El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1914-10-03

2 II studying the lessons which should
be taught the United States by this
= terrible world war, it is not neces-
sary for Is to Try to assess or appcr-
ton the blame. There are plenty Of
instances Of violation Of treaties to be
credited to almost all the nations en-
gagged OF one side or the other we
need not try to puzzle out why 1laly
and Japan seemingly construed SIM
uar treaties Of alliance in diametrical-
II opposite ways. nor need we oeclce
which was justified or Wnelner Doln
were justified II IS quite lmmaterlai
10 US for our purposes WneLner the
treaties ALLEGED TO be violated affect
Luxembourg on the one hand or Bosnia
on the other. whether II is the neu-
trality OF China or the neutrality OF
Belgium that is violated
Making Treaties.
Yet again. We need always TO keep
in mind that, although il is culpaole
10 break a treaty, il may be even worse
recklessly to make treaty which can
not be kept. Recklessness in making
promises is the suresu way in which
TO secure the discredit attaching 10
the breaking Of promises A treaty at
present represents usually merely
promise, not performance, and il IS
wicked TO promise what VIII not or
cannot be performed.
complished by arbitration treaties II
they are not all inclusive, II they deal
with subjects on which arbitration can
be accepted This nation mas repeat
edIy acted in obedience to such
treaties; and great good has come from
arbitratiOns in such cases as, Tor eA-
ample, the Dogger bank incident. When
the Russian fleet fired on Britlsh
traWlers during the Russian-J japanese
war.
But no good whatever has come from
treaties that represented a sham; ana
under existing conditions 1t Is hypO-
critical for a nation 10 announce that
il will arbitrate questions OF honor or
svital interest and folly 10 think thaI
opponents will abide by such treaties.
Bad although il is to negotiate such
a treaty, il would be worse to abide
by it
Under these conditions it is mis-
chievOus TO a degree for nation 10
trust TO treaty to protect II In great
crises Take the case of China as a
living and present day example CHINA
has shown herself utterly impOtent to
defend her neutrality. Again and
again she made this evident in the
past Order was not well kept at
home and above all she was poWerleSs
to defend herself from outside attack
She has not prepared for war she
has kept utterly unprepared Tor war
Yet she has suffered more from war,
in our own time, than any military
power in the world during the same
period She has fulfilled exactly the
conditions advocated by these Wen
meaning persons who for the last eight
weeks or so have been saying IN
speeches, editorials for syndlcates ano
the like that the United states ousll
not TO keep I'D baILeShlpS, ana Ou5 NJ
not 10 trust to Notifications nor IN
any way TO be ready CT prepared 20 ue-
fend herself against hostile attack Dul
should endeavor to secure peace py
being so inOffensive and helpless as
not to arouse fear in others
Fear and Contempt.
The well meaning people who Wrlle
these editorials and make ln ltss5
sDeeches ought TO understand lhd1
though il is a bad thing for a nation 10
arouse fear It is an infinitely worse
thing to excite contempt; and every
editor or writer OF public man VINO
tells ms that we ought not to have pat
f1aorins and that we ought to trust en-
tfrelv to well intenrioned foolish al IN
c1rsive arbitration treaties and a0an-
don Notifications and not keep pre-
rared. is merely doing his best to BRING
contempt upon the United states ana
TO ensure disaster in the future.
Nor is China the only case IN point
Luxembourg is n case in point horea
Is a case in point Korea was utterly
inOffensive and helpless II ne s7li.tL
took nor was capable OF taxing
the smallest aggressive action asalhs1
any one II had no forts. no WarShlps'
no army worthy Of the name II eA-
cited no fear and no anger But Il did
excite measureless contempt ana IneEe-
fore It invited aggression.
Japan and Korea.
Under these circumstances japan hsu
To decide not whether Korea WOulu re-
main independent, but whether il would
be under the influence Of Japan OF O
some people hostile to Japan me SIT
nation Of Korea in reference to Japan
rendered it impossible for patrlolc
japanese statesmen TO tolerate us pc
ing in the possession Of hosIhe power
As the only alternative they TOOK POS
session of If themselves I do not ques-
ton that this was a national necessity
The noint Z wish TO make IL 1lrsL
the extreme unwisdom and Improperly
of making promises that cannot De
kent and, second, the utter Iuthty OF
expecting that in any save exceptional
cases a strong power will keep prom
ise which It finds 10 its disadvantage
unless there is some way OF putting
force back of the demand that the
treaty be observed.
superior Virtues
America has no claim whatever to
superior virtue in this matter. We have
shown an appalling recklessness IN
making treaties, especially all inclusive
arbitration treaties and the like which
IN time Of stress would no. and could
not be observed. When such a treaty
is not observed the blame really rests
upon the unwise persons who made the
treaty. Unfortunately, however, this
arraignment Of blame cannot be made
BY outsider5- All they can say Is that
the country concerned-and I speak Of
America-does not keep faith. The re-
sponsibflitv for breaking an fmurope-
promise really rests with those who
make it; but the penalty is paid by the
whole country
There are certain respects in which
I think the United States can fairly