The Evening Missourian. [volume] (Columbia, Mo.) 1917-1920, 1919-07-05
THE GRAY DAWN

Wherefore seeing we also are com
passed about with so great a cloud
let us lay aside every weight
and the sin which doth beset us, ant
let us run with patience the race tha
is set before us.'-Hebrews 12:1.
After the most encompassing, mOsI
destructive war of the world, peace
has formally been made. That peace
causes general rejoicing throughout
the earth, and it causes particular
satisfaction in the Allied and associat.
ed powers because it signalizes the
defeat and the punishment of the war
making nation of Germany. But this
treaty is so far from being an ideal
and just covenant of peoples, that
even the most friendly and kindly dis
posed patrons must see in it only the
struggling rays of dawn which, after
the darkness of night, gray the morn
ing of a brighter day.
There are numerous faults and
shortcomings in the treaty. Poland
Jugo-Slayia and Czecho-Slovakia are
new nations to which the treaty guar
antees independence and free and au-
tonomous development. But the re-
quests, demands and entreaties of 9TH
er unfreed peoples, among them the
Egyptians, the Irish and the Koreans,
receive no consideration.
Russia, which lost more men in the
cause of democracy than did any 9TH
er country, is ignored altogether. The
sixth of Wilson's fourteen points pro-
vided for the evacuation of all Rus
sian territories and such a settlement.
of all questions affecting Russia as
will secure the best and freest coop
Grafton of the other nations in obtain
for her an unhampered and unem-
barrassed opportunity for the inde-
pendent determination of her own po-
litical development and national poll
cy. But on these points the treaty is
silent.
China refusese to sign the treaty
because Japan is permitted to hold
the Shantung Peninsula. By this per-
mission to- Japan the self-determina-
ton of peoples granted in Europe is
disallowed in Asia.
South Africa signs the treaty but
does so under protest.
A vigorous statement of Germany's
guilt in beginning the war and in
brutally carrying it on is written into
the treaty. This has little signifi-
'cance-we believe Germany caused the
war; she refuses to believe it. His
tory will decide this point, no doubt,
in our favor, but no historical deci-
sion was ever made by treaty forced
upon conquered people.
The statement of the financial rep
aration to be made by Germany is
indefinite to the point of weakness
Some Allied authorities doubt if the
full money reparation can ever be
collected from Germany.
The former German colonies, being
considered dependent and backward
territories, are regarded as needing
civilized nations to back them up, and
these hackers are to be Allied or as
sociated nations. But only the colo
nies of the Central Powers are con
sidered in this class. No mention is
made of the colonies claimed by the
countries which were victorious in
the war. And yet, President Wilson's
fifth point declares for free and alb
solutely impartial adjustment of all
colonial claims.
The coal mines of the Saar Valley
are to be administered by French
commission for French benefit, to pay
for the French coal fields destroyed by
the Germans. At the end of fifteen
years a plebiscite is to decide if
France or Germany is to own the val
ley. This is little better than disguis-
ed annexation, for in fifteen years the
growing generation Of the Saar can be
so installed with French life and
thought that, in addition to the French
who will move into the territory, the
plebiscite can easily be made to de-
eide for French ownership.
The treaty is at best compromise
among the conflicting ideas and de-
mands of the winning countries. 1t is
far from the kind of document Presi-
dent Wilson had in mind in December,
1917, when he said that war should
not end in vindictive action of any
kind, that no nation or people should
be robbed or punished because of the
irresponsible actions of rulers and in
which he declared for mo annexa-
tions, no contributions, no punitive in
IDENTITIES"