Evening star., 1919-11-16
Must Adopt Foreign Policy.

stances it seems to me inevitable that
the. United States will. have soon. very
soon, to. adopt real foreign policy
based upon the facts in the world
situation. We shall. to put it badly.
have to decide whether we shall stand
with France and Great Britain in
maintaining the conditions created in
western Europe by the peace of Yer
sailles or whether we shall. by wash
ing our hands of European affairs,
encourage the Germans to make a
new bid for world power.
Not less clearly we shall haYe to
decide to what extent we mean to,
contribute in men and in money, both
may be necessary, to guarantee the
permanency of such states as Poland,
Czechoslovakia, Jugoslavia, since
without the assurance of our support
all three may disappear at no distant
! time. By attaching reservations to
the treaty of Versailles or even by
irepudiating the treaty and making a
| separate treaty with Germany we will
at best only dodge these issues for a
/ brief moment, since the questions
themselves will remain.
| Senate Has Hurt League.
In my judgment the course of the
| oHileu StuISS SENATE mas pTdcl1calIy
robbed the league of nations of any
real vitality or any hopeful strength
The effect has been exactly like that
of a fight made in his home district
| against candidate for national of
! fee. If his own district is divided
his chance of enlisting outside sup
! port is fatally diminished. The league
OF nations was our proposal Of Paris,
it had no other strength. and this
I lofr >, k1lr
course of the Senate demonstrated
American division of opinion.
But destroying the league of nations
| as vital force does not of itself
supply substitute: it only brings
us back to the position we occupied
on the morrow of the armistice. To
| reject the Presidents plan or to de-
stroy it by indirection. to reserve it
| into actual futility will not close the
incident. 1t will still be necessary
to formulate a new foreign policy, to
| decide on the extent to which we
mean to associate ourselves with our
/ European friends in preventing
new confiagration and thus guarding
| against new necessity to send our
youth to France or Italy Had the
came it would require the transport
of 100000 American boys to France
and entail at least a third of a mil
lion of casualties. together with bill
l1oHS oI expenditure, american states
manship would not have been totally
quiescent in the fatal days of July.
! What we did do when we entered
the war made profound and lasting
impression in Europe. Our strength
is today exaggerated rather than un-
derrated and our influence must re-
main tremendous by reason of the
estimate placed upon our strength
for long years to come. But unless we
! have a foreign policy, unless our vast
influence is effectively used. we may
still be involved. dragged blindly into
new conflagration which our inf1u-
ence wisely exerted could have pre-
vented.
| do not think it is an exaggeration
| to say that the degree of stability
which exists today in Europe is in a
considerable measure founded upon
American credit and upon the belief
| that American aid and participation
in European affairs is assured. If we
abstain from promising the French
aid, in case Of a new German aggres-
sion, the French will stay at .the
Rhine. as, they should. If they stay
at the Rhine. corresponding adjust
nnents will follow all over Europe.
and these adjus,mcntssw i'll bring II Wv