The Richmond palladium and sun-telegram. [volume] (Richmond, Ind.) 1907-1939, 1919-07-12
BY FRANK n. SIMONDS.
Copyright, 1919, by the Mcclure
Newspaner Syndicate

mark that what remains to be done |
at the Paris conference is far more |
considerable, alike in bulk and in i'm
portance, than what has been accom-
plished in the treaty with Germany. !
Still, there may be a certain surprise |
in pointing out that the treaty recent !
ly signed, disposes of less than ten per !
cent of the territory, which must be
apportioned before the work Of max
ing peace is over, while the population
awaiting ALLEGATION is something like
seventy millions, as compared with
less than seven millions divided in the
Versailles settlement.
The allies, who have conquered Ger
many and imposed their peace terms
upon her, have now to separate Aus.
triaHungary into it's component ra-
cial parts, deal with the Russo-Polish
problem, the Russo-Rumanian ques-
ton, bring about a settlement so far
as England is concerned, dispose of
the tangled problem of Constantinople
and the shores Of the Straits, and i'm
pose peace upon Bulgaria.
Not less difficult is the task of
reconciling the disputes between the
separate races on whom the several
provinces of Austria are to be be-
slowed, accommodating the acute
quarrel between the Southern Slavs
and the Italians and thus bringing or
der out of chaos which now extends
from the Baltic to the Aegean and
from the Adriatic to the Black seas.
Until these things are accomplished
there can be no peace in Europe. and
in the accomplishment Of even tenn
porary arrangement, there may be
sown the seed of future wars.
Russian Question First.
To begin at the beginning, there
il the Russian problem. 1t may be
divided into two equally important
parts, there is the question Of Russia
itself and the question of the various
races on the fringe of the old Russian
state, which are seeking independence
union with other factions of their
own race, who are seeking permanent
separation form Russia, precisely as
the Danes, the Poles and the people
of Alsace-Lorraine sought liberation
from the German yoke.
AS to Russia herself, what policy
are the allies to adopt? They cannot
recognize Lenine and the Reds. both
because the things these people re-
present are abhorrent to all the ideas
of western civilization and because,
unless recognized by the outside
world, they will shortly collapse OF
their own weight.
But If there is to be peace in Europe
there must be peace in Russia. and to
obtain peace in Russia it is essential
that the Western Powers should find
some substitute for the anarchy and
suicide of the Lenine regime. Appar-
emily the allies are now placing their
hopes upon Kolchak, but this decision
is arousing protest in Britain and
France, where Kolchak is seen as a
reactionary, and in neither country Is
there any desire to restore IN Russia
the tyranny of the old stupid and cor
rupt regime which has gone.
Granted that Kolchak can overthrow
Lenine and Trotzky, however, this
only raises new problems. He will
come to Moscow and Petrograd as the
champion of a restored Russia, of
reunited Russia, and is it conceivable
that he will consent, that his country
men will consent to any treaty, by
which the nations, yesterday Russian
allies, shall have apportioned Russian
territories between the several border
states, erected q new Poland, liber-
ated Finland allocated Bessarabia to
Rumania and recognized the independ-
ence of the several tribes of the Bal
tic provinces?
Will Join with Germany.
Instead of accepting such a sltua-
ton is it not almost inevitable that
the new Russia, the restored Russia.
will Join hands with Germany in 4
new partition of Poland, in a new ar
rangement in the Baltic lands, which
shall reproduce the situation which
has existed steadily since the poll
cies of a great Russian and great
Prussian, Peter and Frederick, brought
Russia to the Baltic and excluded Po-
land from the open sea?
If Russia were condemned always
TO be the thing it is. it would be easy
to settle all the questions now raised;
if Russia we're conquered, after war
waged against Britain, France and
Italy, then terms like those imposed
upon Germany would be possible. But
neither the one nor the other condi-
ton is fulfilled. Russia was long an
ally and a useful ally; she finally col
lapsed and made a separate peace, but
does this justify her recent allies in
treating her as an enemy and divld-
ing her territories, cutting her on
from the Baltic, in effect ratifying the
terms of the treaty which her enemy
Germany imposed upon her, sword in
hand at Brest-Litovsk?
Unfortunately the progress Of events
at Paris has already resulted in the
permanent alienation of Italy. Moth
ing is more certain than that, once
the chance comes, Italy will return
to her old German alliance. To insure
that Russia, when she does become
great power again, as she almost
certainly must, because of the fashion
in which her old allies have treated
her, shall also turn to the Germans
is to provide for a new war, with
every chance in favor of a victory by
the new alliance,
The real difficulty which confronts
the men who have have to carry or
the work of peace making is the puz
zle about Russia. We have recog
nized the independence of Finland
but Kolchak fatty refuses to recog
nlze it on his part. We have recog
nized the claim of Poland to freedom
which Kolchak also comedies, bu
what is to be Polands eastern limit
The boundaries OF the old Russian
Poland? But the Polish armies are
-, yITilr,o Mipcl opd Knyol Gchfipc