The Washington herald., 1919-02-09
BY JOHN L. BALDERsToN.

Paris, Feb. e-Amid the chaotic
whirlpool OF opinion that has surged
through Paris fer weeks certain main
currents have now become discern
iole as the delegates from four-fifths
OF the world have buckled down to
business. There are three main points
OF view that must be reconciled IL
: permanent peace is to result from the
great Congress. These may be call
ed for convenience the American,
the French and the British stand
points. Smaller nations rally to one
or the other Of the dominant powers;
there are differences, most important
differences. in the great countries
themselves; but as the situation tends
to clarity these three attitudes are
coming more and more to stand out
clearly
For weeks I have avoided attempts
to size Up the Peace Conference. be-
cause. in hundreds of discussions with
men OF all the nationalties here rep
resented. l have found too much be-
wilderment and confusion OF thought
to make an accurate analysis possible.
But now the huid opinions OF the
past are tending to harden, and 1t Is
not difficult to foresee the line the
argument Of the next few months Will
take without attempting to predict
the outcome, to forecast who sill give
way and what ultimate compromises
will embody the final settlement, I
can set down in outline what Is in
the minds Of the leaders OF the ma
tions as they assemble in conference.
n working Basis Needed.
To take America first. am an
American. and our people are pledg-
n ed to open covenants openly arrived
at" We hold secret diplomacy in hor-
ror It Is, therefore, with humiliation
that / have to admit that / under
stand very much less about what we
are driving at than about the peace
aims Of the other great powers In the
world. And l have done my best to
learn.
This Is due. think. to the fact that
President Wilson and his associates
came TO Europe with certain princl-
pies in mind but very nebulous ideas
OF what concrete application should
be given those principles, while every
other country's statesmen know eN-
actly what they want. But, more than
this. the curious attitude Of our COM
fear that their more redical propos-
ais. whatever be their fate in Paris,
may not be backed up by the people
at home.
We are pledged to the principle Of
| the league of nations. That principle.
since the President came to Europe
has been adopted. verbally. by every
power The President has scored an
astonishing personal success with MS
league Of nations propaganda, sue
cess gratifying and hattering 10 every
American. But, when it comes TO
working out a scheme that must, Ii
the league of nations means anything,
involve. the giving Up by the United
| States Of some of its sovereign pow
er to an assembly composed of for
eigners how far are the American Pco-
PIE willing to gO2 This question IL
| asked Of me by Europeans, and l
| PROFOUND il to Americans. But the
answer I have not found
President Wilson. whose personality
rwers above the conference. who IL
regarded by hundreds Of millions OF
people as the greatest man in the
world is taking up. II seems to me.
= curiously paradoIical position. Be
cause OF his own gifts as an orator.
his personal magnetism. his high
ideaIism. and because he represents
country that has no axe to grind.
he finds his own views on interna-
tionaIism adopted as gospel by half
the globe. But he is too clear headed
a politician mot to know that of the
sacrifices that must be made by all
the nations II the league is to rule
the world. the most CALLING and gTiey-
Gus must be made by his own country.
This is true because OF our traditions
OF isolation. our safety from attack.
our enormous wealth and resources.
If the peace Of the world is to be
guaranteed by force. we must furnish
great part of the force under the
orders OF a foreign organization. and
Yet we are, least OF all countries, en-
dangeTed or compelled by nearby enc
mics or economic weakness to ask
such aid or to feel the need OF it,
Concrete Proposals Lacking.
Perhaps President Wilson feels
that the American people must be
Educated by degrees to accept his
great ideals. He is most chary. for
whatever reason in bringing for
ward, in public, definite. concrete
proposals. But in general his at
titude. at the conference is sub
sntialIy this.
bdnFN On lIlE pldllOI III VI the lotA =
teen points. the American delegates
oppose every attempt. on the part of
any power. to seize territorial or
economic advantages from any body
else. whether friend or enemy, to
which they do not appear justly en-
titled. Reparation so far as pos
sibIe must be made by Germany
for actual damage done, but Ger
many must not be economically
crippled. or +shorn of purely Ger
man territory, so that in the future
"a repentant Fatherland. conscious
Of her past sins and that she has
been dealt by justly, may limp into
the community of nations and be
received on equal terms.
In general this formula covers every
one OF the specific knotty points that
have come UP by the annexation by
France OF the left bank of the Rhine,
the occupation by Italy OF purely
|Slav territory in Dalmatia, the claim
5y Great Britain to continue TO lay
down what sea law she pleases, the
mperialtstic designs OF Poland and
Czecho- -Slovakia, all these proposals
come under Wilson's veto. He will
Lave none Of them because he wants
ne conference to legislate, not for
oartIcular national interests, but for
he interests Of the world as a whole,
including the enemy part of 1t. Only
IN the problems of peace are dealt
with in this spirit. he thinks, can
the league Of nations be formed and
war driven from the earth forever.
80 in this lofty, almost superhuman