The Polish government is attempting to rid itself of its obligations to national minorities within its borders, the Austrian papers charged today, pointing out that the Polish proposal to extend minority clauses to all nations is merely “a trick to release Poland itself from these clauses.”
Poland is fully aware that the proposal for extension of national minority clauses is meaningless and has no chance of success, but when the proposal is voted down at the League of Nations, then Poland will argue that the Polish government, like other powers, need not observe the rights guaranteed minorities under the Versailles Treaty and the Covenant of the League of Nations.
The Wiener Tag, prominent Vienna newspaper, warned the Jews, who are most likely to be affected, to be cautious about this Polish move because it may endanger the entire system of national minority rights everywhere.
A repudiation of national minority rights by the Polish government, it is obvious, would vitally affect the lives and well-being of the more than 3,000,000 Polish Jews, who are protected from ut-
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