Richmond times-dispatch. [volume] (Richmond, Va.) 1914-current, 1919-04-20
t.s,c ....,o The Times-Dispa,ch.

$50 20 The Times Dispatch.I
WASlil NGTON. April 1?.-The reports
peace conference ut Paris for moro than
a week have been more alarming than
any that tho world has been given since
the negotiations opened at the begin
nlnS Of the year and that official Wash
inGton has been deeply disturbed by
them is quite evident TO any observer
in this city.
These reports have not only indica ted
out they have disclosed, the fact that
deadlock on the part of the four lead
ing powers. They are not working as
unit; They arc not driving to the
crossing as friends and allies should to-
ward treniy which must remake the
world and rcshape the destiny of peo-
PIES and OF nations.
Trouble in the Ranks.
There can be no question as 70 the
truth of this situation. There is trouble
IN the ranks of tho allies. There are
ness TO compromise. There are selfish
ends TO be served. And there arc pos
sibili;ies of disunion and failure at the
anxiety. and may well cause men all
over the world TO wonder if it is hu-
manly possible for any power to recon
ellie the differences which are known to
exist
Tha, this tightening OF. the lines
should have come toward the close OF
inevitable, 1t might have been expect
ed The showdown has now come. The
table has arrived. The period dp Of MAJ S.e
neuvering and iockeying has passed
France must state and no doubt has
arc. She has told her associates thar
she must have so much and no lass
italy has come to the same point. She
has let II DC known that she dare not
go back TO her people unless Such-and-
such a program has been contaminated
Great Britain and America, standing to-
n ty1, h@s
ciates for moderation, for Justice to
all interests. and for n treaty which
vii make the peace now being fash
that ought to endure.
Hardening of Jaws.
1t is no wonder. therefore. that at
this stage OF the peace processes there
!. HARDENING Of jaws. What aSees is ar TO
whatever lost is = be lost now. Nor
strife which is going on within the
council chamber reach the outside. that
they should create alarm among the in
tent observers in Paris or uneasiness
on the part Of the millions far removed
from Paris who find the reflections OF
that alarm in their newspapers.
That there is NEUTRALITY-SUSPICIOUS.
grave ontroversy-Going on behind the
scenes in Paris must he accepted as
true And tina, this controversy has
resulted in unfortunate delays in bring
ing the war to an end everybody
knows, but nobody dcplores more than
the peace commissioners themselves, no
doubt. Even so. this does not doom the
peace conference TO failure IL does not
mean that the whole business is about
to break up in fist fight 1t does not
mean that the President is about 10
withdraw from the conference, aban-
doning the whole undertaking. 1t does
not mean that the league of nations
program has collapsed. and that all cf-
forts to organize on international union
have have been futile, 1t does not mean
that grand explosion is about 10 be
staged, and that the men who arc gath
cred there are to give up the ghost
Prophecies may be as hazardous in
one direction as another, but IL is here
predicted that the peace conference be-
fore the month of April has passed viii