Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1919-09-10

l e
the American.
Belgium's Claims Obvious.
The reasons why Belgium should
be the nation and Brussels the cap
ftal in which the league of nations
met were obvious. The invasion OF
Belgium had constituted the most
conspicuous single defiance of inter-
| national law and civilized methods
by the Germans, while Belgian re-
sistance. exaggerated on the military
side, so far as its effect was concerned
could not be overvalued on the moral
side. The undoing of Germany un-
doubtedly began with the Belgian
episode.
After the brief resistance the Bel
gians endured the long occupation
without ever yielding to German
passive resistance which Alsace-Lor-
raine had offered to Germany for
nearly half a century was repeated
In all Of Belgium. and the whole
| world was impressed by the spectacle
OF conquered nation day by day
and week by week asserting it's in
dependence, repulsing with scorn
every clumsy German effort of con-
| Citation and outweighing by superior
intellect the equally clumsy endeavor
to conquer the will and the mind by
| mere brute force.
| The Belgian claim then rested upon
a solid foundation. Belgium had been
| the supreme moral issue of the war
| She had sacrificed herself to a prin-
| ciple. Moreover. she had been fortu-
nate to possess king who was on
the whole the nob1est single figure in
the war. Had he chosen to advise his
people to permit the Germans to pass
through Belgium unopposed, it is al
| mos4 impossible to believe that there
would have been any resistance. It
was his spirit which animated the
small but useful Belgian army at all
times. It was his spirit which sus-
tanned the Belgian people in slavery,
and his presence on the allied side,
from the beginning to the end of
the war, supplied a moral contribu-
ton of inestimable value. When
belg1um. therefore, asked that Brus-
sells might be the seat Of the league
OF nations. when at last King Albert
himself made a trip to Paris at a
critical moment, coming in an aero
plane. to plead the cause of his coun-
try. the whole peace conference. with
| single exception, was deeply moved,
and but for single objection Brus-
sells would have been named Apart
from the sentimental reason there
were practical reasons why the Bel
gian capital was far more useful than
the Swiss city. Brussels is only a
few hours from Paris and London
and almost. If not quite, ui-distant.
It is nearer by many hours to Ber-
lin. and through it pass many of the
trunk line railroads which serve Eu-
|, rope. On the mere newspaper side the
facilities of telegraph and of com
munication vastly surpass anything
Geneva has or conceivably would
nave; material arguments only less
impressive than sentimental sustained
President Insisted on Geneva.
But President Wilson went to Paris
resolved that the league of nations
headquarters should be at Geneva, and
IN no single discussion was he so totally
unwilling to listen to arguments or ap-
peal: A majority of the representatives
in the conference always favored Brus-
sells. No objection whatever came from
any quarter, and on the part of the
French in particular there was an en-
thusiastic support Of the claim of Bel
GUM. but Mr.. Wilson at all times and
under all circumstances resolutely and
unhesitatingly insisted upon Geneva.
What his reasons were the public do not
know. 1t was conjectured that he felt
that 1t would be unwise to establish the
league of nations in any country which
had been belligerent during the war.
1t Is probable that he believed that the
Germans would be more willing to go to
a neutral than to an enemy nation; that
they would be more kindly received In
Switzerland than in Belgium. and that a
neutral atmosphere would be more ad-
vantageous for the league itself.
In thus opposing Belgium, however.
Mr.. Wilson once more affronted a
friendly nation in the pursuit of an
abstract ideal He had lost the sup
port Of the French public because he
had refused steadily to visit the dew
| astated regions of northern France.
| because of his belief that he should
! avoid even seeming to be Influenced
| in the conference by any circum-
stances appealing to emotion rather
than reason. France welcomed Mr.
Wilson as friend, a champion, and
asked him to go and see her wounds
| that. he might know what she had
suffered in making up his mind what
| recompense should be hers. Mr.. Will
son took the ground that in the peace
conference he was to play the part