New-York tribune., 1919-07-13
World League
Stepping Stone,
Lansing's View
Present Treaties Merely
a Starting Point in
Reconstruction of the
Nations, Says Secretary

PARIS, July 12-Before leaving for
the United States tonight Secretary
Lansing made the following statement:
"Many thoughts rush to mind on
leaving the peace conference, after six
months of effort. Never before has
such an international gathering been
held, for here has been the meeting
ground of twenty-seven nations to
hquidate a world war and establish a
new order and laboratory where
already system of world cooperation
has been born, out of necessity
"Out of it all has come the most i'm
portant international document ever
drawn the treaty of peace with Ger
many, a document which not only
meets the issues of the present war,
but also lays down new agreements Of
the most helpful and most hopeful
character. The nations are bound TO-
gether to avert another world catas-
thrope, backward peoples are given a
new hope for their future, several
racial entities are liberated to form
new states, beginning is made toward
removing unjust economic restrictions,
and the great military autocracies of
Central Europe are destroyed as the
first step in a general disarmament.
Treaty Not Perfect, he Says
"The treaty is, of course, not all that
he had hoped for 1t could hardly be
expected to be. Too many conflicting
interests were involved as we'll as too
many legitimate documents which
would tax the most perfectly balanced
mind. Nearly every one will find in it
weaknesses both of omission and com
mission, provisions inserted which
t<rb< bot 1of< ND
provisions left out which might better
have been inserted
"Such a document must, however, be
examined both against the back
ground of its creation and in the large
sweep of its spirit. From that point
of view we may call it stepping stone
from the old international methods to
the new. If it still holds some of the
distrusts and hatreds of the war which
Germany has full we'll earned for her
self; if its construction has been him
dered by memories of secret pacts
and promises, it must be borne in mind
that it carries with it the evident pur-
pose to throw off the old methods Of
international intrigue and plotting.
But the present treaties are but the
starting point Of world reconstruction.
Now that the general principles have
DCCl lolu OOWIl, II IcllidiIlS 10 SAtCQLe
them; and by that l mean. not so much
which have recently run amuck in the
world, but rather the cleansing and
healing processes that shall really
make good our hopes and aspirations.
World Peril Still Seen
Undoubtedly there is great danger
in the world to- day. Many people have
thought that the mere signing of the
treaty with Germany marks the ending
of the world peril. Public opinion
seems to have breathed a sigh of relic!
tration of thought on world problem:
is weaknening now when it is mos,
essential, and the forces of disintegra
tion and reaction have been given {
freedom of action far greater thar
when the world was on its guard.
The situation to-day is serious
Western civilization is still dazed b,
the shock of four and half years o,
destruction. Industry and commerce
are not yet restored. All of Europe i.
impoveri ished; parts Of it are starving
Its whole political fibre has been sho
through. Russia and Hungary ar,
gripped by subversive political doc
trines; Austria-Hungary and Turkey a.
eihPiies nave cedseu 10 Des Foland an'
Czecho-Slovakia are struggling to thei
! feet as members of the family of ma
tions. All that complicated machiner,
| of society which took decades to elab
+ crate and world war to tear dow
I cannot be replaced overnight by
wholly different machinery.
Many problems remain unsettled
Territorial adjustments to secure tn,
rights of people to live under thei,
own flag as far as possible in tn,
tangled skein of European nationali
ties may be effective. Attainment O.
the Polish frontiers on all sides. par
/ Continued on page seven