Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-24
BEARING OF "MESSESo
ON LEAGUE OF NATIONS
Siimonds Explains How Conflicting Inter.
ests of Various European Nations )
Are Undermining Compact.
BY FRANK H. sIMoNDs.

BY FRANK H. sIMONDs.
NICE I returned from Paris, more
than two months ago, readers
and friends Of mine have not
infrequently said to me in sub
stance. why continue to discuss in
your articles the -messes' in the mid
die of Europe. rather than the ques-
tions which more Immediately concern
the United States. such as the pre-
else effect upon us Of the various pro-
visions Of the league of nations?"
The answer to this inquiry seems to
me to be gradually disclosing itself
in the various '1messes" themselves.
It appears almost beyond question
that the mass of the American people
must at last be beginning to see the
essential difference between the Euro
pean fact and their own understand
ing Of the fact as derived from Paris
reports during the progress of the
peace conference and from the Wash
ington comments in advance of that
gathering.
Encounter Old Nationalism.
I remember that Jane Adams said
to me in Paris. at the moment when
the Fiume and Shantung disputes
seemed to be bringing the whole
league Of nations conception down
like a house Of cards. that the new
ideas" had suddenly encountered and
been blocked by a recrudescence of
the old nationalism. In a sense. it
seems to me Miss Adams put her
finger upon the exact difficulty, which
has not decreased in Importance in
the period which has followed the
signing of the treaty of Versailles.
The American delegation. the Pres
ident of the United States, went to
Europe to advocate an idea, which
was itself based upon an interpreta-
ton of the world conditions. The
idea, the fundamental idea, which
underlay all the subsequent actions
Of Mr.. Wilson was itself bound to
lead to inevitable confusion. chaos.
failure, provided that the interpreta-
ton Of world conditions proved-te be
inexact.
Would Make League a Dream.
We may say that this idea. which
we call the league Of nations princi-
ton that the whole world, as re-
suit of the terrible experiences and
the ineffable agony of more than
four years of war. was seeking q new
organization of world relations which
would make a recurrence OF this
catastrophe impossible; that the peo-
pies, who. in the end control their
governments. were prepared to make
any concession to their neighbors. to
their rivals, to listen to any COM
promise based upon justice, which
would abolish the old causes OF war.
Now, r. this essential fact should
prove not to be a fact at all. then
nations could not be any more than
a dream. For. If the French. the
British, the italian and, for that mat
ter. the German people were not pre-
pared to make very great sacrifices
then the old causes would remain. the
old rivalries continue and the noble
aspiration of world peace prove IL
lusory.
But what concessions were neces-
sary? Here was and is the key OF
the whole situation. For example,
we in the United States have an old
and long-standing quarrel with Mex
leo and an even more recent dispute
with Colombia In each case We, as
a result of an arbitrary use Of power.
took territory to which our moral
claim was slight, ii not non-existent.
Should we, as a consequence, be pre-
pared to cede back southern. Cali,
fornia and New Mexico to Mexico, and
Panama to Colombia, provided that
the French and the British. the
italians and the Japanese concluded
that there was no other way OF abol-
ishing Mexican and Colombian re-
sentiment? This was in substance the
thesis which We proclaimed in Europe.
Many Sacrifices Asked.
We, through the President. asked the
Germans to give up territory taken
Danes, which in several instances had
been in German or Prussian hands for
years preceding the American revo-
luton, We asked the Hungarians to
give up lands which had been theirs
for a thousand years, we told the
Italians that they could not have
city and a shore. which had been
Latin. which was decorated with some
of the most splendid monuments of
Rome, some of the most charming
circumstances Of Venetian architec-
ture. and in which. in certain districts.
like Fiume city, the population was
Italian and desired to be Joined to the
Savoy monarchy.
More than this, we told the French
that they must now. at the end of the
war, forced upon them by the Ger
mans, after the fourth invasion of
German armies within a century, re-
sig nthe permanent maintenance of
the only safe military barrier against
still another invasion. while We op-
posed their acquisition of certain coal
lands, part Of which had been stolen
from them q century ago. as a COM
pensation for the wanton and deltber-
ate destruction Of their own coal dis
trfcts about Lens.
Nor we did not, for reasons which
remain a bit hazy, insist, although we
did suggest, that the British consent
to a change in the conditions Of sea
power. which, under the vague for
mula of the freedom of the seas"
would have. at least in British eyes,
weakened the one weapon essential to
their existence, not alone as great
power, but as a free people.
Opposed Various Claims.
In the Paris conference our repre-
at various times. opposed
the French, the British, the Japanese
and the Italian claims while they
agreed to changes with respect of
Germany, of Austria and OF Hungary,
which, subsequent developments make
Il idle to suppose the peoples of these
several nations will accept perma-
nently, since in every case these
chanees placed at least minority
and sometimes q majority under
hateful alien rule. In the same way
we did equal violence to the aspfra-
lions of the Rumanians. the Greeks,
The Southern Slavs and the Poles.