No Change at Memel The result of the Memel elections
will be received with general relief. The actual election campaign was carried through withoUt serious incident ; Herr Hitler, though in the vicinity of Memel, refrained from making a speech that might have inflamed national and'political passions ; and though the procedure of the voting was cumbrous and irritating there is no reason for suspecting any unfairness. The result, which leaves the seats in the Diet precisely as they were before (the Germans retaining 24 out of a total of 29) robs the German element of any cause of complaint, the more so since it was thought that the .immigration of a certain number of' Lithuanians into the territory might give the Lithuanian candidates an advantage. That does not mean that all danger of trouble at Memel is removed. The condominiuth estab- lished there by the. Powers provides every opportunity for friction. The nationalism of the German majority and the inexperience of some of the Lithuanian Governors together with economic discontent that can be exploited by both sides, make the situation abnormally difficult. It is particularly to the interest of Lithuania to make the Memel Statute work smoothly, and it is to be hoped that the assurances on that point recently given by her Foreign Minister will be conscientiously carried out.
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