Dictator's Mother

Post-War nations which have seared each other with the hottest hate are Lithuania and Poland. Reason: a swashbuckling corps of Polish officers seized Vilna in 1920 and Poland still holds that city, whereas the Constitution of Lithuania opened then and still opens with the sentence: "The capital of Lithuania is Vilna."

Last week this sorest of Baltic feuds was suddenly reported about to be healed by a Polish-Lithuanian peace pact. Partial confirmation came when Polish Foreign Minister Josef Beck, instead of scouting the rumors, remarked pointedly that on his latest visit to the League of Nations he had a long chat in Geneva with the Lithuanian Minister to Paris, Dr. Petras Klimas whom he had hitherto avoided like the plague.

Since Warsaw promptly interprets any major political development in terms of the emotions of Poland's beloved Dictator, gruff, walrus-mustached Marshal Josef Pilsudski, major interest was aroused by a remark dropped by one of the Marshal's aides: "Sentimental reasons,among others, prompt him to make peace with Lithuania. His old mother, whom he loved with passionate devotion and gratitude, lies buried on Lithuanian soil. He himself grows old and he cannot visit her grave so long as the Polish-Lithuanian frontier remains closed and relations continue strained."

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