Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-08-24

| or four millions of their Polish SUBJ
jects. long held in slavery and in the
hrst instance acquired by a piece Of
International brigandage. beyond de-
Tense. IL they were determined to re-
gain the territory thus taken, to re-
sist the taking by every known
means; in a word. IL they valued
what they conceived to be their
property more highly than the new
1 ideas, then the thing would fall of its
own weight. because, the Poles would
be compelled to look for allies to
! preserve what they had received as a
matter of right from the Paris con-
ference and the Paris conference
would have to rely upon force. not
only Immediately. but for the futures
to protect it's decisions. IT,
But it was manifest from the out
set that Germany. the German people.
was not willing to accept the liber-
alton of their Polish lands. which cut
their own territory into two parts.
| separated by alien lands. Moreover, it
was equally clear that the Austrians
| the Hungarians, the Bulgarians, all
our enemies. were not more willing
| to accept other similar settlements.
| even when based upon equally just
premises, with any greater readiness.
This was. however, less Immediate.
ly disturbing than the fact that soon
| developed, that not only the recently
hostile nations, but those countries
4 SILL III tic dlllduCe WHICH naQ
won the war, were not in the least
disposed to accept similar arranges
hents. The French. for example,
were willing to surrender their claim
| to the military barrier of the RhinA
/: frontier only if the United States Of
fered its military strength as a sub
stitute. that is. if we undertook to re-
place the Rhine barrier by American
armies. which would debark in France
whenever Germany violated the terms
of the treaty.
String to British Compliance.
| AS for the British. they were ready
to do everything in the world to as
sist Mr.. Wilson in applying his prifi.
ciples. the American principles, to
every other nation in the world. but
| the President learned with instant
alacrity that discussion of the ques-
ton Of the freedom of the seas was
| beyond the possibilities of the situa.
ton. In this. as in the French in
stance. what was encountered was
not desire for territory. an impe-
rialism of the old sort, but the in.
stinct for self-preservation. Britain
and France. each of them. after u
terrible experience which had fallen
little short of being fatal. insisted
upon guarantees against a return Of
| the danger. which were not found in
the league of nations principles.
! AAC AAcPoNC Will luS 1IduduS, WHOM
Iext interviewed, went q little further,
the Italians were concerned both on
4 the score OF security and Of territory,
They asked for a guarantee not
against a situation which existed but
one which might arise: they asked
| protection against the possible de-
velopment Of a Slav state on the
east shore of the Adriatic. including
1 those provinces of the old Hapsburg
| monarchy. from which came the main
4
and defeated Italy at the Isonzo. and
subsequently, invaded and wasted
Venetia to the Piava. And they
i were not willing. like the French. to
take an American alliance, instead
Of territorial barrier. Here. then,
one of our associates in the war re-
| pudiated the principle which was tho
foundation Of all American policy
at the peace conference. Moreover.
| when the President appealed to the
Italian people over the heads of thets
statesmen, the people rallied to the
| statesmen, demonstrating that It
least one people valued certain thingg
| more than peace,
Not Ready for Sacrifices. y
Before we emerged from the first
| stage of peace-making. therefore. II
began to be apparent that the orig
1
| ton of the President, that the peo-
| pies of the world were prepared 20
| make any sacrifice for reorganisae
ton of the world on new lines. was
breaking down. Not only were IN
| German people manifestly unwilling
to do justice to enslaved races. but
| our allies, the three great western
| powers, all of them liberal democ-
racies, were not prepared to sacrince
| what they conceived to be the condf!
/ S,iu conditions OF
national security. In the case or
| Britain we have gotten around the
| difficulty by dropping the discussion
| OF the freedom of the seas. In tne
case Of France we mao iac. on NE te AN
ritorial occupation. military aihance
which was in conflict with the fundaE
mental principle Of the league OF ma,
tons In the case Of Italy we could nna
| no solution, SO the SITUATION oecatne anu
| remains a deadlock.
| Then we encountered japan in the
matter of Shantung. In TINS case ehe.S
was nothing to give even a coioraoIS
appearance of a concern for nationat
Japan. and the possession by China OF
what had been stolen from her oy
Germany would not add any new ter
ritory. which would give the Chinese
an advantage. if they ever should
plan an attack. Nor was there any
=
as there was in Fiume, and lara NO.
the case was simple. it was the same
old desire Of a great nation to e1.
pand at the expense OF weaker, y
was the old German principle of
| splace in the sum-" But in the face
of the Japanese claims. largely be-
cause of the Italian experience. we
surrendered, we turned 100000 or
| Chinese over to Japanese masters. IN
doing this we frankly conceded that.
SO far as the Japanese were con-
cerned. the new principles had no
present application.
~
Forced Into Compromises.
Thus, in the case Of the four great
nations, with whom we had been al
lied or associated, the term is MOTH
ing, we were compelled in four spe-
cific instances, to recognize that the
original conception. the fundamental
conception, so far as the league OF
nations was concerned, did not apply
and in only one case. by offering q
conflict with the league Of nations
idea, had we avoided a complete sur
render either to the needs of national
security, in the case of Britain and
France, to the combined need of Sc
curity and desire for expansion in the
Italian case. or to the undisguised
Imperialism of the Japanese.
promises leading away from the
league of nations PRINCIPLES were but
the prelude to what wa< now to come.
OF a sudden our representatives. in
Paris, the Paris conference, found IT
self face to face with Rumanian,
Greek, Polish, southern Slav claims.
which were urged by peoples who
~