New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1919-02-16

= .cen,t.sh, 1919 New York Tribune 'uc)
= PARIS. Feb. 10 How acute was the
,r;sis which was reached early in the
.vsek in the negotiations of the peace
Inference may be Judged from the
snou we'll known fact that Presden
Wilson threatened to take steps to
have the conference transferred from
France. Mr.. Wilson was intensely irri-
,o.cd BY the critical tone Of the French
,,ess On the other hand, that press
reflected in a very guarded and modi-
fed way the growing anxiety and APP
{ rrehensicn of the French public CON
-cerning Mr. Wilson's intentions.
This apprehension resulted from
President Wilson'S method of avoid
ing direct contact with all but very
restricted circle, save on public occa-
sions when called upon to deliver ora
.;ons. He does not understand the
French language. He did not seek to
establish any informal contact with
.ho leaders of French thought, and the
absence of any advance on his part
made difficult, if not impossible, any
advance on their part.
With the exception of Mr.. White, it
is believed that no member of the
American commission, and very few
Of the army of assistants who com
posed the vast United States delegation
now occupying several Paris hotels, is
sufficiently familiar with the French
language, French history and French
Institutions to understand or inter
pref the psychology of the French
people.
Attitude Created Issue
Mr. Wilson's insistence upon the es-
Enlistment of the league of nations
as the primary work of the peace con-
ference, and the GOODNESS he exhibited
toward those things which France re-
garded as essential to her future pro-
lection, gradually developed into an
issue between him on one side and,
it may be said, the representatives of
substantially all other nations, except
ing Great Britain, on the other side.
1t was an issue between theories and
dreams on one hand and actual con-
hand were the academic ideas of those
who look forward to the creation of
an idylllc state where the angry pas
sions Of men shall have subsidized into
sweet reasonableness, and peace shall
reign as widespread as that which per-
vaded the Roman Empire when for
the only time in it's history the gates
of the Temple of Janus were closed.
On the other hand was the nation
whose soil had been invaded, whose
Industries had been destroyed - the
nation which had borne the brunt of
a beastly and brutal invasion, which
had lost 100000 of the flower of it's
youth killed, with hundreds of thou
sands more manned, and which now
beheld her enemy, separated from her
only by an invisible boundary line,
still unregenerate in thought and
spirit, and already assuming a defiant
and lnsolent attitude toward her, al
though the terms of peace were not
ye. settled.
Prior to the war the protection of
France from German aggression lay
first in the strength of her army,
secondly in the power Great Britain
was ready to exert in her defence in
the event Of unprovoked aggression by
Germany, and thirdly, and most po-
tenlally, in the strength of her all
lance with Russia. Germany thus was
held, theoretically at least, between
the jaws Of Russia on the east and
France and England on the west. To-
DAY the eastern jaw is shattered, and
some substitute for that protection
must be found for France.
Want Strong Poland
mat substitute naturally would be
anew and powerful Poland in the east,
and the removal from the left bank Of
the Rhine Of ell possibilities of Ger.
man aggression through the elimina-
lion Of all bases for German movement
toward France.
But the representatives. Of the pow
erS watch united in the war on Ger
many, assembled in the Paris con-
ference. or to speak frankly, the
fres dent Of the United States and the
PRIME ministers Of the four other
great powers, composing the so-called
Dig hVe,' who have absorbed in them"
serves all the decisions of the CON
ference, appeared with the exception
q the French Premier), to underesti-
mate # they did not wholly disre-
gard the reasonable foundation for
me Tears and apprehensions of France
Fno her unwillngness to accept as
'er sufficient defence the protection
VI 'ne moral power Of the league Of
nations. This attitude, it was under
stood proceeded largely, if not en-
'feiy' from Mr.. Wilson.
when the President first came to
france the entire French people surgcd
'o"afd him with welcoming hearts and
"ihos, as one who, they believed, had
maze war on war, and who was com
.Hg with all the material and spiritual
''fces Of America to bind their coun-
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