Evening star., 1919-04-22
HOPES OF u. S. AND SAFETY
OF FRANCE F1ARMONIZED
Fate Of All Europe Locked Up With That
of Germany-Senate Share in
Future Protection.

out of Germany's bad faith in OBJ
serving the terms of this treaty, as
we have the American President
pledged to use his great influence
In his own country to procure SIM
liar American guarantee.
Fought for Fourteen Points.
1t will be said. and has been said
already in quarters hostile to the
President, that he has sacrificed his
principles and made compromises in
contravention of his fourteen points.
but viewed from Paris this is hardly
fair criticism. He has, in fact,
seen the necessity of interpreting his
fourteen points. which were In them
selves abstract and academic, in the
pean situation. He has avoided de-
stroyzng the chance Of real peace by
insisting on a too. literal translation
OF his previous utteranceS, transla-
tfon urged against him at least once
by the British prime minister, whose
hostility to the creation of a real Po-
land has been one of the most amaz-
ing%circumstances of the whole confer
ence. At all times. the President has
consistently fought for his fourteen
points.
The treaty which will be formulat-
those principles, but in the end he
has wisely and generously recognized
the special claims of France and the
justice Of the French demand for
other assurance than that supplied
by the league of nations against
German attack during the period in
which the world would have to dis
cover whether Germany is to follow
new pathways or to return to the
old
And SO, after four months of debate,
and five and half months after the
armistice. the Germans are to come
to Versailles to learn their fate, and
locked up with their fate is the fate
of Europe for the future. for we have
come to one more of the historic set
Elements of Europe, like those of
Westphalia, Utrecht and Vienna.
AS Europe at the beginning of the
eighteenth century. and again at the
beginning of the nineteenth century,
reorganizeG itself after a successful
repelling of a French attack. she has
now to reorganiZe herself after Ger
man attack, which aimed at world
domination predicated by European
hegemony.
Five Distinct Phases.
This settlement carries with it FIVE
distinct phases. Germany is to be de-
prived of the territories seized by her
in other wars of aggression and held
against the will of their inhabitants
She is to be disarmed on land and
sea, and subjected to regulations de-
signed to prevent new aggression. She
is to be compelled to repay the costs
of war in destruction to property,
and, in part, life. In addition she is
to lose her colonies outside of Eu-
rope. colonies in which she has
expressed the same spirit of savagery
and brutality which marked her Euro
pean conquests in the recent war.
To these terms. which affect Ger
many alone. there are to be added
the provisions which create the league
for international Intercourse in the
future and the tribunal in which in
ternational disputes will be settled
without war. Behind the league of
nations covenant will stand the allied
strength of Great Britain. France
gress shall assent. of the United
States also, SO that if Germany re-
fuses to regard the moral force of
the league of nations she will be con-
fronted by the military force OF the
liberal nations.
Like every peace which has ever
been made, &he peace Of Versailles
will represent compromises. but,
more than any peace" that has ever
been made ia the past, it will also
represent this earnest desire of the
nations making 1t to found their de-
cisions upon Justice, and fortify them
by proper recognition of the rights of
the various races. No European ter
ritory will be taken from Germany 10
which her claim is valid, for the
profit of any of the great powers
who have combined to conquer her.
Changes to Be Made.
Alsace-Lorraine is French again,
but the French moral claim to these
provinces has never been disputed
save by Germany. The Saar coal dis
trict, half of which was once French,
has been erected into an independent
territory like Luxembourg, simply to
provide reparation to France for the
destruction of her own coal regions
and the return of the territory to
Germany after fifteen years is as
sured il the inhabitants so desire.
Aside from these changes, Germany
will lose a tiny region inhabited by
Danes in Schleswig and most. but not
all, of the territory which Prussia
stole from Poland in the Successive
partitions.
In all of her wars Prussia. has taken.
territory inhabited by people who d,;
"ct wish TO be Prussian l.: tai new
tCOtitinued on SECOND l,a.e,