Evening star., 1920-01-04
NY FRANK H. sIMONDs.

TIME more one touches the sit
/ uation at the National Capt.
tai at the present hour the
more one is struck with as
tonishing indifference to international
problems, the enormous concentration
upon domestic questions and. beyond
all else. the rather puerile effort to
discuss and view questions which are
essentially international from to-
tally parochial point of view. 1t is as
If by common consent all men in pub
fic office were seeking to abolish by
silence and by avoidance the great
events and the great deeds of recent
years and believed that by such a
course one could dispose of the great
problems which have resulted from
recent world disturbances.
the most striking illustration Of
this tendency is found in the attitude
toward bolshevism. We have IN
Washington. as everywhere else IN
the United States at the present mo-
ment. discussion of the so-called RED
peril" One hears solemn discussions,
based upon the argument that the eX-
tension of the policy of deportation
to include a few thousands instead of
few hundreds of alien anarchists
will presently remove the danger
which exists for the nation in the
bolshevist disturbance in Russia.
Conversely, not the smallest interest
is manifested anywhere in the rapid
and still uninterrupted westward
movement of bolshevism itself. The
fact that within a year bolshevIsm
that Trotsky and Lenin have been
able to establish their control over
the larger part of Russia, to dominate
upward of 125.0O0.O0O of human be-
ingS. to destroy the armies made up
of Russians. who have challenged
, their control. to break through the
ence. to reach the Baltic and the
Black seas. excites no comment and
no apprehension.
In recent days the bolshevists have
reached the Baltic. the power of re-
sistance of the Let's and Lithuanians
! is exhausted, Poland and Rumania
alone of the border states remain.
Pola>gd had a large army, but it has
also to face the German menace for
the allies have failed to give Poland
Danzig, and the title of the mineral
districts of Silesia waits adjudication
by plebiseite. Despite an improve.
| ment in domestic conditions Poland
| is incapable of maintaining an army
of 100000 in the field long. without
allied subventions. which are not TO
be expected. and with this army
the single remaining bulwark against
| the bolshevists. will disappear AS for
Rumania, she is ready and willing to
make peace with the bolshevists. hav-
| ing been treated with contempt by
! the western nations and for the pres
,1I, Fol in / n n p
visit necessities.
Poland Pivotal Point.
1t is upon Poland that world atten-
| ton must now be fixed. But the west
ern nations, so far from recognizing
that Poland is the single wall against
the Russian red. are following their
old policy of procrastination. which,
in the last war. sacrificed both Serbia
and Rumania. In recent days Lloyd
nations would not make peace with
bolshevism. but for maintaining
state of war there is left only Poland
as a corner stone.
| 1t IS of utmost Importance to Ger
/ many, IL she is to regain her old po-
| sition, not mainly or even primarily
her military station, but her eco
nomic situation. to see Poland de-
stroyed. She needs her old Polish
provinces. West Prussia and Posen.
| she requires certain possessions OF
Upper Silesia, now waiting Pile
biscite. she needs Danzig and the con-
| troll of the lower Vistula and beyond
these she needs contiguity with Rus
| sia. the one field for her industry.
which may open the way to CONNER
cial renaissance.
Thus, whatever their other differ
ences, the bolshevists and the Ger
! mans, without regard to party fac
tion, political or religious difference,
! have common objective. the de-
struction of Poland. For the bolshe-
visits the elimination of Poland would
remove the only army in their path
way, the sole menace to their mastery
of Russia and their future expan-
sion into that chaos of hunger-smlt-
ten districts which has replaced the
comparative order of the old Haps-
burg empire.
The Germans believe that, once they
have crushed Poland and restored
their old unity. they can cope with
the bolshevists, they can reorgan-
ize Russia. The bolshevists believe
that with Poland down. they can
Rhine and the French Alps enlisting
the elements of disorder and of an
archy in Germany, Austria. Hungary
and Italy. But for both, the first step
is the destruction of Poland And IN
the present state of allied policy who
can doubt that Poland is doomed?
If Germany be beaten. bolshevism
will arrive at the Rhine and the Alps.
at the frontiers of Italy ana OF
France, and the domestic condition OF
Italy makes such circumstance
eravely disquieting. But il Germany Is
successful. she will have forged new
weapons, opened the way to the COM
mercial exploitation of Russia and es-
capped from that state OF military I'm
potence. which makes her resistance
to allied demands purely FORMAL al
the present hour.
Peril to America Either Way.
Either way, too, the danger Iof
America is patent. We have peen GO
ing through a stage of national ap-
prehension, resulting from the rela
lively restricted operations OF a naIo-
full of reds. representing huSs'dh
anarchy still far removed from our
shores But what would be the STU,
alton if bolsheviSm should sweep All
over central Europe? what III inc
armies of Trotsky and Lenin should
presently acquire the cohesion neces-
sary to repeat the achievements OF
the armies of revolutionary France
Does any one suppose that the do
mestic manifestations would be less
disturbing than now? Would we be
able permanently to escape the duts
of Joining with Britain and france
in a new struggle against Zoe iai
more menacing than Germany was,
against a doctrine far more destruc-
tive of our ideas and our civilization
than the Prussian?
And if Germany were successful
Obviously the result would be the
renaissance of the old Prussian ideal.
for only force could defeat poishe
vis,n and xhe German military lead
ers. restored to national favor by
fresh victories which would replace
the memories of recent defeats. would