New-York tribune., 1919-02-25
The Debts of Delav

When MaXimllan of Baden arrived in
Berlin to be German Chancellor he
found a document on his desk marked
"at once" ordering him to lose no time
in asking for an armistice. The German
military front was smashed and the only
safety was in an early cessation Of hos
tilities The Chancellor on October 8
transmitted the surrender offer to Wash
lngton. Instead of recognizing a white
flag had been raised our State De-
partment began note writing A pre-
clous month was wasted and many thou
sands of lives lost before the armistice
went into effect on November II.
Negotiations have since gone on the
theory that there was no hurry-that
all time was before us. The formal be-
ginning of the parley was postponed to
allow the President to reach Europe.
Then two more weeks were allotted to
him to make a speechmaking tour. Not
until middle January was there any get
ting down to business
Since October 8 more than four
months have elapsed, and everything is
held up again until the President shall
return. AS this will not be until the
middle of March, the world has before
it to-day the credits and debts of five
months of peace labor.
The credits are:
One badly shattered table of the Four
teen Points, cracked by Interpretation
and split by reservations.
One tentative what-is-t? peace COW
enant, which has been read once for
information and which seems to need
to be recommitted for amendment and
possible deliquescence
One armistice which it has been
necessary twice to renew
One Prinkipo conference which may
not be held.
On the debit side are:
One Germany in unnecessary and
dangerous civil war, hanging over
Bolshevist abyss
One Russia more gravely disturbed
than ever and hence more of a menace
to others and to herself
One Southern Europe in chaos and
unable to begin work of reconstruct
ton.
One ancient friendship with France
brought to the verge of mutual recrim-
ination.
One Great Britain, suspended be-
tween mobilization and demoblization,
with industrial disturbances
One America anxious to resume nor
NAL life but forced to act on the as
sumption that a great army must be
maintained abroad
One condition of wholesome harmony
among the Allies yielding, under the con-
tinuous blows of German and Bolshe-
visit propaganda, to something like dis
cord
The list of debts, if given in full,
would fill column The world is pay
ing heavy price for a delay in making
peace 1t is jeopardizing the future is
possibly creating a situation which will
make the present cessation of formal
hostllltles peace of Amiens, such as
punctuated but did not stop the Napo-
leonic struggle.
When the journey across the seas
was announced it was pointed out it
was not possible to have haste if the
spokesman of one of the principal ma
tions were constrained to go back and
forth across three thousand miles of sea.
Persistent effort has been made to de-
ceive the American people into thinking
that the objections to the Presidents oc-
casional appearances at Paris are born
of mean spirit, whereas they spring
from perceptions of geographical condi-
tions which no one can remove
Peace, and peace, is wanted-never
so much as now. 1t can scarcely come
quickly if America forces continuous
conference adjournments.