?fen> gflrrk 3Tnfatn0 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 Yak. TWephono, Iteclinan 3004. BOBSCIUPTION BATES?By nuil, hicludln? Pntio. IN THE UNITED 8TATE8 AN? CANADA Ou? 81i Or? Vi?r. Mtvttb*. Month. Da?y ?nd Sunday.$11.0? ?8.00 ?1.00 Daily only . 8.00 4 00 .TJ Sunday only . 4.00 2.00 .40 Sunday only, Canada. 8.00 7.2? .55 FOREIGN BATES Daily ?nd Sunday.$28.09 $13.30 $2.40 Dally only .17.40 8.7? 1.45 Sunday only .,. 9.75 5.1J ' .88 Entered at th? Fostofflr? at New York as Second Class MaR Matter GUARANTY You eatt purchase mercttandiio advertised In THE TRIBUNE with absolute tatet)??for if cimatUfac tlon results In any case THE TRIBUNE guarantee? to pay your numey back upen request. No red tap?. Ne ?lulbblln?. We make food promptly If the .?\?l?rtirtl?er docs not. MEMBF.R OF THE ASSOCIATED FRKSS The Associated Fres? is eioluslvely entitled to the ?iK few republicalion of all news dispatch??? credlteO io It or not other? i? cre?.lit*?.l In thts paper mut also the lix-al new? of spontaneous ca-lgtn published herein. All right? o?, repuhlii-atlon of all other matter 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