BALANCE IN THE BALKANS

The return of Carol to the throne of Rumania is sure to affect more than the internal situation in that country. The new king, while something of an enigma to political students, is known to have very definite ideas about international affairs. The exact nature or import of these ideas is a question which will occupy the attention of more than one European foreign secretary until such time as some actual portents are visible.

The apparently well-supported numor that a union between Rumania and Hungary is considerably more than a remote possibility raises issues of paramount interest to students of international politics everywhere. The union of two states, one with a population of two states, one with a population of about sixteen million and the other nine million, cannot but be regarded with concern by all those nations who regard the balance of power in Europe as assured by the present arrangement. The proposed "anschluss" between Germany and Austria, which has been talked of at irregular intervals since the war, and which reached its highest point in 1928 at the famous Schubert Sanger Fest in Vienna provided an excellent example of what this sort of thing may lead to. At that time the French government became more than a little excited and by protest and noise prevented the movement from getting very far. Even had the project borne fruit, it would have meant only the addition to Germany, a nation of some sixty millions, of around five million inhabitants. Relative to the strength of the other European powers the difference between sixty and sixty-five million is comparatively small. By increasing the population of a smaller state by more than fifty percent, however, a great power is virtually created. The reactions of all the European powers will be watched with greatest interest as events displace conjecture on the calendar of history.