being. prosecuted. Obviously it has very definite limits. Should either land or Rumania decide of their own free will that they desived to be included in the German bloc, without any proof of material threats and the like, the anti-aggression pact would not become operative. It is only when nations, threatened by military force, are prepared to defend their national integrity that Mr, Chamberlain's scheme and. the British guaran~ tees come into force, for obviously it would be futile ta seek 10 defend a nation against change which it had actually welcomed in the course of negotiations. The agreement, by Poland, if such comes about, to effect some compromise over the German demands with regard to Danzig and the pathway across the corridor, so Tong as. it is not obtained by' any ures of which Poland can complain and Against which she will offer resistance, something which definitely does not come within the purview. of the British guarantees. unlikely that Germany will endeavour to use force-polities against Poland, To do xo Would be to invite the outbreak of a general con= Aagration, and iis. even now by no means clear that Germany desires any such thing. Such a of the Polish-German dif-should it come about, may 6 the frst amelioration of conditions brought about by the recent display of firmness on the part of the democracies under the leadership of Mr. Chamberlain. No one believes that present boundaries are permanent, but if changes are to be brought about within international law, and by means of peaceful negotiation, the first important step will be taken towards again reinstating the rule of law Which has been so conspicuous for its absence these many years past.
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.