The Washington herald., 1919-04-06
By JOHN L. BALDERsToN.


Paris. March 20-Some of the
shrewdest political observers in Eu-
rope, whose opinions time and again
curing the war have been proven
rght by events. believe that this
feace Conference has already def
hiteiy lost the power OF making peace.
through four-ffths Of Europe the
writ OF Paris no longer runs. Mad
oened by hunger and despair. scores
OF millions of human beings in Hun
gary and Austria. in Germany and
bonemla. through the Southern SIav
bands. have turned their eyes for
leadership from Paris to Moscow
Before the end Of this summer all
lhese petty questions of coal fields
and iron mines, of strategic from
uers here and commercial outlets
there. that are agitating the assem-
i oled Statesmen Of the allied world.
= VIII have been consumed like shaw
ings In the fire of the proletarian
revolution directed by its mighty and
- terrible masters, Lenine and Trotsky.
: from within the walls Of the Krem-
lin. 1 seldom make political pre-
oleuons. but that Is a perfectly-saf
: one. Everybody at all conversant
with conditions in Central and East
ern Europe knows that all countries
In those regions are on the brink of
, Bolshevfsm; history will ask in vain
= amszernent why the Peace Confer
Snce did not know the facts. or,
knowing, did not act in time.
RhIae Frontier.
Probably by autumn. very likely be-
fore midsummer. the frontier Of civili-
10
stand that word. will be the Rhine,
. Switzerland, the Isonzo and the Adrt-
attic. Everything eastward OF that
, line. excepting Scandinavia and Hol-
land. will be Bolshevised. This pre-
. dction was made to me very conf
IDENTIFY by a despairing Briton whose
knowledge of the East is greater than
. that Of any of his countrymen.
Hungary. Rumania. German-Austria
. Poland. Germany herself. and. finally,
Jugo-Slavia and Czecho-Slovakia. ap-
pear destined to fall like ripe plums,
about in the order named. into the
lap of chaos.
% Taking these countries one by one.
In the approximate order in which they
/, are expected by competent observers
! to set up Soviet governments, l will
summarize the reasons why each Is
being attracted less every day BY the
: Quat d'Orsay and more by the Krem-
lin.
!. Hungary is being driven into the
arms OF the BOlsheviks by the sheer
inability of the Paris conference to
enforce its edicts upon the neighbors
of Hungary. The government Of Count
harolyi in Budapest accepted the mill
. tary terms subscribed by Paris, and
was assured that Hungary should
have food.
There is some dispute about the
exact facts in each instance, il is
. Gear that Rumania, Czecho- -Slovakia
! and Jugo-Slayia have all seized ter
Tlt"ries IN the former Hun
Carian empire not allowed them by
Paris. and that all have cheerfulIy
b ignored the solemn warning sent out
. in January by the Conference that
foTcible occupation Of disputed
lands would in the end initiate
against the agEressor.
b In the matter of territory seized
lsumania has been the worst aggres-
/. sor, the military chiefs of that coun-
try apparently going ongthe theory
that the best way to stave OF reyo-
tuition at nome is to make daZZlinS
eonquests abroad. The Jugo-SIavs
have, it is said here. sabOtaged the
food supply OF Bucharest, as the
CzechO-SlONaks have refused to per-
nit the passage either of coal or
food in Vienna.
Hungary, during the war. furnish
ed fOur-fifths OF the good fighting
materials in the armies of the now
defunct empire. and she has never
really dem JbilIzed. Her leaders be-
lieve that with great easesthe troops
o now under arms could wage vic
torious war on all Hungarian from
tiers against Slav. Bohemian and
Rumanian invaders, and they would
have done so long since but for the
presence of allied military missions
who have made it clear that such
campaigns would draw down the
vengeance of Marshall Foch.
Ignore Paris Commando.
At present the Bungarians find
their neighbOrs ignoring the COM
mands Of Paris and grabbing what
they want, while Hungary is forbid
den by Paris to protect herself Ac-
cordingly the moderate Socialists are
passing in droyes to the extremists,
the headquarters of the Russian pro-