South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1919-03-03
By FRANK II. sIMoNDs.

PARIS. Feb. 24-Not infrequent-
( " in the past month there has been
in Paris an expression of thought
! that perhaps Germany will win the
I war after all The reason for this
/ opinion, which must seem -ery
4 strange 10 the remoter American
i audience may be found in any eX-
animation of progress and cOndi-
/ tions of the peace conference Up TO
/ date, and in the present article l
/ am going 10 try TO set forth some
1 thing OF the view to be found here
as TO what must be done if the war
/ is not TO be lost, for il is essential
I TO recognize that we are still a
I war with Germany. ana that Ger
many has SO far come practically
] immune out Of the great conflict.
! She has been in a large measure dis
| armed. il is true but with the ceS-
! sation of hOstilities she finds herself
| deprived OF weapons for which she
had no use and still supplied witn
| implements of peace, for which she
has immediate use. while France.
for example, finds herself greatly
I
longer of value. but still lacking IN
all the machinery Of agriculture and
Of production. The greatest single
danger that one fears at Paris now
| is lest the peoples who have fought
the war shall be decided now by the
| idea that the League of Nations
covenant. which is really only
rough sketch. is not only a treaty
! of itself, but the guarantee of the
preservation of peace in the future.
| obviously it is now nothing but
, collection of words. not even yet
adopted by any official body in any
of the allied countries or by the
peace conference itself.
To understand the problem of
peace. the real problem of peace
with Germany, it is necessary to go
! back for a moment to the situation
Of Europe and Of the rest of the
world in July. 1914, when Germany
launched her great attack upon civ
iliZation for the purpose Of achiev-
ing world domination. At that
time, Europe was more or less even
ly divided into two great alliances.
the Triple alliance of Germany.
Austria and Italy, and the Triple en-
| tente of France, Russia and Great
Britain. in which Russia and France
only were actual allies.
CHANGES WROUGHT
SINCE 1911.
This was the balance OF power.
Theoretically, both sroups were SO
nearly equal in strength that neither
could venture TO risk war, with at
least half a chance of defeat.
But now. after four and half years
of war. what is the situation? Rus
STA. the greatest military force in
the Triple entente, has dis2ppeared
in chaos, but such elements of pow
| Ell and organization as exist still
| in that chaos are in the main friend
ly to Germany and ready to CO.
operate with Germany. The Triple
entente Of 1914, then, has not only
lost Russia, but has seen Russia
i'm some measure change sides AMI
become an enemy with her vast po
tential resources not unlikely TO be-
come German assets in the future.
To balance the downfall of Rus
STA we have the collapse of Aus
tria: but Austria was never one
tenth as important a factor in the
I Triple alliance az Russia was in the
Triple entente. and already we see
the Germans of Austria seeking to
unite themselves with Germany;
and il is patent that some similar
alliance Will be sought by the Hun
garians as a result of changes to be
..r.Tra fsg.,-. -
through the liberation of the SlavS
and ROumanians. Thus more than
20 millions OF Austrian subjects will
remain associated with Germany.
and it was precisely this element
which supplied the main aid Ger
many could obtain from her Haps-
burg associate. Germany has thus
saved almost half of Austria. while
the allies have not only lost ali OF
Russia. but have seen Russia
marching towards a new alignment
with Germany.
Now. by contrast italy has asso-
ciated herself with Great Britain
and France. but before the war
Italy was economically as well as
politically penetrated by Germans
ana lltlldHSf even uuliub the ~ Is
ert war, and there exists for the
future no real basis for jealousy now
that italy has achieved reintesra-
ton of the Austria Italian popula-
ton Italy's present sympathies
are unquestionaOly with Great Brit
ain and France: but Italy's COM
mercial interests in the future, even
more than in the past. viii be with
the central powers as a result of
geographical conditions. IL Is pos
sible TO eNaggerate the Italian dan-
ger. but il is hardly possible TO eX-
aggerate IL II the conference at
Paris fails TO give Italy that dali
nation prize promised her at the
moment when she came into the
war by both Great Britain and
France. and exactly this is threat
ened through the influence of
Pres't Wilson.
GERMANY HAS
ABOLISHED RUSSIA.
Ii cones down. after all. 10 this
/ TFi,.s Cav-,,,ap~- al prrG-