New-York tribune. [volume], May 08, 1919, Page 14, Image 14

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Peace With Victory
A wild beast, breaking all tethers of
morality and demuzzling savage jaws,
sprang at the throat of civilization. To
cage the monster?this was the war, its
shibboleth "Unconditional Surrender."
But it was not enough temporarily to
confine. Duty demanded that the bars be
thick and strong. This was the peace,
its shibboleth "Never Again!"
The news appropriately comes on
Lusitania day. Whitened bones that
strew the ocean sands have proved to be
timbers on which have been raised a
mighty and just retribution.
The judgments of the Lord are alto?
gether righteous. His statutes are not
to be gainsaid. Woe to the people that
thinks to defy Him. He commands, but
more?He operates. Out of the frail
framework of women and children He
forged a weapon that broke the skull of
the behemoth?out of tiny fingers was
fashioned a nail that reached the brain
of Sisera.
For her sins, not in anger or hate, but
to obey a supreme mandate whose voice
could not be disobeyed, Germany is to be
made impotent for further evil.
Germany is to be trusted with only
a nominal army and navy, is not to be
allowed to marshal the power which
comes from conscription.
German forts may not frown threats
against peaceful neighbors, and produc?
tion of war materials is practically
to cease.
To the limit of her resources Germany
is to pay.
Territories and peoples seized while
war-making was Prussia's national in?
dustry are to be restored.
Heligoland fortifications are to become
a. name, and the Kiel Canal made a free
waterway.
The German flag will float nowhere
outside of Europe.
France is pledged protection, and as
? an earnest is to have possession of the
? coal resources of the Saar.
Ship by ship there is to be requital for
the piracy of the submarines.
Stolen property is to be returned, even
j the astronomical instruments long ago
? looted from China, and even the skull
? of the Sultan Okwawa, a relic venerated
by the Moslem world.
Finally, the Kaiser and all responsible
violators of the laws of war are to be
summoned for trial before a high court
of the nations.
Not since Rome punished Carthage for
Punic faith has such a treaty been writ
j ten. In a way not to be soon obliterated
Is graven the warning: "Behold what
happened to Germany and beware!"
The international gibbet is high, and
within the bight of its noose hangs a
. ?clanking example.
The settlement will make for peace.
; The statesmen of the Allies, let us re
; Joice, have not been so enamored of a
false and spurious sentiment as to be?
tray the higher claims of mankind. The
great document is written in the spirit
of the armistice., May the Allied nations
have the moral fortitude to apply it.
Germany is to say how long she is to
remain in durance. Her release, her re
acceptance, depends on herself, on the
speed and thoroughness of lier repent?
ance. She chose to take herself out of
|he family of mankind, and again choice
!? with her. The terms did not originate
wfth her enemies; they are rather the
?atural reflex and consequence of her
?awn set?; now, as hitherto, Germany has
full liberty of ?election.
Faith looks up and feels the sinews of
Its confidence strengthen. The light may
yet shine in the dark places, even the
?dark heart of Germany. The time may
come when the Teuton will rejoice that
again from the West came a Charle
jnangc to lift the pall of paganism; that
again the great benefactors of Germany
were those who chastised her and thus
planted the seeds of conversion.
A League of Three
The postscript to the peace says:
"In addition to the securities afforded in
the Treaty of Peace, the President of the
United States has pledged himself to pro?
pose to the Senate of the United States, j
and the Prime Minister of Great Britain
has pledged himself to propose to the Par- j
liament of Great Britain in engagement, i
subject to the approval of the council of
the league of nations, to come immediately
to the assistance of France in case of un- ;
provoked attack by Germany."
i
Of course, France has won the right to j
special support. Without stint aid must j
go to her if again she is in the pathway j
of German armies.
The pledge is not only due to France, j
but its making will contribute to the |
safety of America and the general peace j
of the world. It will put strength into |
the covenant and give it vitality by a |
concrete example of the value of a con?
cert of powers. A pilot league of three
may lead the league of many into safe j
waters. It may prove the seed of a |
mighty growth. If France is to be
protected by the armed might of
the three powerful democratic nations
the same guardianship may extend to
another nation unjustly menaced or as?
sailed. If such an agreement had ex?
isted in 1914 the war would not have
occurred.
Many have given lip adhesion to the
league of peace principle. Are they will?
ing to proceed to action?
Applied Bolshevism
A handful of Bavarians, on the payroll
of Red Russia, seized control of the
Munich government. Having arms, while
the mass of the population was unarmed,
they were, of course, able to set up ma?
chine gun rule, with no pretence of ask?
ing what the people wanted. As else?
where, Bolshevism stood for autocracy
and maintained itself by brute force.
Then Munich had a lesson in applied
Bolshevism. The scanty supplies of food
were soon exhausted. The beer vats.
opened to wearers of red ribbons, were
soon emptied. Munich is rich in art
treasures, but they are not edible, and
with great joy the sound of cannon was
heard. The guns promised food and
Munich had lost interest in L?nine prin?
ciples.
The Bolshevists of the parlor urge that j
the way to fight Bolshevism is to feed it. ?,
The surer cure is to starve it. Let Bol- i
shevism get a full chance at stopping J
industry and production and it does not j
last long. It has lingered in Russia be- i
cause cunning L?nine is only half Bol?
shevist?has insisted on being half bour?
geoise.
"If you don't feed me, if you don't do
everything pleasing to me, I'll go Bol?
shevist." Such has been the dark threat
which has been made. The bluff may
well be called. If a hungry people are
of the belief that no food at all is better
let them travel Lenine's short cut to
famine. A fortnight of logical and un?
adulterated Bolshevism is enough to cure
the most communist of urban populations.
Munich, Budapest and Petrograd have ?
discovered that complete starvation is no
cure for a food shortage?have been
brought into contact with the elemental
truth that things must be produced to be
consumed.
Electing a Dictator
Senator Watson, of Indiana, has been
making investigations and has discov?
ered, first, that the power of the Presi?
dency is greatly swollen, and, second, that
the present occupant of the executive
office has exercised more power than ever
was placed with any predecessor.
Senator Watson's diligence is not
rewarded by uncovering something
unknown. It has long been a matter
I of domestic knowledge that our govern
j ment is taking on the form of an elec?
tive dictatorship, and study of the
American system has led many aston?
ished Europeans to the opinion that for
j the period of his term a President has
? more actual power than any king or
i prime minister. The late Czar and the
. former Kaiser had more authority, but
! with their passing a President of the
! United States more nearly than any
I other man can do as he pleases. Except
I for a possibility of impeachment, he is
\ for four years almost the irresponsible
j master of the world's most powerful
nation.
The story of the rise of the Presidency
has been described by no one with more
indignant cogency than by the present
President in his book writing days. He
did not shrink from speaking of Presi?
dential usurpation. Jackson, wilful and
honest, showed how great a weapon
\ could be fashioned out of patronage.
Polk, by sending troops into disputed
j territory, in effect deprived Congress of
j the exclusive right to initiate war. In
j Civil War days the Presidency inevitably
i grew, although Lincoln sought to be con
! stitutional. Then Cleveland began the
business of preparing a programme for
Congress, and McKinley followed in his
steps. Roosevelt developed the practice
still further, and organized public opin?
ion to compel Congress to accept his
views. President Wilson has simply
pushed the method still further, and it
is now generally taken for granted that
a President ought to be a lawmaker.
Concerning the extraordinary devolu?
tions of the war period, it will not be said
Congress made them unwillingly.
In his writings Mr. Wilson, after trac?
ing the increase in the President's power,
pointed out the way to curb it. He ad
vocaten the adoption of a scheme of par?
liamentary responsibility akin to that
of Great Britain, which other democra- ?
cies have imitated. It is difficult to dis- j
ccrn any other remedy; but to attain it ?
we would need to abandon the theory J
of coordinate departments and separated ?
powers on which the Constitution is built, ?
Such a general constitutional overhaul- \
ing does seem now feasible. On the !
contrary, the recent attempt to take
away from the Senate its control over
treaties, although opposed on other
grounds, encountered little criticism be?
cause in derogation of the rights of the i
Senate.
Senator Watson will doubtless be able j
to secure a repeal of the special powers j
(many of them die by prescribed ex?
piry), but so doing he will come nowhere j
near the heart of a problem that some |
time may furiously burst on the Ameri- ?
can people.
The Signing
Will the Germans sign? They will, j
They will grumble; they will whine; they ?
will fill the air with mangled gutturals; !
they will invoke the manes of the Four- ?
teen Points and call on Thor and.all j
the denizens of Valhalla to shake their j
spears. But they will sign.
Manoeuvring for delay will occur. It
is necessary for the Ebert government,
none too stable, to appear highly indig?
nant. The delegates will sigh and they
will sob; they will bewail the sad fate
of poor, innocent Germans, surrounded ;
by ravenous wolves; there will be an
ecstasy of self-pity. But they will sign.
They will sign largely because of
Papa Foch. There's a man whose glance
is not liked. Germany had a taste of
him not only at the Marne but in the
wood of Compi?gne when the armistice
was prepared. It is realized that he is
not an easy man to argue with. He is
fond of such words as "unconditional
surrender," and it is feared he is capa?
ble of again giving the order "For?
ward!"
They will sign. There is talk of trade
isolation if signatures are withheld. But
threatened boycotts do not alarm. What
gives concern is Foch.
Beneath the Juggernaut
There is a shocking waste taking
place in New York to-day that illus?
trates the strange destructiveness of
our age that we like to praise for its
swift and tremendous creations. The
Madison Square Presbyterian Church is
being torn down and carted away by a
wrecking firm. A new office building
will rise on the site. But the church is
vanishing, and with it more beauty than
our jungle of horror and glory can spare.
Across the square from the Arch of
Victory, a model of all that architecture
should not be, stands this rare bit of
perfection. It is engulfed by tall office
buildings, topped by the Metropolitan
tower just across the street. Yet such
is the power of just proportion that this
little church has held its own without
effort. It was the great gift of Stanford
White to conceive accurately his goal in
a given building and bring to play pre?
cisely the materials and the style best
suited to the end. The result is written
upon that series of buildings which un?
questionably gives our city its chief
architectural distinction.
The church on Madison Square utilized
the most modern of materials in a new
and striking success. Glazed terra cotta
tiles gave a richness of background that
amply justified the green granite col?
umns. The Romanesque spirit was fused
into a square of office buildings so ex?
pertly that the general scheme was
helped, not hindered. Altogether the
building must be ranked high among
Stanford White's achievements. And it
is being tumbled into dust, like any office
building that has grown out of date?
or any French cathedral within range
of German guns. Beauty Tjeyond price
is being sacrificed in the worship of
psysical change and economic growth.
We wonder if the same kind of de?
structiveness is taking place in indi?
viduals. We wonder if a country can be
the home of great creative beauty while
the juggernaut of progress is joy-riding
over the land. The fate of the Stanford
White church is certainly not easy to
explain.
The Roosevelt Road
(From The Chicago Tribune)
The Roosevelt memorial road to St. Louis
! represents a great idea. It will connect
the Great Lakes with the great river. It
will sweep down through a section of the
land which loved P.oosevelt, loved the in?
tense Americanism for which he stood,
loved the traditions which Tie upheld and
I the nationalism which he and his sons
defended.
It will start, fittingly, at Twelfth Street
and the lake. We cannot make Twelfth
Street what it ought to, be and continue
to call it Twelfth Street.
We are for the perpetuation of Chicago
names in instances in which they mean
something. But it is difficult to give a
numeral a meaning and distinction. New
York would not part with Fifth Avenue
and ought not to part with it. But
Twilfth Street means nothing to Chicago
as Twelfth Street, and is coming to mean
much to it as a great thoroughfare.
With a wonderful start at the lake and
with a penetration of the heart of Chi?
cago the great roadway would sweep down
through tho heart of Illinois, touching
many of its important cities, decorated by
these cities in memoriam to the great
American, and then would touch the
Mississippi, a highway across a great coun?
try, a bond between watersheds, a con?
nection of natural highways, a link of
tradition to tradition, a link of people to
people, a memorial in an intensely Ameri?
can country U an intensely American man.
The Conning Tower
RECUERDO
We were very tired, we were very merry?
We had gone back and forth all night on the j
ferry.
It was bare and bright, and smelled like a ?table?
But we looked into a fire, we leaned across a
table,
We lay on the hill-top underneath the moon ;
And the whistles kept blowing, and the dawn
came soon.
We were very tired, we were very merry?
We had gone back and forth all night on the j
ferry ;
And you ate an apple, and I ate a pear,
From a dozen of each we had bought somewhere ;
And the sky went wan, and the wind came cold,
And the sun rose dripping, a bucketful of gold.
We were very tired, we were very merry,
We had gone back and forth all night on the
ferry.
We hailed, "Good morrow, mother I" to a shawl
covered head,
And bought a morning paper, which neither of
us read ;
And she wept, "God bless you 1" for the apples |
and pears,
And we gave her all our money but our subway
fares.
-?Edna St. Vincent Millay, in "Poetry" for May. ?
I was very sad, I was very solemn?
I had worked all day grinding out a ?
column.
I came back from dinner at half-past :
seven,
And I couldnt think of anything till I
quarter to eleven;
And then I read "Recuerdo," by Miss
Millay,
And I said, "I'll bet a niefcel I can write j
that way."
I was very sad, I was very solemn ?
I had worked all day whittling out a
column.
I said, "I'll bet a nickel I can chirp such
a chant,"
And Mr. Geoffrey Parsons said, "I'll bet
you can't."
I bit a chunk of chocolate and found it
sweet,
And I listened to the trucking on Frank?
fort Street.
!
i
I was very sad, I was very solemn?
I had worked all day fooling with a
column.
I got as far as this and took my verses in
To Mr. Geoffrey Parsons, who said, "Kid,
you win."
And?not that I imagine that any one'll
care?
I blew that jitney on a subway fare.
Mr. Louis Sherry says that Bolshevism
is one of the things that has driven him
to close his restaurant; that each time j
! ho hires a new waiter he is forced to ad
i mit a Bolshevik. And doubtless there is
much truth in Mr. Sherry's allegation.
? But some waiters become Bolshevists be
| cause they see men?and often women who
j never earned a dollar?order and pay for
expensive dinners and teas. Why they
I should become Bolshevists, however, isn't
| obvious. In most expensive restaurants
waiters receive fees out of all proportion
to the service they render. We don't see
why they don't join the ranks of us j
capitalists.
Still, if we were a waiter and knew
j that asparagus costs about 40c a bunch
and we served it at $1 a portion (being
I about a third or a quarter or a tiunch) ?ve
might be tempted to see, If not actually
! red, just a little pink.
-
Suppose It Is
Sir: Is it old stuff that under Burleson
? it has become a partial post? J. N, A.
No Elizabethan lady's shell-like ear ever
was more complimented than our own has
I been by Mr. John Corbin, but Mr. Corbin,
dissembling his love, attempts from the
35-yard line to boot us over the goal?
posts. Mr. Corbin quarrels with our
scansion of
By the eleven thousand virgins of Cologna,
which we read
By the eleven thousand virgins of Cologna,
I Mr. Corbin reads it
By the eleven thousand virgins of Cologna,
giving the line six feet. "It is possible," !
says Mr. Corbin, "to telescope the first j
four syllables into a single foot by '
! slurring three of them." It is possible,
i and it is right. Scansion goes by the I
ear and not by the eye.
And Mr. Corbin says that the result of
j our reading takes all stress from the "By,"
? which, he advances, "as every sincere and
j consistent swearer knows, is about the
most mouth-filling and soul-satisfying
part of any cussword." Odslife and
j;ounds! It is nothing of the kind, b'goshl
"The utmost ingenuity," says Mr. Cor?
bin, "cannot make less than six feet:
I'll pull the noee of any man in Christendom."
To which our reply is that no ingenuity
I can make it more than five feet. Which
is our story, and wo stick to it.
The ear is ever surer than the eye:
If I should speak of Minneapolis,
I have a notion I'd rewrite the line
And make the reader read it Minneapolis.
A gentle, timid, shrinking bard am I
| But. an so one says me nay in this,
I I'll tweak the beak of any bird in
Christendom.
" 'Honest: They let me lie here and rot
?that's wot they're doin'.' That's what
our wounded boys in the hospitals write
home."?From the Ladies' Home Journal's
advertisement.
We doubt it. Our boys are not in the
habit of spelling "what" "wot," nor of
putting an apostrophe in "doin'." Mr. H.
C. Witwer's Ed Harmon presumably says
"doin'," but Ed knows enough to put in
an apostrophe. Why doesn't he put in
the "g"?
Most of us sign leases, and some of us
jign other contracts, without reading
them. But the German delegates, we have
an idea, have read the peace treaty care?
fully, seeking a comma here and a semi?
colon there.
-
Yon should have been in a newspaper
office last night when the photographers
brought in the" pictures of the German
delegates.
You'd understand the term "Grim
visaged peace." F. P. A,
THOSE WHO HAVE TRIED IT SAY IT WORKS WONDERS
!Coi?yrl?ht, 1913. New York Tribune Inc.)
^^2?^
1MAYBE IF YOU'D
THROW A LITTLE.
GRtEK STUFF INTO
THEIR YARD ONCE IN
A WHILE THEY WOULD
NOT KEEP BREAKING I
INTO THE GARDEH _|
Germany To-day
Ships and Rails Ready
By SAMUEL CROWTHER
Special Correspondent of The Tribune, Just Returned I'rom Europe.
VIII
A NICE balance between rail and water !
transportation and the full utiliza?
tion of the entire potentiality of ;
the coal mines has been behind a great deal !
of Germany's industrial success in the past, j
Germany has commonly made her profit out !
of what in other countries was wasted? I
wasted in material or in effort. They did
not abandon these ideas in war, and hence
they were able to put forth a war indus?
trial power which, per square inch of nat?
ural facility, so to speak, was greater than
that of any other country. And because
these habits were not forgotten during the
war, German industry enters into peace
without the necessity of drastic and very
expensive changes.
Transportation being at the foundation
of Germany's industrial power, what is the
present condition of the means of trans?
portation both by land and by water?
First, the extensive canal system, by
which all heavy, non-perishable goods were
transported, is just as good as it ever was
and has not been allowed to run down in
the slightest degree. The barges which
were used during the war suffered from
lack of paint, as did all things in Germany,
owing to the shortage of oil?the later
rifles supplied to the German army had
stocks of white wood because oil could not
be spared to polish them?but the deterio?
ration was not serious, and the oil engines
to pull them are quite as good as ever.
Many of those which were not required
have lain in Rotterdam and others are tied
up at various points all over Germany. The
women and old men tended the locks and
kept them in condition. The amount of re?
pairing that the canal system will require
is negligible. It formed too important a
part of the warmaking to be allowed to
fall into disrepair.
Desolate Efficiency
The only harbor that I examined with
care was that of Hamburg, which I explored
carefully in a launch with the official who
would correspond to an American harbor
master and with two officers of the Dock
Workers' Union. I think the condition of
Hamburg may be taken as characteristic
of the condition of the other German har?
bors, although it! has had but little to do
since the blockade tightened its grip and
kept the ships from the seas. To-day it is
a desolate scene, but it only awaits the
coming and going of the ships to spring
into activity again with all the old force.
Hamburg has been known as one of the
best equipped harbors in the world.and each
division of the free port is provided with
all kinds of cranes and other devices for
quick loading and unloading. Most of
theie have not been used for four and a.
half years, but a squad of men has kept
them oiled and polished in spite of the cost
of oil, and they have, from time to time,
been given trials to see if the electrical
and other machinery was in working order.
The harbor master told me that within
twenty-four hours the whole harbor could
be functioning in a normal way. The ware?
houses are empty but the women have been
busy keeping them neat and in order, and
the only thing which they need is goods.
In the same manner the various channels
that must be kept dredged have been reg?
ularly dredged and kept in condition for
the resumption of traffic.
Ships on the Way
The ships tied up all over the harbor?
there were 180 seagoing craft at moorings?
? are rusty looking, but I was assured that
the skeleton crews have kept their machin?
ery in working order and that they only
need to have their bottoms scraped and a
coat of paint to make them ready for sea.
The big drydock was just discharging the
Kaiserin Auguste Victoria at the time and
they were making ready to put the Imper?
ator in her place. The Austria, which is a
1 new ship of about 38,000 tons, w'.iich had
her trial trip just before the war and was
intended to be put into the South American
trade, was all ready to sail too, and it was
said that the gigantic Bismarck, of 64,000
ton3 and the largest ship in the world, could
be made ready within four or five months.
The deficiencies of the railways, as I
have previously noted, are largely those of
rolling stock and passenger terminal ar?
rangements. The war policy was to keep
up all railway essentials, in which were in?
cluded everything that had to do with the
movement of war freight and troops. Pas?
senger traffic was discouraged, not by any
raising of rates but by refusing to sell tick?
ets except upon presentation of police au?
thority, and the same rule holds to-day. No
one may buy a ticket in Germany for a dis?
tance exceeding thirty miles without show?
ing a permit, and the reasons which will se?
cure the issuance of a permit must be good
and sufficient to the permit officer. Having
no regard for passenger traffic, the stations
have generally been allowed to fall into dis?
repair. They have not been painted and
are in a most dilapidated looking condition.
But the roadbeds have been kept in perfect
order; the tracks have been inspected with
even greater diligence than in peace times
and new rails have been constantly distrib?
uted wherever needed. Germany, having
built a system of strategic railways, did
not intend to abandon them at the time they
were most needed. In the same manner the
locomotives were kept up and hundreds of
new ones were built by the Krupps and
other concerns. Probably a hundred thou?
sand men were engaged in the making of
new railway material during the war?that
is, in all the shops in Germany.
Paper Car Cushions
The freight wagons were also well cared
for, but the passenger coaches were allowed
to run down because they were not con?
sidered essential. The German Boldiers
were transportad in freight rather than in
passenger conveyances, the latter being
used only for officers. With the shortage of
fabrics the upholstery was not renewed,
and now most of the cars are done in paper
of a heavy grade?that is, the first and sec?
ond class carriages; the third and fourth
class always had bare wooden seats.
Having so few locomotives, and those
mostly of obsolete types, the railway ser?
vice of Germany has quite broken down
since the armistice, and to-day either
freight or passenger traffic is extraordi?
narily difficult. What the removal of the
rolling stock did not do, the laxity of dis?
cipline has attended to. Of course, there
is little freight business,, anyway, but the
shippers everywhere told me that when they
did send a consignment they seldom c.\
' pected it to reach its destination. They
i would use motor trucks were it not that
j petrol is very high and the number of
i trucks limited. The army commandeered
most of the trucks at the opening of the
war, and now those that are not in use for
the remains of the German army have been
? taken over by the Allies. The roads, by th#
way, are in a much better condition than
the English roads, over which heavy motor
traffic passed, and they will be quite ready
for motor traffic once the cars are released
or new ones built.
The Benign Cootie
Passenger traffic is in the way of an en?
durance trial. A few express trains still
run out of Berlin and in the Rhine regions,
but in most places one must take the slow?
est of never-miss-a-stop combinations. The
Southern railways of the United States
must give up their laurels to the present
German railways. I have been three hours
in covering ten miles, and were it not for
luggage it would often be quicker to walk.
The express trains do carry first class car
riages, but buying a first class ticket docs
not mean that one will get into a first class
compartment. Often the station trainmas
ters in making up trains find that they
have no firsts to put on, and send out a
train made up of thirds and fourths. In
the course of a single night's ride I have
been, through frequent changes, in first,
second, third and fourth class carriages.
And because so few trains are run the
crowding is beyond description. A first
class compartment designed to hold four
will frequently have eight people, but there
is no limit to the number that can be put
into the other classes. They commonly re?
semble the New York subways at the rush
hours, but are worse because each passen?
ger has a pack of food, and that food is not
always fresh. And the fact that Germany
lacks soap is always something more than
evident. Many of the third and fourth
class passengers have with them those little
companions which are so affectionately
known as "cooties." But the "cootie" must
be given credit for having banished the
fleas, which used to romp in the lower claaa
carriages. Whether one prefers "cooties"
or fleas is, of course, a matter of individual
taste. The "cooties" are, however, mostly
Bolshevists and are bent upon introducing
typhus.
But these matters are only superficial.
The German railways will be as good si
ever once they obtain new rolling stock,
and that is being rapidly manufactured.
(This i$ the final article of Mr.
Crowtker's series on conditions in Ger?
many to-day.)