Fulton County tribune. (Wauseon, Ohio) 1883-1925, 1919-01-03
The Peace
Table and After
NO.
A Ring of Iron or Ring of PuttyP
BY CLARENCE / SPEED

by CLARENCE l.. SPEED
(Written for and Approved by the War
Committee of the Union League Club of
Chicago)
The same Germany which, only q
few months ago, seemed near to sue
cess in an effort to dominate the
world by force of arms. will be in ex-
istence when the peace treaty is sign
ed. 1t may not have the same rul-
ers, but it will be inhabited by the
same peOple-people who long have be-
lieved that military and political ex-
pansion should be coupled with CON-
mercial expansion.
This Germany will be surrounded
by ring of nations not one of which,
alone, can compare even with defeat
ed Germany in wealth and industrial
power.
Whether this ring of nations shall
be ring of iron to resist German
aggression in the future of a ring of
putty in German hands rests partly
on the action to be taken at the peace
conference, but more upon the future
policy of the United States and the
SlNoA hdtlOliS w HILL ave DtCH dSSOCI-
ated with her in war in reference to
continued support of the states now
about to emerge from centuries of op-
preston as result of the great war.
Greatest Peril on the East.
OF Belgium, Of France of Italy.
there is no doubt Come what may
they may be depended upon to make the
western part of the circle strong as
iron to resist German expansion.
It is on the eastern side of the cir
Gle that the greatest peril remains
peril that the nations which are to
be set up may in time become not
barriers to German expansion, but
mere tools in her hands.
Among these will be Poland. which
has suffered deeply under the iron
heel of German despotism Czecho
| Slovakia, which. for centuries, has
grOaned beneath the Hapsburg yoke
Ukrainia, which, during the war, es-
capped from the power of the czar only
to be subjected to worse oppression
! Roumania, which was driven perilOus-
| ly close to destruction in an effort to
rescue the RoumanianS outside her
border from Magyar tyranny; Jugo-
! Slavia, and finally there will be indie
pendent Hungary, composed of head
been in close alliance with the Teu
TONS
Grab Planned by Germany.
Germany herself, even while seem
ingly victorious, planned nominal in
dependence for at least two of these
States-POland and Urkrainia. but they
were to be thoroughly dominated by
German rulers until such time as i
might be convenient to absorb then
outright. Defeated Germany will seel
at the peace table to bring about con
ditions which will prevent them from
obtaining full economic independence
and reconstructed Germany. whethe
it be republic or empire, will seek com
mercial dominance in all these lands
It remains for the United States ant
the entente allies to see that these ma
tions not only are set up. but tina
their governments are firmly establish
ed and their peoples given an oppor
tunity to take their place in the indus
trial life of the world. This mean
l that money must be provided in tn
shape of national loans to the nev
governments and in the form of pri
vate capital for the development o
natural resources.
Ships must be provided for tn
development of commerce to and fron
their ports. and ports must be provid
ed to harbor the ships. This latte
necessity is one which offers the frs
prospect not only of difficulty wit
Germany but, perhaps, between som
of the allies themselves No German
government whether it be imperial o
industrial-socialist, will consent, un
less it is forced, to grant Poland
port on the Baltic. yet Poland mus