Evening star., 1919-11-09
FIGHTING ENDED YEAR
AGO. BUT NOT HORRORS
Mr.. Simonds Laments That as the First
Anniversary of Armistice Occurs Much
of Europe Is Still at War.

to furnish the troops necessary IL
there is to be a fair election in por-
tions of Germany to determine wheth-
er the inhabitants shall remain Ger
man or pass to Poland. to Denmark
or to Belgium.
More than this the course of the
United States has almost amounted to
a repudiation of the essential prin-
ciple enunciated by President Wilson
in Europe that America was hence
forth to emerge from her isolation
and in association with the other lib
eral powers establish a league of ma
tions and contribute to the clothing
of its decisions with adequate au-
thority. The ratification of the treaty
of Versailles in Washington without
amendment seems certain; but the
reservations. whose adoption seems
equally certain, deprive the treaty
of most of its moral force in divest-
ing 1t of all guarantees OF an Ameri-
lean character.
| Settled Few Other Issues.
In sum, then. a year which has fol-
lowed the signing Of the armistice
| has served to demonstrate that the
war itself settled few other issues
| than the one great Question-that OF
German domination. The immediate
menace of German world supremacy
has been temporarily abolished. but
| unfortunately there are still lacking
even the most tenuous evidences that
/ German defeat has been followed
by any change in German purpose.
| What the German means to do when
he gets on his feet again: what he
will display. whether he will turn
from his old gods or continue to wor-
! ship them with new zeal. is a matter
| of prophecy only.
| And this uncertainty has paralyzed
| settlement, real settlement. 1t ex-
plains French demands for guaran-
tees against new attack. it explains
the new struggles for alliances and
combinations in Europe 1t explains
why decisions of the conference Of
Paris. just decisions, have not been
applied. If Germany is to attack again
then the safety of France will de-
pend upon the course Of Italy-and
France joints with Britain and the
United States in forcing Italy out of
! Ffume. nothing is more inevitable
than that Italy will stand with Ger
many in the next conflict with fatal
consequences to France.
Peace Well Nigh Impossible.
That peace which was to be heal
ing peace" a righteous settlement, a
| guarantee against future war, was
made well night impossible by the abb
sence OF any clear proof of German
purpose Nor was there any human
! method of fathoming German pur-
pose. peace had to be constructed on
the basis of an insurance against a
| repetition OF the past, but that in
surance precluded precisely the ele-
ment OF healing" which was re-
F, quired to arrive at the results sought
by President Wilson.
And il it were impossible to de-
termine as to Germany, what process
of divination could or can disclose
the future of Russia? Despite tenn
porary progress by armies believed By
western to h.
! hope of restoring sanity and order
| In the Slav state. it still remains
patent that such a restoration is a
thing of the distant future and again
sibility that there may be a COM
| bination between Slav and Teuton or
an ultimate ACKNOWLEDGMENT of the
Teuton. which will carry instant and
| deadly peril to every country.
1t is fashionable nowadays to blame
one statesman or all statesmen for
this condition of world chaos and
anarchy which exists. In the United
states. with ever increasing vehem-
ence, President Wilson is denounced
as responsible in some way for the
European anarchy. Yet it seems to
me that severest Indictment that can
be justly framed will only charge that
he went to Europe advocating a meth
cd OF settlement which was moment
arily accepted by nations and peoples
having no method to offer themselves
and either through faith or policy. or
| both, subscribing to the Presidents
! formula.
No Alternative Appeared.
1t may be that a league of nations
was always impossible, was totally
impossible in the circumstances ex-
| listing after the German defeat, but
there has never been any alternative
onered, and those who most bitterly
perceive the limitations of the Presi-
dents scheme still confess to see in
it the single. present hope of escape
from the vicious circle of conflict
breeding wars and settlements
In sense all of the larger
problems which were presented at
BILE through centuries Of European
| history. The congress of Vienna
nearly broke up as a consequence
of disputes over Poland. In the same
object of world discussion-was, in
larger part. assigned to France once
and withdrawn, on second thought,
after Napoleon had come and gone.
The Balkan rivalries were bitterer fve
| hundred years ago, before the Turk
| came and temporarily abolished them,
than at this moment. while even the
| Romans were unable to manage the
| 1llyrian difficulties, which are the
| Adriatic disputes of the present hour.
A year ago the hope that war-mak-
ing disputes from the Scheldt to the
Beresina could be solved at the peace
| conference was general. but neither
| the hope nor the disappointment
which has followed it's disappearance
seems to me to have been justified.
| Similarly, the hope that An exhaust
ed world could Immediately perform
the gigantic tasks necessary to re-
establishing order, politically or eco
| nomically. will undoubtedly appear
to the future to have been a mirage
| rather than a well founded concep-
| ton.
Have Passed Lowest Point.
BY contrast it seems to me that a
year after the armistice we have per-
haps touched. and even passed, the
| lowest point in the inevitable pes
simiSm. The real results of the war
may henceforth become clearer and
clearer until 1T becomes undeniabie
as some men and women momentarily
hoped open the short way to estab-
! fishing heaven on earth. it no less
contributed to making the earth more
/ tolerable for human beings.
The defeat of the German must un-
questionably seem to the future az
great deliverance as the defeat Of
| Spain, when that nation sought to
| fasten its equally fatal system, politi-
! independence of the several tribes and
! races Of Europe and Of the world was
re-esta blished and to the free peoples
millions were added. The most OBJ.
vious and unmistakable evil, the m.sS
monstrous peril which had threatened
mankind in half thousand years. was
broken.perhap permanently at least
IN inct haf