Evening journal., 1919-03-04
Is President Wilson Deceived?
From The Nation.)

The conditions Of the new armistice
are now being formulated and are eX-
pected 10 be ready for presentation TO
Germany within a few days. Their
terms have not been officially publish
cd, but, according 10 Information pre-
sumably from French sources, they are
20 be more severe than the terms now
I'm force. Press reports say that they
viii include such items as the dis
mantling Of border fortlfcations. Allied
supervision of the armament plants at
Essen, abandonment Of conscriptions
and certain restrictions on military
training which carry a reminder of
the restrictions imposed by Napoleon
on the Prusslans in the days of Scharn-
horst. The object Of this Is 10 reduce
Germany, as one correspondent puts It,
from q position Of menace and danger
to o position in which she can demon
strate her good faith in her present
protestatiOns Of reform"
Meanwhile the blockade goes on: the
Central Powers are forbidden the re-
sumption OF that commerce with the
outside world which alone can rehabli-
tate their industrial life. rc-esiablish
their responsibility, solycncy, and con
tentment, and raise them from the posi-
ton OF International wards and paupcrs
to the status Of a profitable market il
Is nigh time TO ask whether President
Wilson is aware of the immensely un-
favorable reaction OF this policy upon
the industrial life Of the nations which
are giving tacit consent 10 its main
tenance? Is he so wholly taken up
with the superficial and external me
moranda OF international politics that
he can not perceive the enormous delri-
ment and disability put upon Allied re-
construction by the maintenance Of this
purDlind policy? What, one may ask,
is the use Of spending all this time
over the draft of an inter-Allied treaty
and eXpounding the theory of q new
political alignment, so long as the en-
tire practical direction of European af-
fairs is handed over carte blanche 10
The French military authorities? As
long ago as the first week in January,
the London Observer said:
The Allies are in some dangcr Of pre-
cipilating in Germany what they
should most wish TO avoid They are
perfectly entitled 10 insist upon the dis
perisily entitled 10 maintain the full
rigot of the blockade. But simultane-
ously 30 empty millions Of men into
civilian life and 10 exclude the raw ma
terills which alone can give them en-
ployment is the most rapid process for
making BOlshcvsts that has yet been
discovered. Unemployment and Boil
shepisn soon establish a vicious circle
Of mutual stimulation. and il has al
ready begun 10 operate in Germany
upon very serious scale. Nothing
could De more calculated in that coun-
try TO Illustrate the appearance Of an
authentic Government with whom
peace might be concluded.
The Manchester Guardian OF January
30, in an energetic editorial under the
caption Blockade, Bolshevism, and
Business quotes the foregoing from
the Observer, and calls it by precisely
It's right name, elementary common
sense; and goes on 10 show that since
The arm'stice, the blockade is unms-
takably more rigorous than during the
war. II now covers the Baltic and the
thine and a good part Of the eastern
frontier. The Guardian cites the
strongly pro-Ally Journal de Gencye 10
the effect that the food situation in
German Austria is such that il IL IS not
ameliorated. the victory OF The Boil
shevist elements will be unavoidable:
and goes on TO observe that "Bol-
shevism in this connection means that
The poor should help themselves from
the resources Of the rich, and. sup
posing they have the power and the
alternative is 10 starye, that is precise
ly what they may be expected 10 do. D." !
Well, let them starve: let them steal |
from one another as long as they can
and then all starve together Just so. |
One may we regretfully admit, have
become so well indoctrinated with |