The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-02-08
THE RICHMOND PALLADIUM

10 90 WIFI Tue lACl0 that - p 49, eSF~~
in making peace itself.
But fundamentally this League OF
Nations which the English and Amen-
cans are now agreed upon. amounts
to an Anglo-American alliance. And
its chief models have been found IN
the machinery Of the British Empire
as It existed, and have been the con-
tribution of Englishmen.
British policy has been actuated by
the very recognition that the war has
changed the whole position OF Great
Britain in the world. The costs In
men, in money, and in prestige OF this
struggle have cut very deeply, the
moral effects OF the submarine war.
fare In its later phase Of last years
desperate campaign have left their
marks upon the Englishmen. There
fore in turning to the League of Ma
tions he turns to something which
for him does not merely have ideal
istic or Utopian value, but practical
and solid value.
Sees An Escape
| In world organized under the
League of Nations the British empire
would escape some of its most diff
cult problems for the future and would
be assured of it's maximum of security
in the time that is to come. 1t is far
| more true of Great Britain than Of
France or of Italy, whose concerns are
European mainly, after ALL
French and Italian policies are there
fore far less professionally affected by
the League of Nations question than
British. Both will be dragged along:
the French will make the necessary
contribution of clarity and logic, but
the League of Nations is going to be
| an Anglo-American experiment
There would be no such experiment
| If British policy had not adopted Mr..
| Wilson's purpose and translated that
purpose into solid fact of scheme and
plan and put behind 1t the resources
of the most skillful diplomats in the
world, now acutely alive to the issue
at stake. British policy has fixed upon
the League of Nations and coded every
thing which the President chooses to
make an issue. They have gone a
long way to persuade their colonies to
abandon even reasonable claims tt
| German soil.
They have been Ubiquitous in help
ing everywhere. The League Of Ma
lions project was in danger; and it i;
the conception Of the British that the
future belongs in a great measure tt
| America that cooperation witt
| America is Of the utmost importance
to the British empire, and that any
solution Of the Paris conference which
misses this will be total disaster fol
Britain.
No Differences Exist
1t is not accurate to think OF the
British opposing Americans in the
matter Of the League Of Nations al
any point. Differences Of opinion be
tween Americans and British on the
League of Nations does not exist, and
has not actually existed BY contrast
1t has been the British who have saved
the League OF Nations, after the pro
ject had been brought to Europe by
Mr.. Wilson, and when it seemed more
or less doomed
British policy frankly seeks Ameri
can cooperation, British common.
frankly recognizes that it will never
again be within the power of Great
Britain. even If there were desire, tc
challenge America in war Or in peace
There are thousands of Englishmen
of whom this thing Is not a matter
of calculation, but a matter Of in
stinct: these see in Anglo-American
friendship the realization of life-lone
dreams.
May Change Policy
But 1t Is essential to realize that
alongside of this is the working OF
an intelligent clairvoyant policy. The
English, unlike the French, are no,
chained to some fixed problems, and
some fixed solution of as many prob
lens.
They do not. like the French, have to
insist on any neutral zone along ths
Rhine, or the destruction of German
strategic railroads on the lower Mo
selle. They are able and can yield
where they choose and they have with
great readiness yielded, and with grea,
skill and adroitness got around, any
cases Of difficulty hitherto a uuarre
between the British and the Americans
is impossible. SO far as the British
are concerned.
The League of Nations in inevitable
for while it is an experiment in ideal
Ism for America, 1t is a fixed doc
trine of foreign policy hereafter witt
Great Britain, the one possible means
OF escape from the burden, great now
and bound to become greater in thu
future-an escape achieved by dividins
the burden without Increasing politica
complications.
Ennd Ti~bof Crlo for