Evening star., 1919-03-07
If Record Were Published.

front by European countries.
If Record Were Published.
America wanted nothing but world
peace. Other governments professed
the same thing through their spokes-
men, but if the world had a steno-
graphic record of what has been said
at the private conferences between
the heads of governments. it would
wonder whether the peace conference
! at Paris was a council of peace or
consultation of victors dividing spoils
Certainly the influence of America
has been 81 check upon the tendency
| which existed at the beginning to
make the Paris conference nothing
better than the Congress of Vienna
where peoples were handed about
like so much property by princes and
| Kings. And it may be said in passing
| that. in an environment of this kind
the British delegation was glad to
join hands with the Americans to pre-
vent the Paris conference from patch
ing up only territorial squabbles and
ieyylng an indemnity on a country
that was to be deprived of the means
of earning that indemnity
PRESIDENT Wilson was successful in
getting the league of nations dis
cussed first and made a part of the
peace treaty itself. He was success
lul IN getting a constitution OF the
| league of nations drafted, which must,
Of course, be amended and changed in
| the next few weeks to meet not merely
! some of the objections raised in the
American Senate, but the modifica-
, tions which must surely be proposed
| by other countries. He was able to
| get something concrete done in his
preliminary visit because of the splen-
| did cooperation given him by Great
| Britain. 1t is the single outstanding
| fact of the peace conference-Eng-
! mo nrin NO L. jr,1 70
/ gether for the common benefit of man
/ kind.
Whole-Hearted Cooperation.
! History, no doubt, will give Mr.. Will
son much credit for his initiative at
! the peace conference and his indie
fatigable labors to keep the moral
tone. of the affair lofty. but unpreju
diced Americans. who were present
| Will unhesitatingly declare that if the
peace treaty of Paris is hailed by the
world as the greatest advance ever
made in international ethics, the
| idealism and whole hearted co-opera-
ton of men like Premier Lloyd George,
/ Secretary Baifour. Lord Robert Cecil.
! Gen. SHUTS and others in the British
| delegation must be recognized. British
land American correspondents have
| been ting-indeed, Britain and
| America with all their family quarre1s
when they touched the atmosphere Of
Paris.
| So pronounced is the entente be-
tween representatives of the two Eng
ilish-Speaking democracies that GER
| tain French politicians have deemed
/ is wise to stir up a little propaganda.
! both inside England and France, to
the effect that France and England
must go hand in hand and must not
permit any outside nations to disturb
| their intimacy. References are made
| in published articles to the effect that
! America is far away, wants to cut
down the great British navy, and that
/ really France and England. being
neighbors, must combine and stay
combined, and SO on. IL Great Britain
/ finds herself closer to the United
States at the peace conference than
| to France. it Is because she prefers TO
support ideals which men like Sir Ed
ward Grey and other Englishliberafs
| have for years been endeaVofine 10
| irnpIant in European politics and be-
cause the French government is today
dominated by men who don't have the
same faith in liberalism that their col
| leagues do.
France Mixture.
| But it is easy to give a wrong i'm
| preston OF France when discussing
| merely the small class which is tenn
porarily in power in Paris france
/ is a MIXTURE of many things. Ameri-
! can soldiers returning from France
are bitter in their criticism OF
! French shopkeepers and merchants
/ but these are not representative OF
| France F'inanciers and special IN
! terests who are in league with Ger
! tain political leaders and pun the
! strings of intricate French politics
| ought not to be projected as the
| true France. Those socialists who
! embrace President Wilson as their
savior, but who merely represent ele-
| ments of anarchy and hoisheNisth:
| are by no means representative OF
! the true French any more than the
! politicians who keep an inspired
! press busy doing their bidding ana
| keen the critical press muzZled oy
! censorship. notwithstanding the fact
| that France is supposed TO pe
! democracy These same politicians
| control the press and what can oe
| published in criticism of the present
| French administration, and they nave
! systematically opposed attempts 70
! have q general election, though the
| French parliament hasn't peen pc
| fore the people in nearly TOUR years.
| Unfortunately these are some OF
| the men who talk for France at tHe
| Paris conference, but the real France
| is out in the villages ana to%ns
| Millions of these heroic men ana
| women survive the most terrible war
| in history. and no historian pfobaply
will ever be able to picture ADEQUATE
| ~ the wonderful stolcism OF the
| Frenchman who fought Tor ms couh
| try. potwithatan the tact that !
he received a few cents a day, while
| AT his side foreign troops received
| $50 a month.