New-York tribune., 1919-11-09

the same Italians who cheered ",
Wilson in Rome as a savior Of n.
world. not a year ago, are TO-DAY
denouncing him with a frenzy q,
least as mad. The European polie.
who had to rescue Americans fron
embraces which threatened stranyn.~
lation on Armistlce Day, at least IN
certain corners of Europe. are now
equally busy guarding Americans
from assassination. Defeating the
Germans has not visibly modified
human nature, abolished jealousiea
angers, dislikes in men or nations
Even worse, all the splendor Of na.
tional unity and mutual sacrifice for
a common cause has not mada
Frenchmen permanently lay aside
domestic feuds or Americans FORGET
old political animosities.
Wherefore 1t Is plain that tn
coming Of the first anniversary Of
the armistice will be a signal for
much bitterness and not little re-
elimination. But by contrast Il
seems to me that each succeeding
anniversary may we'll bring, with
a broader perspective, bettct
appreciation of the actual achieve
ments Of the war. Much that the
contemporary world momentarily
expected will be dismissed as a nat.
ural consequence of the strain Of
the years, then recent; for the rest,
believe each decade will demon
strate more clearly how great was
the danger from which we all
escaped when at last Germany sur
rendered on November IL, 1918.
The real measure Of the victory
is to be found not in reading he
terms of the Treaty of Versa hes,
but those of the treaties Of Brest-
Litovsk and Bucharest, documents
which were to have served as
models for that subsequent Peace
of Paris 20 be written by the good
German sword. The world to-day
tends to forget what the German
was gong to do and to confsme is
attention TO what the conquerors
Of Germany have not done.
All Eanted Too Much
remember riding last spring in
the Woevre plain, where village
after village had been DESTROYED.
and picking up along the way an old
French peasant woman, going back
to examine for the first time the
home from which she had fed four
years before when German hordes
first entered France. She did not
know whether there was a single
stone left or not and she had every
reason to believe that all had been
swept away, Judging by what she
saw all about her.
In due time we came to her ham,
let, We rounded the corner and saw
the walls Of her home. They stood,
they seemed intact. She leaped
from the car and rushed through
the open door, while we followed at
distance. 1t was a solid stone
house, the entrance seemed sound.
the front rooms betrayed not
sign OF destruction; from downright
fear we changed rapidly to a sense
OF exultation understood by any one
who has seen German destruction.
But IN her final survey, in a stone
shed adjoining the house, the woman
found the Boche had driven a deep
dugout straight down through the
moor. There was the hole, mass
Oh broken cement, and. seeing t. in
single second every sense of sat
lsfaction and gratitude vanish. 4
and the Frenchwoman denounced
the invaders with fury beyond nv
Feeble French to follow or connrre-
bend. Her house was safe. it stood
amid the ruins of wrecked town
but the cowshed was mutilated. not
lrreparably, but visbly. and her
rage was beyond description.
Atterward, in Paris, in the universal
execration of the Peace Confer
ence, l was more than once remind
ed Of the woman of Etain.
~