New-York tribune. [volume], February 21, 1920, Page 10, Image 10

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First to Last?the Truth: New?? Edi?
torials?Advrrtlaementa
Member c< the Audit Buraau of ?OlreoloUooa
.... ?? .,'?, ' .,, :':??.?,... " ,"-:_;=?,
SATURDAY, FEBRUARY 21, 192?.
Owned and published daily tvr New Yrarfc Tribune
In*. * New Tor* Corporation. Ogd? Re?d. Frasd
rtejjt; O. Ventor Rotera, Vleo-l'Viauflent; lUlea
Rocsrs Retd, Secretary; F. A Si: tec. TreMurer.
Address. Tribune Building, 35* Nassau Street. New
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Herein aj-?o aro rescrveil.
The Railroad Settlement
The railroad conference report,
being a compromise, has its logical
weaknesses, and is naturally at?
tacked from all sides. The 'owners
of the more prosperous roads con-1
demn it because it "socializes" their
earnings in excess of G per cent for
th.; benefit of weaker brethren.
The railroad unions attack the re?
port on the ground that it "social?
izes" their labor. They complain I
that the wage arbitration sections in?
terfere with complete freedom to em?
ploy the coercive methods of col?
lective bargaining. 'Iney would be
at liberty to carry on private indus?
trial war in the railroad industry.
They protest against "special treat?
ment" of the transportation industry
?especially against the mild prom?
ise of rates which will guarantee a
fair return?perhaps a 7,\[> per cent i
return?on an equitable valuation of !
railroad property, after a two-year
period of readjustment on a 5% per!
cent basis is over.
But it is too much now for any?
body to say that the railroads must ;
not receive "special treatment." Gov?
ernment policy for a generation has
set them apart as an abnormal?al?
most a pariah -industry. The gov?
ernment took from the owners of the ;
roads the power to fix transportation
rates. The railroads were stripped
of liberty of economic action. Their
earnings, their solvency, their devel?
opment as an instrumentality of I
public service, were all made to de
pend on the will of a government
agency.
The government compelled the !
roads to hold wages down and to !
meet such wage increases as were ;
extorted by strikes and strike
threats without adequate compensa?
tion through increased rates. The
development of the transportation
system was halted. Railroad credit
was shaken. Then the government
took over the operation of the car?
riers. It multiplied their operating
expenses and slowed down their
service. But, true to its policy of
sub-productiveness in revenue, it re-1
fused to raise rates sufficiently to !
meet the vastly increased expenses. I
Now both the Administration and
Congress have been forced to recog?
nize the shocking failure of govern?
ment operation, and have been al?
most in a panic to turn the railroads
back to their nominal owners.
? The present bill is primarily a de?
livery measure. It ?3 an expedient
to get rid of the burden of govern?
ment operation. But Congress has
at least conscience enough to appre?
ciate a part of the injustice which it
lias done to the railroad owners.
There are some whose minds are
still hardened and who feel, like Mr.
Barkley, that, having the roads at
its mercy, Congress might as well
strip them completely bare. They
want, to have the stockholders as?
sume the magnificent operating
deficit which the railroad adminis?
tration has built up. But the break?
down of preconceptions has softened
some hearts, and the owners of the
roads may get a 50 per cent settle?
ment.
Because the conference report un?
doubtedly holds out some hope to
railroad owners they arc for it. If
they are satisfied the bill is worth
while, for it is obvious that if there
is not now some reparation no
future set of investors will care to
risk their money, and that if they
do not there will be further speedy
depreciation of railway service.
Squandered
Whatever obscurity may exist as
to the world's thoughts on other mat?
ters, it is painfully evident that the
estate of popularity which this coun?
try lately possessed is dissipated.
Has this country now a friend?
The current evidence seems against
the claim. The Sultan and Mustapha
Pasha, between intervals of mur?
dering the Armenians, still speak
in a kindly way, but otherwise we
seem surrounded by an ice field. Our
national conduct seems to give gen?
era] dissatisfaction. A few in Great
Britain and France still venture to
defend us, and the Italians discrimi?
nate between our people and the Ad?
ministration, but elsv^here we are
redpientii of indiscriminate abuse.
Why? What has frozen the eulo- j
gies of yesteryear? The^ American
people are scarcely to blame. They
are controlled by the spirit which led
them to send two millions of their
best across the sea to pour out their
treasure without stint What, then,
has brought the change? Europe
may not know the reason, but Amer?
ica does.
It is because those responsible for
America's public action have neg?
lected no opportunity to waste the
heritage of the world's good will.
The end reached was not, of course,
planned for, but nevertheless it has
been unerringly attained.
Peary
Peary was ono of the least spec?
tacular of the polar explorers. If
there was any particular lesson for
others in his success, it was that he
reduced polar work to a practical,
common sense basis. Ho spent a
large part of thirty years in the
Arctic. He became a Greenlander.
He studied the life and activities of
the natives, and realized that by imi?
tating them he could best acclimatize
himself and prepare for the final
sled dash to the pole.
Stefansson says that it was Peary's
ability to work in winter that made
it possible for the latter to reach the
top of the world. The older explorers
usually didn't get started north until
late in the spring. But Peary
reached the pole on April 6, 1909,
having moved from his base early in
February. He found the pole to bo
at a point far from land, and there?
fore extremely difficult to mark by
any permanent structure. Nor could
his discovery be so picturesquely cor?
roborated as Amundsen's discovery
of the South Pole was by Scott's sub?
sequent arrival on the spot and his
reading of the records deposited
there.
Peary's trip to the North Pole was
naturally less dramatic than Amund?
sen's dash across the bleak South
Polar Continent. But the former
always avoided display. He had a
genius for plodding organization,
rather than for magnificent improvi?
sation. He perfected his machinery
for years, learning through failures
and hardships; and when his goal
was attained he confessed that the
accomplishment seemed astonishing?
ly simple.
Peary was a man of one idea and |
purpose, with enormous grit and pa-1
tience, self-disciplined and undis- !
courageable. He succeeded through ;
concentration and common sense ap- j
plication. With him exploration was ;
not a shining adventure; it was a
workaday employment, reduced to
practical terms. Heroism and ro?
mance couldn't be excluded from it.
But no explorer ever laid less stress
than Peary did on mere heroism and
romance.
The Union League Resolution
Great things are expected of the
Union League Club. Founded in
dark days, when forces of reaction
and disunion were tearing at the
heart of the Republic and the great
principles on which it was founded,
it is more than a social organization
?it is a representative institution
which exists to bulwark freedom
under law.
Such being the noble purpose for
which it was established, and its his?
tory being one of patriotic useful?
ness, it is a matter for grave regret
that it has seen fit, as it seems to
; many, to attack the very citadel of
i free government.
In form, the club's declaration
: merely expresses approval of the
suspension ?f the Assemblymen,
pending inquiry, but in fact there is
plainly revealed a willingness to
judge in advance the results of
quasi-judicial proceedings whose
issue is whether the accused are
guilty of personal offense. With all
tho resources at the command of
Speaker Sweet and his associates,
there has been failure, after live
weeks of inquisition, to establish in?
dividual guilt.
But instead of asking for a speedy
and impartial finding in accord with
ascertained facts, the (?uthrie reso
. lution in effect asks action on the
unwarranted assumption that all
Socialists are Bolsheviks. Are the
: Union Leaguers so ill-informed as
not to know that even in Russia the
most courageous defenders of dem?
ocratic principles are Socalists?
i The chief victims of the Red Terror
'? are followers of Kerensky, of Kro
potkin, of the saintly Babushka and
: other brave opponents of the brutal
and bestial tyranny of L?nine and
. Trotzky.
In other days, when thought of
the loss of Lincoln embittered many
hearts, Horace Greeley, a member
of the Union League Club, to pro?
mote a magnanimous peace, jour?
neyed to R''-;>mond and put his sig?
nature to the bail bond of Jefferson
Davis, whereupon he was summoned
to show cause why he should not be
expelled. He declined to respond to
; the summons, saying: "You evi?
dently regard me as a weak senti
. mentalist, misled by a maudlin phi
| losophy; I arraign you as narrow
? minded blockheads who would like
to be useful to a great and good
, cause but don't know how." Events
?vindicated Greeley; there is nob a
! Union Leaguer to-day who is not
glad Jeff Davis was not hanged.
Tho case of the Assemblymen in?
volves legalities which are founda?
tions of American institutions. But
political principles are at stake more
precious than legalities. If this
country is to be unfretted by Bolshe?
vism, if it is to pursue the path of
orderly progress, there must be no
lynching of minorities, no action
disclosing the spirit of tho Jeru?
salem mob which refused to discrim?
inate and shouted for Barabbas.
The Union League Club sees itself
as a champion of Americanism, but
what sort of Americanism is it that
blindly speeds on the hue and cry
raised at Albany?
Mr. Root, Idealist
The speech of Elihu Root places
the public under additional obliga?
tion. It shows that at least one
American still has the gift of dis?
cussing immediate problems in the
light of first principles. No matter
to what party a man or woman may
adhere, few can digest what Mr.
Root says without a sense of en?
riched citizenship.
Political leadership recently has
been with those more addicted to
loose talking than to clear thinking.
It has been a time of vague formulas
and of empty phrase-making. The
nation's chief instructor has been in
terror of the concrete??has deemed
it insulting for any one to ask him
to be specific. The fog has been so
dense that the public craft has
wheeled around in circles.
Mr. Root seeks to bring us back to
earth?not with the thump of a sud?
den shock, but gently and persua?
sively. The essentials of sound life
and government have not, he sees,
changed much. Those things that
were of good repute are still of good
repute. We need more to regain
contact with time-tried truth than to
invent the new. The meanings that
reside in our great national docu?
ments are not exhausted.
Expedients are to be modified, but
the great ends remain the same, and
likewise the means to attain them.
Men must prc-uce if they would
consume, and they must not consume
all produced if they would protect
their own or tho nation's future. No
I Bolshevist can repeal this law, nor
can any Bolshevist repeal the law
I that class rule is selfish and tyranni?
cal and leads to the concentration,
not to the diffusion, of the benefits
of civilized society. There must be
a sharing of common burdens?the
man that lives for himself becomes
his own mourner.
Nor can any Bolshevist repeal the j
lav/ that the good becomes better '
only by growth?never by summon- i
ing the millennium by blowing on
the whistles of dogma. God might \
have made a world wherein cata- j
clysmic change is beneficent, but he j
! never did. All that revolution can I
1 achieve is to destroy.
Light at Last
Neither ' Mr. Swann's preference
: for the immortal principle that a
: District Attorney must always be
! allowed to investigate his own office I
; nor Governor Smith's hesitation over .
I the legality of turning a Republican
Attorney General loose in New York
City has in the end prevailed. For
tho turn of events that will furnish j
I an impartial counsel to the extraor- j
dinary grand jury every fiair-minded ?
; citizen will be devoutly thankful.
; We do not think any one has pre?
judged the cases in question. Cer?
tainly the grand jury has not pre?
tended to have discovered complete
'. or satisfactory evidence of miscon- ;
| duct. All that it has asserted was i
' that it had struck trails which ought ;
j to be pursued without Mr. Swann I
? marching ahead to tell them when to '?
? turn aside and when to stop. The
| public demand has simply been for
j an uncovering of tho fact3?let the
; facts prove what they might.
That demand seems now certain
| to be met. Even Mr. Swann's in
, vestigation of his Mr. Kilroo was
halted by court order and turned
over to the new and impartial in?
quiry. Wc do not see how ordinary
common sense could expect anything
? else. It is not a reflection upon any
'. man's integrity to suggest that he is
1 not the tit person to investigate his
own office. Wc have always been
unable to comprehend the intellectual
processes by which Mr. Swann
reached the conclusion that he must
control a grand jury inquiry into the
. activities of his own subordinates.
The most ordinary rules of impar?
tial justice made it obvious that he
; must not. Those rules are now to
, prevail, to the profound satisfaction
of the community.
Diplomacy, Open and Shut
It is a small item upon a large
: scene, but it seems not unduly criti
: cal to suggest on behalf of a bewil?
dered world that President Wilson
devote a few odd seconds of his time
either (1) toward making all cove?
nants open, arriving and arrived; or
| (2) toward making them completely
: shut, as of old; or (3) toward seeing
that what official hints of them are
| conveyed to the public are neither
fibs, contradictions nor blundering
| misstatements of fact.
There was something to be said
i for the old system. There was a
strong appeal to the imagination of
; the idealist in the handsome phrase
concerning open covenants openly ar?
rived at?even if it proved at Paris
to have no practical application to
anything. But what possible de^
fense can there be of the sort of sys?
tem lately (and occasionally before)
adopted by Mr. Wilson of negotiating
behind closed doors, but opening the
doors from time to time to let an
official statement escape which was
utterly misleading?
Take, for instance, the report that
Mr. Wilson had threatened to with?
draw from the Versailles treaty.
This was officially termed an "abso?
lute falsehood" through a crack in
the White House door. A little later
the "absolute falsehood" was with?
drawn and a little more of the truth
was permitted to escape. Meantime
reports from Buenos Ayres went rac?
ing ovo/ the cables to reveal more of
the truth; and these were in turn
contradicted and corrected by the
White House, and anybody that
wanted to believe almost anything
had a reasonable basis for his faith.
A better manner of creating hard
feeling and misunderstanding be?
tween nations it would be difficult to
conceive.
It is diplomacy at once open ana
shut that wc are venturing to criti?
cize. Such negotiations possess the
virtues of neither system and the
vices of both systems?and, faced
with them, the public is as certain of
losing as when confronted by the
ancient and classic game of the two
shells and the one pea.
?_ _
Is Mr. Wilson a Radical?]
A Cilation of His Revolution?r}) >
Friends and Appointees
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: If correctly reported in your
paper of this date, at a meeting of the
National Civic Federation held at tho
Hotel Aator yesterday Mr. Henry A.
Wiso Wood characterized President
Wilson aa "the world's moat exalted
instigator of social revolt and the
patron of unrest," a statement to which
such protest was made that it waa
voted to expunge Mr. Wood's re?
marks from the record. Rabbi Joseph
Silverman, in urging this action, said:
"We have too much respect for tho
President to connect him directly or in?
directly with radicalism."
It would be interesting to know on
what Rabbi Silverman bases his posi?
tive claim that tho White House is un?
tainted with radicalism. To our way
of thinking, it. is not a question of re?
spect or disrespect for our Chief Ex?
ecutive, but of cold facts. Now, as far
as I can judge of Mr. Wood's
efforts in tho direction of tho oldtimc j
Americanism, such as we knew before .
becoming an absolute monarchy (and I
I have both heard and read widely Mr. !
Wood's arguments), he docs not j
voice a statement unless backed by i
logic and the cold facts referred to
above. In this connection ono or two
queries may be pertinent.
It is the nosult of mere accident that
tho appointees, counselors and defend
on* of Woodrow Wilson have been
largely Socialists or radicals of an ex?
tremo type? Im simple coincidence to
blame- for tho Gcorgo Creels, George
Herrons, William Bullitts, Norman
Hapgoods, Dudley Pleld Malones and a
host of others being given posts of
honor or a semi-official hearing at
tremendous crises?
Was it a mere slip of tho tongue that
caused President Wilson, during that
triumphal tour of Italy which created
such disquiet here at home, to remind
tho "common people" that if they were,
dissatisfied with their government they
had it in their power to overturn it?
Apropos of George Herron of un?
pleasant memory, it, might be illuminat?
ing to those who have, not taken the
troublo to inform themselves to quote
briefly from Mr. Herron's "Woodrow
Wilson and the World's Peace." Refer?
ring to the President, the author goes
on to say:
"Ho Is also a determined and tre?
mendous radical. ... He is revo?
lutionary beyond anything his words
reveal, beyond anything his contempo?
raries have discerned. ... As con?
trasted with America's President, the
; parliamentary leaders of German So?
cialism arc medieval reactionaries.
| . . . It is possible for Germany to
| rise from her deep spiritual night,
; from the orgy of murder and lying
\ and madness she has therein precipi?
tated, and to invite then tho nations to
unite with her in a peace that shall be
both social and international. It is
even possible that Germany mi?ht sud?
denly beseech Woodrow Widson to lead
j the world in the pursuit of this inef?
fable goal." .
Was the gentlemen in question a
self-styled Socialist, rebuked for his
presumption? Not he! Rather, at a
time when Mr. Wilson was keen on
; conciliatory measures affecting the
Russian Bolsheviki, he selected Mr.
; Herron as mediator.
Yet tho President's admirers wonder
at Mr. Wood's temerity In con
| necting radicalism with the Administra?
tion! Not a word about the service
, he is doing in attempting to open the
eyes of tho persistent blind who are to
i blamo for the chaos in which we find
ourselves. Fortunately, however, nei?
ther Mr. Wood's patriotism nor
, that of anybody else is being measured
to-day (by thinking people, that is) by
supine acceptance of everything that
emanates from Washington. Labeling
n thing American does not make it so.
MAY EMERY HALL.
New York, Feb. 17, 1920.
The Imperious School Teacher
To the Kditor of The Tribune.
Sir: I agree entirely with your cor?
respondent who said eight years of a
college president was enough. Let us
learn by our experience.
We have proved the truth of the fol?
lowing quotation from the "Politics" of
Aristotle:
"I admit not in the government of
any schoolmaster to the exercise of
civil duties, schoolmasters commonly
proving apex of tyranny; and being
used to imperiousness over scholars,
if you put a sword of justice into his
hand you may easily guess how he
will lay about hira in the state and
city." L, E.
New York, Feb. 18,192ft.
THE POET'S WIFE
Seems queer that I, a sensible woman.
Married Schiller Browning Hawkins an
spend my lifo ,
Bakin' with green wood I chop myself,
An' lyirt* awake tiggerin' how to buy
flour, , , ....
While SchiUor sets around the kitchen,
riayin' tunC9 on his fiddle,
Writin' rhymes for tho village paper,
Dreamin' over colored pictures of
Florida orange groves,
An' follerin' me when I'm gettin meals
From tho cellar to the pantry,
Elocutin' Lord Byron'a poems from a
book.
This is how it happened:
When I was keepin1 house for my folks
An* board in' Melissa Atkins, tho school
teacher,
I was goin' to be married, come spring,
To Lemuel Jenkins, a good provider,
An' well fixed. Ho had near twenty
thousand
Spread over the county in mortgages.
Melisa' was goin' on fifty-nine; because
she couldn't
Git a man for herself,
It poisoned her to see Lern an' me
scttin' up nights,
An' goin' for moonlit slcighrides.
I knew she was spiteful, but I didn't
think
She'd strike out like an adder!
What with housework an' courtin'
I'd had a Urin' winter, an' one April
day,
When robins was chirpln' an' the snow
was meltin',
I saw a novel in Ricks's drug store.
Thinks I: "Next week's housecleanin'.
I'll let the upstairs sweepin' go a spell
An' rest an' read." I bought the book
?a nice story
By Mrs. E. D. E. N. Southworth, all
about a man an' a woman
That got wrecked on a desert isle.
This give Melisa' her chance. When
from her room above
Sho heard Lem's voice an' mino in the
parlor,
She called: "I smell smoke! Some?
thing blazin'
In the attic!" Wo rushed upstairs an'
looked around,
Thero wa'n't no fire; but Lern gazed
slow
From the novel in my hand to rolls of
dust
Under the furniture. The beds wa'n't
made.
On a dresser was a comb with hair in it.
That fixed Lent. He told me flat
That I wouldn't make him a good wife.
An' when I tried
To explain ho kept hollcrin': "What
I've seen, I've seen!"
That night when Schiller come to choir
practice
I made tip to him. I was too broke up
To look ahead. Sometimes 1 dream at
night
That I have grabbed Melissa Atkins
By her lean, stringy neck an' choked
hot
Till site was dead.
ALICE MARY KIMBALL.
"No better weapon can bo given them
than the crown of martyrdom," says
Mr. Guthrie's Union League Club state?
ment about the five Socialist Assem?
bly members. No better leaf has been
woven into such a crown, to our
bigoted way of thinking, than Mr.
Guthrie's utterances.
"We must suffer and Colerato and
conciliate and appease these Socialists,"
Mr. Guthrie's report reads. As to ap?
peasing wo arc uncertain; but suffer
anco, toleration, and even conciliation
? arc not such un-American qualities as
j many who celebrated Lincoln's Birth -
i day might imagine.
Sometimes we think the business
world is hardly more efficient than the
; literary ether. On February 5 we re
| ceived a bill dated February 1. On
February (! we mailed payment. On
i February "0 wc got a receipt dated
I February 11.
And Old Ed Hungerford, a writer on
business matters, writes "Here are two
poems" . . . But they weren't there.
AIR: "CASEY JO N'ES"
The railroad bill '11 help the N. Y. C.,
The Burlington, the Reading, and tho
Santa Fc,
Railroad Bill, mounted to the cabin,
Railroad Bill, with his orders in his
hand ;
Railroad Bill, mounted to the cabin,
Sent all the stocks to tlie Promised
Land.
Speaking again of old songs, as wc
were yesterday, a Tower contrib wrote
one of the oldest we ever heard. Ho
is Mr. Samuel Minturn Peck, and the
song ended "If you love me, darling,
tell me with your eyes."
The price of baseball tickets has ad?
vanced, but thus far the nine-inning
game is intact. Why the players
haven't struck for a five-inning, or
fifty-five minute day, we can't imagine.
There will be "several," "many," "a
big proportion of" 5!i-cent seats, but
why the esteemed management doesn't
tell the public how many such seats
there will be is one of the reasons old
gentlemen lose interest in the game.
It Never Uains but It Pours
[From the Syracuse Herald]
Miss Dorothy Cooney gave a jelly shower
on Tuesday afternoon.
As somebody has said, you make as
many impressions as there are people
to be impressed. When a doctor looks
at us he thinks, evidently, that our in?
come is at least $1,000 a day. And
yesterday morning, when we asked tho
man at our bank for an income tax
blank, he said: "No blanks for incomes
under $5,000 until this afternoon."
Monday will be Washington's Birth?
day; und Republican, Democratic and
Socialist orators will all prove that the
lesson of Washington's li e is that you
should vote the Republican, Democratic
or Socialistic ticket, as tho c. m. b.
It is Army's problem whether his
wife's annual outlay for hair nets may
be listed in his income tax report as
overhead charges. Certainly; did you
want to list it under Net Exemption?
The War Department has 200,000
typewriters, acquired during the war;
and every ex-warrior who had anything
to do with "paper work" will want to
know what became of the other 800,000.
Husband Gone Four Months, Wife
Hopeful.?Syracuse Post-Standard.
Still, you can't depend on men.
What gives us pause is how a Presi?
dential possibility knows more about
all subjects than anybody else knows
about any subject.
P. P. A.
ALL ABOARD!
(Conyrlprht, 19?0. Njw York Tribun? Inc.**
Lntt^M/A
l?
us:
France and Great Britain
Bx? Frank H. Simonas
The present conferences in London
? between the new French Prime Minis
; ter and the British Ministry must have
1 a very farrcachin;: influence upon the
; course of events in the immediate fu
[ ture. There is no mistaking the fact
: that there is opening between the three
great powers which constituted the
European branch of the association
against Germany a very real and dan?
gerous breach, duo not so much to any
rivalries as to a total lack of common
objectives.
While the war was going forward
the chief concern of France, of Britain,
of Italy was to defeat the German. As
the possibility of German victory in?
creased in 1917 and 191S Allied policy
I was more and more shaped by common
i necessities to a common end. Finally,
? the defeat of March, 1918, led to unity
i ?
of command, to Foch and to victory.
Common Objectives Ended
But with the end of the war France,
; Britain and Italy no longer had com?
mon objectives and the peace confer?
ence was an unhappy revelation of
; this circumstance. By the armistice
and by the fact of victory Britain
achieved all that she could hope to
, achieve. All the profit for her in the
, war which Germany had provoked was
found in the destruction of the Germai:
naval power, the elimination of th?
German merchant marine competition
; the possession of the German colonies
; and thus, in sum, the elimination o:
Germany as a commercial rival.
All this having been accomplished ii
war and by victory, the British had n<
longer any reason to fear German*
and no necessity to make hard term:
' with the vanquished. Germany, dis
armed and bankrupt, could not buih
new fleets to challenge British se;
power for many a long year t
come; German industry crippled, if no
ruined, and German markets abroa
: lost, the way was open for Britain t
occupy these markets.
?Italy Separated
As far as Italy was concerned, he
?war with Germany had been only a
! incident in her long struggle with th
; Hapsburg monarchy to redeem he
I fellow Latins in Trieste and the . re?
tino. She had now acquired the Alp
as far as the Brenner and her natun
frontiers from Abbazia to tho Swis
frontier; she had no further grievanc
against Germany, no long-standin
feud. Sho preferred to see Germa
Austria joined to Germany rather ths
left to provide a possible opportunii
for a later r?int?gration of the Hap
burg monarchy. Real Italian inter?s
now were affected not by German ?
Austrian circumstances, but by Sout
ern Slav aspirations, which had Frene
; and British support, and thu- the Itt
ians were separated by an Adriatic i
sue from their old allies and found i
surviving cause for dispute with Ge
many.
1 The case of France by contrast w
totally different. The end of the w
had not brought to France the sar
profit which it had bestowed up
Britain, or liquidated Franco-Germ
causes for dispute as it had Italo-G(
, man. France was financially ruin
unless German reparation were i
; sured and, granted that Germany w
incapable of rebuilding her naval pow
\ briefly and menacing Britain, th<
was still an obvious possibility that e
? could repeat the Prussian achievem?
; of 1813 and, reorganizing her armi
| assail France.
I French policy, therefore, had te ?<
in Europe the creation of counter?
weights to German strength. It sought
them in Poland and among tho Jugo?
slavs. These two new states, with a
combined population equal to that of
Germany and with the promise of mili?
tary strength in the future, would
on the one hand add to the French
army the sufficient strength to meet
German numbers and on the other
block the way to German expansion to
tho south or German exploitation of
Russia.
Britain and Poland
But Britain was not In the least in?
terested in this. She had little sym?
pathy for Poland and less interest. The
rise of a strong Poland, at the expense
of Germany and with the inevitable
consequence of arousing German re?
sentment and hostility, she viewed with
actual disapproval. Her own sea con?
trol remaining absolute, no return of
German military strength eould men?
ace her and she was no longer think?
ing in terms of French security. Thus
at the precise moment when the Frenct
were urging the strengthening of Po
land tho British were favoring the sac
rifico of Poland with the rather vague
notion of placating Germany.
As for the Italians, they saw Frencl
support of Jugo-Slav aspirations witl
resentment, which was carried to th<
extent of actual anti-French policy
Tho more the French urged the exten
sion of JugoSlav territories, albei
in accordance with the principles o
President Wilson, the more bitter be
came the Italians, until in the end th
gulf between France and Italy becam
and remains tremendous.
Now it is clear that if any cohci
ence is to be preserved, if the ant
German alliance, which has become th
dominant factor in European affair
is not to give way to a new set <
alliances, German and French, thei
must be some harmonizing of the view
of the three nations?France, Grei
Britain and Italy. And this harmoni
ing can only proceed from the comme
recognition that while Great Brita
I and Italy have by tho outcome of tl
war realized all their legitimate d
sirea for security, France has been le
exposed to new German attack, ar
French policy is thereforo condemn?
to continue to seek, by direct suppo
of Poland and Jugo-Slavia and by i
direct efforts, to retard German reo
ganization, to protect France by kee
ing Germany weak.
"Liberar' Selfishness
If Great Britain ts to have any re
right to urge a modification of Fren
policy this justification must
coupled with a clear and" specific gui
antee of readiness to support Frar
immediately and unqualifiedly in ca
of a new German attack. There
something intolerably selfish in t
present clamor of so-called "Liben
journals and publicists in Britain tl
there shall be a sweeping modificati
of the terms of the recent treaty, w
the obvious insistence that the cc
of the modification shall all be ta:
against the French.
There is justice in the content
that there must be a new and wi
policy adopted toward Germany if
economic recovery from the war
and out of Germany is to be prompt
even possible. But to-day the sugg
tions to this end which come fi
Britain urge that the French ?hall ?
! render their Saar Valley acquisiti
j and reduce their reparations demai
I and include the proposal that the Uni
States shall forgive Europe the $lt',
000,000,000 owed to us. But the:?
is no suggestion that Britain shoved
release a portion of the German shi>
ping taken in return for the submarin?
campaign, a concession which would
contribute fully as much to Germen
recovery as the retention of the Saar
regions. Nor is there any proposal o
permit Germany to take back any o?
her colonies, German Fait Africa, fir ?
example, which have come to Britain.
I do not mean that.I think such coi
cessions should be made, but merely that
if Britain is to insist upon making tha
peace more tolerable for Germany in th?
interests of world peace and prosper; y
it is singularly unjust that she should
look to the United States, to France,
to Poland to pay all the costs, particu?
larly in advance, of any clear-cut gust*
antee of support by a new German
' menace, more serious because of thesa
concessions.
(Copyright, 1020. the MeClure i"ew8p?po#
Syndicate)
Canada? s Vote
To Reduce It Would Pleas?
Great Britain
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: Your editorial favoring Caw
, ada's vote in the assembly of the
league of nations must commend itseMl
to thoughtful minds. The fundament?1.!
error of Americans in consider;; .g
, this qucsttion is their assumption that
Great Britain desires her dominions to
vote in the assembly. Is it not obvious
! that to be able to cast the vote J?
! the British Empire as a single impres*
; sive ballot would be far more co>?
ven lent than to run the risk of having
Great Britain's vote nullified by thiiU
of New Zealand? The Downing StreaD
diplomats cannot relish the distrib'W
tion of authority for the empire's foi?
I eign policy beyond their control.
As a matter of opinion, I should
hazard the guess that the six-vot??
plan was forced upon Lloyd George l'f
the self-governing dominions as an tnV?
tima turn, and that nothing could plea.ie
the British Cabinet more than to have
the single vote restored, while at the
same time America, by her reservation,
gets all the blame for thus depriving
the dominions of this measure of in?
dependent action in foreign affairs M
their price for contributing to victory.
When Lord Grey voiced British opinion
recently, he took pains, apparently, mir?
to consult Canada or the rest.
If the United States insists on the
so-callod equality reservation, we shall
not only be playing Britain's game but
we shall alienate the great democ?
racies whose votes would naturally go
with ours on questions of international
ccmity. Our Senators who insist en
the six-to-six reservation aro simp-y
trying to destroy the league of na?
tions by making it unworkable. There
is no other possible consequence ??
their action.
II. N. MAC CP.ACKEN.
Poughkeepsie. N. Y., Fob. 14, 1920.
Rumanian Treatment of Je**
To the Editor of The Tribune.
Sir: So many unjust things h*v?
been said about the Rumanian occupa?
tion of Budapest that it gives me great
pleasure to call your attention to the
following cable, whicii was received bf
our legation the other day:
"The Jews in Budapest have handed
:o the French Mission in Vienna, to b?
sent to the peace oauferenco, a petit'on
bearing 100,000 signatures, in whir?
they urge that the Rumanian troop?1*
i sent back to Budapest to reestablish
| order and to put an end to the pro"**
I cutiona to which they are at present ?**
j posed." T. TILESTON WELLS,
Consul General of RumtU?i*
1 New York, F?b. 18.1920. i