Great Falls daily tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1895-1921, 1919-03-13
EUROPE's RUIN
MENACES WORLD
VANDERBILT SAYS
Banker Gives Appalling
Picture of Chaos and
Starvation.
ALLIES HAVE VICTORY
WITHOUT PEACE, He ADDS

Paris, March 12.-(By the Associated
Press. IL doubt if America has begun
to comprehend the seriousness of the ap-
palling situation which tonfronts Europe
and the wreck which e whole fabric OF
civilization may be facing" said Frank
A. Fanderlip to the Associated Press,
today. He has been investigating condi-
tions in England and France and will
continue his inquiries in Switzerland and
Italy.
"America was cnce told there might
be peace without victory" he said.
What we have is victory without
peace. Production has ceased and unless
production can speedily be resumed,
ones imagination cannot comprehend the
chaos which may ensue.
There is nothing to be gained by
stopping to question who is to blame or
b. finding fault with the way events
have been guided. The great productive
machine of Europe must be started or
the world will be confronted with a dis
aster such as no experience has record
ed. Here in France everything waits
on the settlement of the question of
indemnity and the progress of events in
of indemnity less possible.
Wreck May Spread to Europe.
II have seen something of the utter
wreck which the central empires inflicted
thruout the war zone. 1t is complete
no words can picture truly how com
p!ete it is. That wreck. however. covers
only trip from the chanel to the Ger
man border. There is possible a wreck
that will cover all Europe. If produc-
tion is not resumed, the horrors of war
may be exceeded by the horrors of this
after-period, which is neither war nor
peace but a breakdown Of the machinery
of civilization. In the face of such ap-
palling disaster, every partisan consid-
Grafton, every unessential difference Of
opinion and every personal ambition
should be instantly forgotten.
unless terms of peace can be speed
lily agreed upon and unless these terms
arc such as will permit the resumption
Of something approaching normal in
dustrial life, there is not merely a
chance. there is strong probability of
the Russian bolsheviki ruling.
This condition of affairs can never
be really pictured by normal mind No
description Of it has been overdrawn.
''rhe stories which our soldiers tell
OF apparent ampie 1OO0 SuppneS on the
Rhine has been taken only as indicating
how completely governmental power
over food control has broken down and
how food stocks that are essential are
being recklessly consumed. Pictures that
] have received from higher CHARTERS re-
lative to food conditions in Central
Europe, both in and out Of Germany, are
sensational.
IF the situation is to be saved. every
effort must be bent toward solving the
problem and again starting production.
The first essential step is fixing the
terms Of peace. The danger from delay
cannot be overestimated.
what can America do? There is
certainly one thing that she cannot do
and that is to withdraw herself to rest
in the belief that this chaos is remote
and that America can avoid playing her
part in international responsibility. We
must think in international terms as we
never thot before. The gigantic strength
of our position will not keep us free
from effects Of events here. There is
no time for narrow and provincial views.