Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1918-12-08
Obstacle to League of Nations.

England was caught unawares be-
cause she trusted Germany. France
had the lesser trust, the better knowl-
edge, but France sees a reason why
the written guarantees which Ger
i many gave before 1914 and violated
ter if Germany should make them all
over again. The difficulty with the.
/; lea sue-of-nations idea is that its basis
must be international trust, And it
is not possible and will not be possi-
BILE in our lifetime to restore conf
who have had in the present terrible
years a full realization Of the Ger
man methods and the German spirit.
Accordingly, when the United States
goes to Europe to impose league or
nations upon the world. if it does un-
dertake this task. it will And itself in
stantly confronted by the friendly but
not less determined opposition of the
masses of the nations which have SUI
fered at German hands in the pres
ent war. in direct contravention of
German pledges before the war broke
j made up of races seeking the same
enlightened goals by similar courses.
! having the same regard for honor.
good faith. humanity, that is not. a
difficult thing to arrange. But for
four. years-for four and forty years
words to mean a totally different
thing, and who on the top of this
earth can believe him today. when he
| used words which in other mouths
might mean honorable things. but in
his mouth may mean anything? -
In the early part of this war. a con-
certed and purposeful effort was made
in this country to establish the idea
that all the European nations were
equally responsible for this war and
LII G-t- "
, d long time to uproot this idea: there
are traces left of it even now and
signs which point to 4 new effort to
exploit this view. But in the main We
know better now and we shall know
i, still more exactly when our two mil
lion soldiers come home. bringing
with them their own judgment upon
the German as he is and as he is like
ly to remain for long time to come.
But either all the European ma
lions are equally criminal nations, in
which case it may be our holy, If
them to lay aside their evil ways and
under our supreme and enlightened
directing enroll in a new interna-
tional organization, leaving their
guns and their sticks at the door, or
else there is difference between ma
tons and therefore an impossibiiity
that these nations. with different
ideals and moral codes, should ever,
or at least should while their differ
ences exist. associate on such terms.
Our European allies are prepared
to make almost any sacrifice that
we may ask; their gratitude is un-
miStakable. But there is one thing
that they cannot do for us-they can
| not see things as they are not be-
cause we do: they cannot see the
German as he isn't because a por-
ton of our. ublic, who have not en-
couhtered him in this war and in
Europe insist upon seeing him their
own way. And since the French ana
the British do see the German in the
same way and not in any. other, we
had better give up trying to impose
our view. For in doing this we shah
| make enemies of our friends without
in the least succeeding in making
friends Of our enemies,
| Must Treat Germany as Criminal.
The peace congress has to deal with
Germany as the court Of law deals
with a criminal. It has to punish
the criminal nation for its crimes.
The punishment consists in com.
pelling that nation to make repara-
! ton in money and in kind for wanton
! destruction and to restore stolen
provinces. To make Germany pay one
quarte- Of the costs of the war-the
wal which she precipitated for self
ish proflt-will be to put her i'm a
state of poverty for decades to come.
II. in addition. the nations she has
wronged, either collectively or se1a.
rately, boycott German industries,
and there are millions of .DAOnlA Who