Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1919-04-09
AN ANGLO-AMERICAN RIFT
WOULD END WORLDS HOPE
Civilization Still Depends Upon the
Friendship Of Britain and the
United States

| S"tSe SkosSe
IF A serious deadlock has been develop
ing at the Peace Conference it repre-
! scnts a conflict Of wills between Presi-
dent Wilson and Lloyd George. The
continental governments must inevitably
follow the lead of Britain in any crisis.
| Necessity compels such a course.
The strains and responsibilities in
volved for Mr.. Wilson and the British
premier in any, situation that might
threaten a serious division of aims and
policies are unthinkable Any break be-
tween England and America now, any
disagreement which might conceivably
bring about a season of unfriendliness,
would be a new disaster to mankind and
cause for despair among rght-thinking
men everywhere.
1t is for this reason and for the reason
that catastrophe looms dangerously near
upon every side at Paris to confront old
world statesmen wherever they turn that
any appearance of new compromises and
sacrifice upon either side must be pa
tientiy judged in the world outside. AS
the representatives of the two dominant
powers at the conference, Mr.. Wilson
and Lloyd George are not dealing merely
with the details of new peace. They
are caught in the snorasses of perverted
politics left to Europe by centuries of
infamous diplomacy.
Old world statesmen are weighted
with intolerable burdens. If they scram-
bic and scheme it is because they are
answering to the instinct of self-preser-
walton. The peoples of Europe do not
yet know how terribly they have lost
through the war. They do not know that
the major losses are irreparable, that
there isn't enough wealth remaining to
provide the indemnities and the repara-
tions promised by reckless governments
when the nations had to fight and destroy
or perish. And their leaders are still
afraid to tell them the truth.
The American representatives have
found it easier than their colleagues
frankly to advocate the moral principles
which unquestionably must be adhered to
if humanity isn't to be subjected to the
agones of another war. We were not
deluded and our losses were not ruinous.
A conflict of purposes between states
men who, in a desperate crisis, are think
ing of their own safety and others who
are thinking of a reconstructed political
philosophy fit to give peace to all the
world was inevitable. But it is doubtful
whether even in life and death struggle
Of political institutions any group of
statespen would permit rift to develop
between the greatest two powers in the
world.
1t is not difficult to imagine the conse-
auences of such a development. Great
Britain and America have come through
the war as the living expressions in gov
ernment of those ideals which all man.
kind has sought through loss and
anguish. In the future they must guard
the seas in behalf of that ideal because
it is upon the seas that every war is
ultimately decided That responsibility
cannot be divided between rival groups.
1t must be accepted in friendly CO.
operation and with an enlightened con-
cepton of the worlds present needs
and demands. If there were break in
the present relationship between Eng
land and America and q beginning of a,
new race in armament and new trial
of strength as it is expressed in navies,
then there will remain little hope for
civilization. Blind forces of conquest
end exploitation would be released
again Without the moral restraints
which Britain and America alone are able
to exercise at this time, western civiliza-
tion would drift inevitably toward wars
of extinction. A clear perception of this
| appalling prospect doubtless has ac-
tuated Mr.. Wilson in previous COM
! promises at Paris.
The Peace Conference has been since
the first terribly like a day of Judgment
| for the old diplomacy. Latterly it has
revealed a flaming indictment of sys.
TENS of domestic politics that are not
altogether unknown in the United States.
In every recent effort of European
politicians to maintain themselves in
power the sorry errors of the war period
were repeated. Wild promises were
made of vast indemnities and vast repa-
ration from the enemy. 1t did not mat
ter that these promises could not be
literally kept. Yet it is matter of fact
that if all the indemnities promised to
the war-worn peoples of Allied countries
by their political leaders were ever TO be
realized it would have been necessary to
keep Russia and Germany and Austro.
Hungary in virtual slavery for genera.
tions or else partition these territories in
the old and truly German manner.
The central question at Paris, since
popular reactions and the weight Of ra,
tionai opinion in America and elsewhere
made huge indemnities practically impos
sible, is not one of mercy or pity or for
besrance for the Germans. II has be
come question of European stability, !
question Of the life of governments.