Newspaper Page Text
A Year After the Armistice?The Unsettled Disputes The Peace Hoped for a Year Ago Is Still To Be Attained? Many Wars Still Going On By Frank H. Simonas WITH the ?current week we pass the first anniver? sary of the armistice, and this milepost will natu? rally excite many comments. Beyond all else it is inevitable that the publics of all the nations, which one year ago welcomed the cessation of hostilities, with the concomitant surrender of Germany, as not merely an end of immediate horror, but the beginning of a period of peace and prosperity, will confess alike to dis? appointment and to disillusionment. At the end of a year of so-called peace, war is still going forward in many portions of Europe, new dis? putes have arisen in place of the old issues of a year ago, and, tech? nically at least? the condition of peace between Germany and the United States has not been restored. When one seeks to analyze the events of the last twelve months, it is apparent at once how confused and confusing the circumstances, big and little alike, have been. A year ago we in America celebrated a false report of peace with an en-1 thusiasm hardly paralleled in our history, and still preserved a sur-1 plus sufficient to make the arrival ; of the veracious tidings the signal j for an even greater outburst. Quick Settlement Was Expected ' In that hour it was the belief in America, if not in Europe, that the military decision in the case of Ger? many, which had preceded the actual armistice, would supply the opportunity for a settlement, not a mere settlement of the single issue r.'i; e I by the German attack in August, 1914, but of the innumera ble issues stirred up in the course of the war. The phrase "making the world suie fur democracy" had been accepted with something of a lit? eral interpretation, and the people of the United States looked forward to a peace co iference as calculated not alone to restore immediate peace, but to eliminate causes of war a?*id dispose of those issues out of which conflicts had risen or threatened during the troubled gen? eration preceding. Exactly what the European emo? tion was at the same moment it is exceedingly difficult to say. The exhaustion of the war had reached a point hardly equaled before in history, not individuals, not classes of society, but whole nations had been so racked with the strain of more than four years of conflict. Enthusiasm and even expectation, such as there were in the United States, were certainly not to be found in Europe, but, by contrast, there was a certain emotional out? burst. Old Customs Were Changed Looking backward over the course of the last year much that was ob? scure in November, 1918, becomes clear. In the first place, we are all now painfully aware that the war so thoroughly uprooted institutions, habits, systems that the chance of a return to before-the-war condi ditions is impossible, not alone po? litically but economically. On the political side two of the great empires of modern history, the Hapsburg and the Romanoff, had been destroyed, blown into frag? ments, and between the fragments there had developed hostilities, an? cient and new, which continued and seemingly will long continue to plague and to puzzle. A third and even more powerful empire, that of the Hohenzollerns, had crashed down, after military defeat, and for the moment seemed likely te dis? solve into another Russian chaos. The task of those upon whom the duty developed to make peace was, therefore, a thing entirely different from the problem which might have t>een posed had Germany been de? feated in 1914, or even in 1916, while the Russian and the Austro Hungarian empires still stood and the German Empire itself had not undergone the disintegrating strain of four years of conflict. The decisions of the Conference of Paris have been universally as? sailed, attacked alike by the repre? sentatives of progress and of reac? tion, by the liberals and the conserva? tives, but they have been even more bitterly assailed by masses of men and women who, without profound convictions, looked to Paris for a real settlement and find themselves now confronted in each day's news by the inescapable fact that more problems remain unsettled than were recognized as existing a year ago?, The gravest indictment of public men of all nations that one encoun? ters to-day is based upon the fact that they have failed to achieve any complete or approximate settlement, that the ?great questions which were set before them a year ago remain unanswered to-day. Domestic Unrest Grow* Out of this situation has grown domestic unrest in every nation which fought. If the Germans assail their own leaders for hav? ing consented to fatal terms in the Peace of Versailles, the French, the British and the Italian people, and, for that matter, the American peo? ple, assail their representatives for failure to dispose of the issues raised by the war in such fashion that peace or even approximate peace would be assured. To-day in America we are en? grossed in a bitter political debate over a single detail in the peace settlement; our whole legislative and even our executive departments have been engaged for nearly six months in a debate which has not yet terminated and must terminate before there can be peace in the world. In France the debate, if now ended, has been not less acute, while the British Ministry which brought back the most profitable peace terms in British hi-tory found itself in a minority only the other day and narrowly escaped resigna? tion. Meantime, whilp domestic unrest, political and even more economic, has postponed a return to peace in the four great nations that in alli? ance defeated Germany, a multitude if rivalries has broken out between newly liberated peoples, between the recent allies and between the great powers and smaller races. Back o? ?his lies the ever menacing shadow .f Russia, where, if results are th. nc-asure, western statesmanship has failed most conspicuously and com? pletely. Not many months ago v was estimated in the British Hous( of Commons that there were twentj war., actually in progress and th< number has hardly decreased sinc< :hat time. Russia Still Is Battleground Each newspaper brings fres] reports of the fighting on at leas three fronts in Russia. Italian am Jugo-Slav troops face each other ii an armed truce on the Adriati about Fiume and Serb and Ruma ?lian troops are mobilized againsteac other in the Banat, while Rumania soldiers, in defiance of Allied mar late, continue to occupy Hungaria cities and provinces. Never wa the situation In Asia Minor mor critical than to-day, while the wesl em nations remain deadlocked ov. the ultimate disposition of the la? remaining fragment of Turkey i Europe, the Thracian hinterland ( Constantinople. In all this chaos and confusion is plain that certain facts have be. established. Rightly or wrongly, is plain that the people of Franc Great Britain and the United Stat will not consent to fight a new wi to restore order in Russia; they w not supply the troops to expel t! Italians from Fiume or the Rum nians from Budapest; they hesita even to furnish the troops necessa if there is to be a fair election portions of Germany to determi whether the inhabitants shall rema German or pass to Poland, to De mark, or to Belgium. More than this, the course of t United States has almost amount to a repudiation of the essenti principle enunciated by Preside Wilson in Europe, that America w henceforth to emerge from her ii lation and in association with t other liberal powers establish league of nations and contribute the clothing of its decisions with a< ouate authority. The ratification the Treaty of Versailles in Washir ton without amendment seems c< tain, but the reservations, whc adoption seems equally certain, < prive the treaty of most of its moi force by .'vesting it of all guars tees of an American character. Few Issues Really Settled In sum, then, the year which ?V followed the signing of the armist has served to demonstrate that 1 war itself settled few other issi than the one great question, that German domination. The immedii menace of German world suprem?. has been temporarily abolished, 1 unfortunately there are still lacki even the most tenuous evidences tl German defeat has been followed any change in German purpc What the German means to do wl he gets on his feet again, what spi he will display, whether he will ti Where the Fighting Still Goes On The first anniversary of the armistice sees fighting still going on in i at least a dozen placea in Europe and the Near East. The above map shows these twelve storm centers as follows: 1. In the Baltic region there is a four-cornered struggle between the Lett and Esth nationalist troops, the German-Russian monarchist force of Colonel Bermondt, and the Bolsheviki. 2. South of Petrograd the. alleged anti-Gerynan forces of General Yudenitch are in contact with the "red" ai-mies. 3. On th? North Russian front the troops of the anti-Bolshevik Archangel governynent arc still "sticking it out" i?t spite of the withdrawal of the British expeditionary force. 4. In Eastern Russia Kolchak's army is suffering one defeat after another at the hands of the "reds." 5. In Southern Russia there is the vohenteer army of General DenUcin making war on the "reds" and the Ukrainians. rS. In Volhynia and Podolia the troops of the Ukrainian directorate, under General Petlura, are facing the Bolsheviki on one side, the Poles on the other. 7. Along the Dvina the Polish-Bolahevik war continues. 8. In Silesia there is no actual fighting, but. something very much like a truce between the Poles ayid Germans. 9. Hungary, wfiat with the RmniAiian occupation and the White Terror, with its pogroms and wholesale executions, is very ynuch in the state of war. 10. On the Adriatic fighting may start any moment between the Italians and Jugo-Slavs, with d'Ayinimzio's volunteers still holding "con? quered" Fiume. 11. In Albania promiscuous fighting is going on, with Italians, French, Greeks, Serbians and Albanians participating. 12. In Asia Minor the Turkish yiationalist forces of Mustappa Kcmal Pasha are defyiyig the Allies. from his old gods or continue to wor? ship them with new zeal, is a matter of prophecy only. And this uncertainty has paralysed settlement, real settlement. It ex? plains French demands for guaran? tees against a new attack; it ex? plains the new struggles for al? liances and combinations in Europe. It explains why decisions of the Conference of Paris, just decisions, have not been applied. If Ger? many is to attack again, then the safety of France will depend upon the course of Italy?and if France quarrels with Italy, if France joins with Britain and the United States | in forcing Italy out of Fiume, noth? ing ?3 more inevitable than that Italy will stand with Germany in the next conflict, with fatal conse? quences to France. That peace which was to be a "healing peace," a righteous settle? ment, a guarantee against future war, was made wellnigh impossible by the absence of any clear proof of German purpose, nor was there any human method of fathoming German purpose. Peace had to be constructed on the basis of an in? surance against a repetition of the past, but that insurance precluded precisely the element of "healing" which was required to arrive at the results sought by President Wilson. And if it were impossible to de? termine as to Germany, what proc? ess of divination could or can dis? close the future of Russia? Despite temporary progress by armies be? lieved by the western publics to represent the hope of restoring sanity and order in the Slav state, it still remains patent that such a restoration is a thing of the distant future, and again and again there is presented the possibility that there may be a combination be? tween Slav and Teuton, or an ulti? mate aggrandizement of the Teu? ton, which will carry instant and deadly peril to every country. Blame Laid to Wilson It is fashionable nowadays to blame one statesman or all states? men for this condition of world chaos and anarchy which exists. In the United States, with ever-increas? ing vehemence, President Wilson is denounced as responsible in some way for the European anarchy. Yet it seems to me that the se Another Unsettled Problem?Especially for the U. S. Entente: "Uncle Sam, please take the lady under your protection."?De Amsterdammer, Amsterdam, New Issues Have Arisen in Place of the Old and the Condition of America Is Unsettled verest indictment that can be justly framed will only charge that he went to Europe advocating a method of settlement which was momentarily accepted by nations and peoples having no method to offer themselves and, either through faith or policy, or both, subscribing to the President's formula. It may be that a league of na? tions was always impossible; was totally impossible in the circum? stances existing after the German defeat, but there has never been any alternative offered, and those who most bitterly perceive the lim? itations of the President's scheme still profess to see in it the single present hope of escape from the vicious circle of conflict-breedinf wars and settlements. In a sense, all of the largei problems which were presented ai Paris have proven themselves in soluble through centuries of Euro pean history. The Congress o: Vienna nearly broke up as a con sequence of disputes over Poland In the same assembly the Saa: Basin, now the object of world dis cussion, was, in larger part, as signed to France once and with drawn on second thought, after Na poleon had come and gone. Th Balkan rivalries were bitterer 50< years ago?before the Turk cam and temporarily abolished them? than at this moment, while even th Romans were unable to manage th Illyrian difficulties, which are th Adriatic disputes of the presen hour. A year ago the hope that wai making disputes from the Scheldt t the Beresina could be solved at th Peace Conference was general, bi ne?thcr the hope nor the disappoim ment which has followed its disaj pearance seems to me to have bee justified. Similarly, the hope tha an exhausted world could irnmi diately perform the gigantic task necessary to reestablishing orde politically or econ?mica'ly, will ui doubtedly appear to the future t have been a mirage rather than well founded conception. Ebb Point Is Passed By contrast, it seems to me that year after the armistice wo ha1 perhaps touched, and even passe the lowest point in the inevitab pessimism. The real results of tl war may henceforth become clean and clearer until it becomes und niable that if the defeat of Germai did not, as some men and woven momentarily hoped, open the sho way to establishing heaven on eart ii no I??ss contributed to making tl earth more tolerable for human b ings. The defeat of the German mu unquestionably seem to the futu as great a deliverance as the defe of Spain, when that nation sou:** to fasten its equally fatal systei political and otherwise, upon E rope. The independence of the se eral tribes and races of Euro; and of the world was reestablish and to the free peoples millions we added. The world went to war to save self from German tyranny and G? man domination. In this it was si cessful, although the struggle w leng and the issue in doubt until t end. Germany beaten, the world f a moment dreamed that the victo could be stretched to cover inst once against all future perils, guarantee of peace, a protecti against future war. So far as o can now see, this later and supp mentary purpose has not been inc? urably achieved. Disappointme at this has brought with it forg fulness of the 'actual victory in t main struggle. A year after the armistice it plain that many questions out which wars may arise will surv the settlement of Paris; it is es possible that certain circumstan in the settlement itseif may prov the occasion of later wars. The.* G man defeat carried with it no ati matic adjustment of the rivalry the Slav and the Latin on the e shore of the Adriatic; it did affect in the smallest degree civil strife or political and econo; suicide of Russia. There are f millions of men and women in : rope who would rather engage i new war than accept that alien tionality which the Paris Com ence established for them. Former Allies Growling Nor is it le3s true that the Bri and French who vied in loyal generous rivalry in stopping ( man attacks in Picardy tw? months ago are to-day quarr.lin? over the frontiers of Syria, whi!? the same Italians who cheered Mr. Wilson in Rome a3 a savior of the world, not a year ago, are toda? denouncing him with a frenzy i\ least as mad. The European policy, who had to rescue Americans fron embraces which threatened .stra.ign. lation on Armistice Day, at least iai certain corners of Europe, are nov. equally busy guarding Americans j from assassination. Defeating the ! Germans has not visibly modified j human nature, abolished jealousies, angers, dislikes in men or nations. Even worse, all the splendor of na? tional unity and mutual sacrifice for a common cause has not made Frenchmen permanently lay aside domestic feuds or Americana forget old political animosities. Wherefore it is plain that the coming of the first anniversary of the armistice will be a signal for I much bitterness and not a little re I crimination. But by contrast, it | seems to me that each succeeding i anniversary may well bring, with I a broader perspective, a bettet | appreciation of the actual achieve I ments of the war. Much that the ? contemporary world momentaril| ; expected will be dismissed as a cat I ural consequence of the strain o. | the years, then recent; for the rest 1 believe each decade will demon strate more clearly how great wa the danger from which we ai escaped when at last German} __i ! rendered on November 11, 1918. The real measure of the . ictoi is to be found not in read terms of the Treaty of Versa but those of the treaties of Litovsk and Bucharest, do. i which were to ?have served models for that subsequent Peui of Pans to be wr tt< n by th German sword. The world I tend, to forget what the < ? was going to do and to conl attention to what the conquero of Germany have not done All Wanted Too Much I remember riding last sj?ri .g the Woevre plain, where v.ua after village had been destruye and picking up along the way an o French peasant woman, going ba to examine for the first time t heme from which she had fled fo years before when German hord first entered 1'rance. She did r know whether then, was a aim stone left or not and she had eve reason to believe that all had be swept away, judging by what e saw all about her. In due fime we came to her ha let, we rounded the corner ami * the walls of her home. They sto. they seemed intact. She leap from the car and rushed throu the open door, while we followed a distance. It was a solid stt house, the entrance seemed sou; the front rooms betrayed not sign of destruction; from downri?, fear we changed rapidly to a Be' of exultation understood by any < who has seen German destructi But in her final survey, in a ati shed adjoining the house, the won found the Boche had driven a d< dugout straight down through floor. Th?-re was th-;1 hole, B no of broken cement, and, seeing t a single second every sense of ; isfaction and gratitude . and the Frenchwoman di the invaders with a fury beyond feeble French to follow or hend. Her house wa.. safe, amid the ruins of a wreck?. but the cowshed was m?flate I. irreparably, but vis bly, ai . rage was beyond descript Afterward, in Paris, in th( m execration of the Peace ('on ence, I was more than once rem ed of the woman of .itain. It is easy now to forget moments the world lived thro before the Marne, in the first c of the Verdun attack, in the ten week when LudendortF drove ward from St. Quentin to M didier, but along with any di pointments which may come no^ perceiving the limitations of victory it seems to me there . be some thought for the great of the actual deliverance. ! (Copyright. 1? 19. by the McClui*? ?? paper 8> u.U. ?t.)