Norwich bulletin., 1919-03-19
FACTS AND COMMENT

I
Berlin to normal condition. Loyal
| government troops have been called
| in by the thousands and with orders
| to spare none aS The rioters they have
driven the Spartacidcs from one
stronghold after another. Bctr sides
| have fought with savage cruelty and
| quarter was neither asked nor given.
| Hundreds of lives nave beer lost,
enormous property damage has been
| done. and nothing has been gained by
| the rioters other than to disgust all
| the decent classes with their methods
and cause them to desire the contin-
uance of the eSta bliShed government
! While the savage nature Of the fight
| ing is to be tep.orad, no ether 1nethl d
o. dealing with this third insurrec-
ton was possible. Lenicnce would
have been crime. This course had
been tried i'eft-e, when the practice
had been nicely to disarm the cap
tured rioters ami le: them go Il was
often only a few minutes before they
were back on the streets newly armed
from some secret Spartacide arsenal.
The Steiner measures now in force
are giving 'nOm>ce of greater ua1
more lasting ssecess.
No pity is to be wasted on the Der
| lin rioters inasmuch as their ayowed
purpose has been merely to diseredit
the established government and
bring about a state of ANARCHY They
| have no practical suggestions to offer
H. the Way Of managing the cou1try
other than those of their Russian
| friends the bolsheviki The construc-
tive minds cs Germany are mostly
| seated in the new national assembly
at Weimar striving nobly to rebuild
! their ruined house. Great as is the
! task, definite progress is being made.
| This is shown by the growing. coafi-
Gence among the allies that the new
| government will prove q competent
one with which to conclude a formal
treaty of peace.
Once Germany is fed ard employed,
| the danger Of anarchy will largely
! disappear Measures have been taken
the past week to insure the entrance
! 81 10000 tons of food per month to
! be distributed under Mr. Hoover's di-
rection- Food might have been sent
! in long before but the nations could
rot agree on the conditions of pay
ment Germany agreed weeks ago t.
! furnish ships to bring food to her and
| carry back United States troops. but
! she demanded that her ships be man
red by German crews. hoping thus to
| keep her sailors employed. This de-
mand could not be fulfilled for a num-
I Der Of reasons but especially on ac-
count of the boycott pronounced
against all German shipping by the
seamen of styeral of the allikN nations.
| Then too France was unwilling that
| Germany should be permitted to buy
! fcod with the money that might later
he needed for paying for damage done.
and so wanted the United States to
accept long term notes, payment of
| ShG only l,p Il
; claims against Germany had baeu set
| tied. This view was 20 some degree
selfish, but ruined and devastated
France could not help being appre-
hensiVe lest after all she had suffered
there might be nothing found with
which to pay her. These difficulties
have at last been smoothed awlN by
! friendly discussion anu mutual con-
cesSions, another instance Of tAe spir-
iT of fairness and Consideration tor
! others that has pcrvaded tie doing
OF the peace conference
If the critics Of the hague of ia
tons Would stick to fac,s there would
he nothing but praise for them Wher
they show up the Jaws in the pro-
posed constitution. Many of the or
pcnents OF lhe scheme seem 10 proceed
on the assumption that few peopiC
have read The contract Thus tho
statement appears: This agfeeinent
81 with the other nations gives the league
the power TO declare war aad binds
lis 10 send our men and supplies II
any quarter Of the world for any
length of time" There ls 10 such re.
quirement in the constitution. Article
NEI merely says: 1T shall be the duty
Of the executive council to Recommend
what effective military or naval force
the members of the league shall sew.
orally contribute The actual gr;lnt,
ling of these forces remains as i yer,
properly should with the war maxim!
power of the several governments. TIT
: creation OF the executive councf
! merely guarantees the existence of OF
, International body of sufficient dig
nifty and standing to give force to it
recommendations This is all the fore,
! that the league has to enforce its dc
. Crees. Even in the rare cases Whei
q unanimous recommended ton Nigh
lac made. the league only has powe
{ tc recommend measures necessarv t.
f put the recommendation into effect
, 1t lies entiriy within the power of tn,
: several members to decide whethe
, they will contribute the military @
naval contingents that may have beef
suggested.
The sentiment in favor of the :.
} iiTmatiOn of the Monroe doctrine will
} perhaps be recognized in a definit
: declaration that IN case Intervention
! Is needed between American nations
the executive council will not asslgi
The task TO other than American H..
/ lions unless America herself SHOULD
request assistance. Were this done i
would lR q definite diplomatic ri
. umph for the United States. Englant
and the other European powers Will
always observing our pet doctrine hay
never aSsented To 1t III black an,
white. Indeed it is well known tina
/ Germany considered It unWarrantet
assumption on our part that we Shout,
r dare to exclude her from a who'll
+ continent, and was only waiting for
chance TO get footing on this sid
CT the world. The definite recogni
ton of the Monroe doctrine by all III
world is more probable now becaus
= q the fear prevalent among the ma
= tons of Europe that the league of ma
tons is to be rejected in the senate
1t Is obvious that some changes mus
E be made in order TO afford the Lodge
Reed- Borah crowd some way out 0
their predicamenL. Their votes ar
necessary for the acceptance OF an
treaty, but after their formal declara
S ton not to vote for the league in it
i present form they cannot we'll ca
= their words. If then the virtual in
+ corporation of the Monroe doctrine in
to the very structure OF the league O
nations can be brought about, the Bit
=. terness and rancor of the closing day
Il CT the sixty fifth congress will hay
S been turned to good account
1t is confidently expected that tn
peace treaty will be ready for pres
t entation to the German delegates be
0 lcre the end of March. The severa
O committees of the peace conference
= have been busy the past month an