New-York tribune., 1919-10-09
The Tragedy of the Peace

Leon Bourgeois, one of the worlds
most eminent pacifsts and now chair
man of the peace commission of the
French Senate, advises in his report i'm
mediate ratification. But he does not
affront the intelligence Of his country
men by insncere eulogy Of the covenant.
On the contrary, he frankly recog
nizes that it does not measure up to the
worlds hope, and regrets that great
opportunity was not seized. He partcu-
larly deplores the failure to limit arma-
ments or to formulate code of interna-
tional law.
A finger is thus placed on weak
nesses Of the Smuts-Wilson plan, which
reduce it almost to nullity. Joint dis
armament obviously lies at the heart of
the peace problem. Whatever verbal
pledges the nations may exchange, if
they continue to arm against .one an
other their acts belle their professions.
Germany was helpless, her military ma
chine smashed; she had no option but to
accept the mandate to remain disarmed
With entire safety the victorious nations,
in view of the fact that military power is
a relative matter, could have reduced the
burden Of miltarsm and lessened its
DANGERS
But nothing was done. The delegates
Of this country, with amazing ndffer-
encc, were chilly to the proposals of
7 .1Ovd CoOrUo to abolish concentrates, ,,J
the statesmen Of Versailles, when they
separated, went home to urge enlarge
ment of military esta blishments. The
covenants only reference to disarmament
is the barren one that committee shall
be appointed to study the problem
Forges are busy on bigger Rig Berthas,
new fleets OF submarines are being built:
bomb droppers are in the air which are
capable of carrying tons of explosives
thousands of miles.
No inhibitions are laid on the use Of
the new instruments of horror. We
would have gone to war with Germany
if for no other reason than that she
employed submarines in a piratical
way. We are to make peace without even
Germany agreeing that we were right.
AR bombardments, it may be assumed.
Will occur in the next war. More lethal
poison gases will fiji the air. What inte..-
national law there was in restraint of
savaeery has been scrapped and nothing
substituted for it. A commission is
to be named to draft a code which NAV
or may not be accepted.
So, pacifist though he is, NJ Bourge-
ois is compelled to admit that the only
course for France and for other peace
abe nations is to depend on them
selves for defence. He acknowledges that
military preparedness is renewed me-
cessity. He IS enough Of realist to see
that the world is essentially where if
was in 1914, and sadly perceive that
the great principle of "never again" re-
ceived no embodiment. He hopes a real
peace league will yet be created but
from his experience at the Hague con-
ferences is aware how difficult it is to
get the nations to agree.
The great tragedy Of the peace con.
ference was that the spirit of solidarity
developed by the events of the war was
not used to establish international rela.
tons on new foundations. A great
chance slipped by. Already the conse
quences appear, for the nations AGAR
snarl at one another, and internationa
tolerance and good will, the stuff out OF
which peace is made, have seldom beer
weaker than now.