The Richmond Virginian. (Richmond, Va.) 1910-1920, 1919-02-09
By BOnEKT WELLEs RrrCMIE

uHT ROhERT WELLES KTTCHI6
.-fsrta. Feb. s---"My son. one OF
the American peace commissioners
addressed me to-day, thereby nas-
tering me. beyond measure do you
suppose the folks ut home realize
what = large proposition this pAAcs
conference y going to be Do tney
understand that all the world from
Patagonia to Lebanon u demanding
n, hearing at this gxthertnS. Of The
delegates and that we shaA. have to
consider questions that tspeoplo at
home know nothing ahopt7s". 81 $
/, had TO agree with tho respected
Peace Plenipo tenuafysf that beysnd
question our people at 1herne st1Ave not
YET begun to get the sf1R srealiztlon
OF how deeply their country 10 zHd' Is
to~he involved in ridNaffAars. f TOOK
~ for granted that the average news :
paper render back In the states sSsas
in the same state as am nj the pres
ert tirne--,1tterly bewildered BY the
magnitude of Theses things which are
about to be threshed out III Paris. So
I had 10 answer that I thought the
average citizen OF iowa or Kansas Or
Massachusetts assuredly did not real
ixe what the bounds OF the peace Con
ferance are to be. ~.s. >
You know IA well MS do that swc.
folks OF the states are an insuiar peo-
Ufy.~and that before the war start
ed the small paragraphs appearing In
efur papers and having to do with
European and Asiatic politics went
right over our heads. We had no In
terest in the young Turks except in
SO Tar as We liked to see a young man
get ahead, we knew as much about
the Albanian problem as we did of
the fourth dimension, and when some
photographer wrote a humorous verse
about the "Aucune of Swat---if thai
wal his I,le---we remefn 5ered thai
Swfn was some place with funny
name and let IL go al that
In word. Mr.. Constant Reader
ard your neighbor, MIR. Pro Bono Pub
Iicu.e you and and ali OF us are not
..ur-on the DOPE" as the vulgar per
sons VINO knew racing slang used to
eay In the old. wild days, In this bust
ness OF the making OF world peace
And these paragraphs are TO warn
vol, that very soon you are TO read
great deal OF telegraph news That .wtli
be inherently interesting II you only
put yourself In the position OF under
standing what II means
Ecars this fact In mind: whatever
part the American Expeditionary
Force played in the last year OF tho
world war--and everybody over here
comedies IL was glorious parf--the
final settlement of the great quarrai
which they alone brouSht about In
wolves issues you and never heard
OF before 1917 Remember that all
Of the old grudges and all of the
carefully preserved hatreds OF peoples
against peoples which have been
pursed along for the past forty years
and more are going To ~come out IN
the wash" as we say back home.
during the next three or four months
And because America fought In this
war American representatives at the
rrca, council table Of peace will find
themselves called upon to decide
~herc they stand on this and that
bitter issue which Is as far beyond
American politics as the plant Jnpi
ter.
For example. the asiies have psedE~d
themselves to give liberty TO Polish
state. and the component parts OF
that state will be German. Austrian
and -Russaan Vaguely we have syn
pnthsxed with \ Polish IDEAL for tho
rr-~stahiishment OF liberty after lse
Years. we've had the idea that Polish
reopIe have produced excellent com
roeere, and therefore IL would be nice
10 xtve them liberty. But when you
read. In the ensuing weeks that There
are two or three Polish parties--one