El Paso herald. (El Paso, Tex.) 1901-1931, 1919-11-10

] 1914, but OF the innumerable issues
I stirred IN the course Of the war.
The phrase making the world safe
] for democracy had been accepted
! with something Of a literal interpre-
Z tation and the people Of the United
] states looked forward TO a peace con-
! ference as calculated not alone 20 re-
I store immediate peace, but TO elimi-
nate causes Of war, dispose Of those
issues out Of which conflicts had
risen or threatened during the
. troubled generation which had pre-
ceded.
whole Nations Were Exhausted.
Exactly whar the European emo
ton at the same moment was. it is
exceedingly difficult to say. The ex-
haustion Of the war had reached a
point hardly equalled before IN his
tory, and Individuals, not classes Of
society. but whole nations had been
so racked with the strain Of more
than four years Of conflict Enthu
siasn and even expectation such as
there was IN the United States, GER
taiHly was not TO be found in Europe,
but. By contrast, there was a certain
emotional outburst
Looking backward over the
course Of the last year much that
was Obscure in November. 1elss
becomes clear. In the first place
we are al now painfully uwnre
rooted Institutions, habits, sys-
tens, that the chance OF a re-
turn to the before the war condi-
tons was Impossible. not alone
politically, hut economically.
on the political side two OF the
great empires Of modern history, the
HausburE and the Romanotts had been
destroyed. blown into fragments and
between the fragments there had de-
veloped hostllities, ancient and new
which continued and seemingly VIII
continue long TO plague and to puz-
zle- third ana even more pog eT I-l
empire, that OF the Hohenzollerns, nau
crashed down. after military defeat
and for the moment seemed likely TO
dissolve into another Russian chaos.
The task Of those upon whom the
duty developed to make peace was.
therefore. a thing entirely different
from the problem which might have
been posed. had Germany been de-
feated in 1914 OF even IN 1916. while
the Russian ard the Austro-Hun-
garian empires still stood and the
German empire, itself, had not under
gone the disinte grating strain OF your
years Of conflict
Peace Decisions Aasalled.
TIE decisions Of the conference OF
Paris have been universally assailed,
attacked alike by the representatives
OF progress ana reaction BY the I'D
erals and the conservatives but they
have been more bitterly assailed BY
masses Of men and women who with
out profound convictions looked 70
Paris for a real settlement and find
themselves now confronted IN each
days news by the inescapabls fact
that more problems remain unsettled
than were Recognized to exist a year
ago. The largest Indictment OF pubic
men OF AL nations, that one encOun-
rer's TO-DAY, IS based upon the fact
that hey have failed 70 achieve any
complete OF approximate settlement
that the great questions which were
set before them a year ago remain
unanswered today.
ont OF this situation has grown DO
nestle unrest IN every nation which
fought II the Germans assam their
own leaders for having consented 70
fatal terms in the peace Of versailles.
the French. the British and the Ital-
ian people. and for that matter the
american, assam their representative Z
FOR e failure 70 dispose OF the issues
raised 1v the war in such FASHION Z
that peace or even approximate peace !
would be assured
Bitter Debate IN America
Today IN America we are engrossed !
IN a bitter political debate over a 4
slngls detail ia the Pc settlement, !
our whole legislative and even our I
executive departments have been en-
ragged for nearly six months IN a de-
8ate which has not yet terminated 4
and must terminate before there can I
Be peace IN the world. In France the i
debate. IL row ended. has been not I
less acute. while the British ministry I
which brought back the most profit
able peace terms IN British history,