Delbos' Return

Czechoslovakia last week received in her hospitable arms French Foreign Minister Yvon Delbos on the last leg of his 17-day jaunt to Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia (TIME, Dec. 13 et seq.), undertaken to strengthen French friendship with her mid-European allies. While bound for Prague, the French diplomat, ardent League of Nations supporter, received a neat kick in the pants from the crafty Yugoslav Premier, paunchy Milan Stoyadinovich, whom he had just visited for three days. Although Yugoslav officials had issued a carefully worded communique during the Delbos visit admitting in lukewarm terms that Yugoslavia is still a member of the League, almost before the Delbos train chugged away from Belgrade, Vreme, semi-official newsorgan of Premier Stoyadinovich, boasted that "all mention of the League of Nations was deliberately omitted" in the Premier's banquet toast to Minister Delbos.

Hungary, still an "enemy country" to France, was not officially included in M. Delbos' itinerary but his train halted at Budapest on the way across to Prague. When the train pulled in at 6 a. m. Foreign Minister Kalman de Kanya lay snug in his warm bed, having sent an underling to get M. Delbos up in the cold dawn to receive M. de Kanya's good wishes.

In Prague, however, the populace, conscious that France is a chief barrier to Czechoslovakia's becoming a canary in Hitler's maw, turned out in a rousing welcome for the French Minister. Outside the station, crowds milled about cheering his arrival. As the official motor cavalcade rolled through the streets the crowds were held back not by lines of grim-faced troops with fixed bayonets as in Poland, Rumania, Yugoslavia, but by sport-clad sokols, members of Czech gymnastic societies. Foreign correspondents saw in this display a commentary on the democratic beliefs of Czechoslovakia, in sharp contrast to the strong-arm rule evident on the Delbos trip through the Balkans.

Most welcome was Delbos to Czech President Dr. Eduard Benes, Europe's "Smartest Little Statesman." Too well known to Benes are the implications of the taunting verses tacked up by German frontier guards:

Eduard save up all your pence,

For Adolf soon will be over the fence. Minister Delbos reassuringly announced: "France stands by her pledged word that she will submit to all sacrifices to sustain mutual obligations under treaties and support all aims to safeguard peace."

As M. Delbos rolled home to France he counted on his fingers: lukewarmly received in official Poland, warmly in Rumania, coldly in Yugoslavia, lovingly in Czechoslovakia. Highly pleased with his batting average, he announced that in two months he would start on a new tour of Greece, Turkey, possibly Bulgaria.

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