New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1917-07-13
We Should Be Represented

conference at which VIII be represented on
the great powers formally allied against
Germany. Originally this conference was
announced to be for the purpose of dis
cpssing Balkan questions. Subsequently it
was reported that the question of Turkey
in Asia was to be dealt with, and we now
have the announcement from Paris that
there will be a general discussion OF all
matters concerning the war. It seems to
The Tribune that the United States should
be represented at this conference and that
a failure now TO take the position which
our contributions to the Allied cause, made
and promised, entitle US to will be fraught
with very grave consequences hereafter.
It's a matter of common knowledge that,
so far from Directing to the presence of
the United States, the governments of Eng
land and France, and probably of Italy,
would welcome the sending of an Ameri-
can representative. 1t is matter of COM
mon knowledge that there is perfect rec
IGNITION in Europe of the right of the
United States TO take place in Allied
councils and to have a voice in Allied poll
cies. 1t is not because of the objection of
the nations which are fighting Germany,
but because of deliberate policy adopted
by our own government, that there is a
prospect that we shall not be represented
in the new conference.
There is no profit in criticising the neg
lect in the past to adopt definite foreign
policy in the matter of this war. 1t is
easy to understand why an Administration
should naturally preserve TO the last ad-
hesion to the oldest of American doctrines
that of avoiding entangling alliances. 1t
is not to criticise the past, but merely to
discuss the future and urge that the new
opportunity be seized, that The Tribune
opens the present discussion.
Actually, we shall be bound by the de-
cisions reached by the proposed Allied
conference. So far from avoiding respon-
sibility for our participation in the poll
cies adopted at this conference, the United
States, if it is not represented, will actual
" accept the dictum Of the conference,
however unsatisfactory it may be in GER
tain details and however unwise certain
of these policies may seem to the Ameri-
can people.
At the present time the United States,
with reference to the nations in Europe
which are fighting Germany, is precisely
in the position of man who is advancing
large necessary supplies of fresh capital
to a corporation and at the same time re-
fusing to have any part in the administra-
ton Of the business or any voice in the
direction Of the policies by which the bust
ness is to be conducted. The net result is
that the man in this case is completely
bound by the action of those who had par
ticipated in the making of the policies,
and not that he escapes all responsibility
for these policies.
Let us be perfectly clear in our minds
that we have entered this war for GER
tain definite purposes and with certain
ideas and ideals in view. 1t is our bust
ness not merely 10 maintain these ideas
and ideals in the face Of Germany and on
the battlefield. II is equally our duty and
our obligation to stand for these ideas and
these ideals in the association Of nations
which are fighting Germany. We shall
actually do harm 70 the whole Allied cause
if we even in a small degree decline to
recognize our responsibilities and fail to
make our voice and our views heard in
Allied conferences.
In the next Allied conference Russia
will he represented, and nothing is more
sure than that there will he a demand on
Russias part for an entire revision of
Allied purposes in the war so far as these
purposes concern territorial aggrandize-
nent and commercial advantage resulting
from the defeat of Germany. As The
Tribune has already pointed out, Russia
has adopted a policy for herself entirely
identical with that which the United
States had already adopted, before the
Russian Revolution, when it entered the
war. The sole difference between Russia
and the United States lies in the fact that
Russia demands right, as an equal part
ner Ia the alliance, 10 have her views ac-