The Washington times., 1920-08-23
KAHN SAYS TREATY
/. HAS UPSET EUROPE
ethical Experiment" Out OF
Harmony With Realities, AS
Serts N. Y. Financier.

NEW YORK, Aug. 2s.-Otto n.
Kahn, i0ho recently returned from
England, Italy aud France, iohere
he conferred tOith economists, bank
ers and statesmen, both Of those
countries aud of Russia and Ger
many, has Incorporated has tmpres-
sions an paper Impressions from
a Journey M Europe" just publish
ed. He says IN part:
Those who framed the peace treaty
OF Versailles. while Affirming and. I
doubt not. intending allegiance to the
hopes and aspirations OF the liberal
opinion OF the world. have to a con-
sidera BILE extent negatiyed them In
fact.
"Bartering and compromising and
sowing the seeds OF dissension among
one another and of discord through
out the world. they have set up dis
positions which resulted In leaving
production. commerce, international
intercourse. indeed the very condi-
tions OF existence. completely out OF
Joint In almost all of Europe east Of
the Rhine. They have ignored what
was among the most essential of all
the elements involved in. readjustlng
the world from war to peace. namely
the element OF practical economics.
TREATY IGNORES REALITIES.
"They have produced a treaty so
little consonant with the realities
that from the day OF its promulga-
tion TO this day 1t has been a con-
tinuous object of controversy. of re-
adjustment, of Interpretation, of
haggling and whiting down. and
has consumed the time. thought and
energies of the leading statesmen in
the various countries to the detri-
ment of domestic affairs.
"Solemnly proclaiming the princl-
pie OF 'self-determination' they have
granted or withheld II, according to
their discretion. They have involved
themselves in commitments of sov-
ereignty, control or regulation
throughout the world calling for
military and other efforts, the cost
and burden of which go beyond the
present capacities of their respective
nations and beyond the sanction Of
public opinion.
"ETHICAL EXPERIMENTS"
"They injected into the matter-of-
fact business of making peace with
GERMANY business which de-
manded promptitude and finality--
the complexities. delays and un-
certainties of a world-embracing
ethical experiment that called for
calm and detached and separate con-
sideration and treatment
"They have mishandled the fine and
universally acclaimed conception of
an association of nations to maintain
and strengthen international law and
preserve peace. and seeking to utilize
II for unrelated purposes have
evolved an instrument largely diver
gent from that conception.
"wROUGHT UN NsETrLEMENT.-
Thus and in other ways. insteas
OF peace and settlement. they have
wrought dispeace and unsettlement.
1T would be futile to discuss the
distribution OF responsibility among
the treaty makers for the sad dis
illusionment which the outcome and
sequel of the Versailles conference
brought to a world that stood ready
and expectant to follow lead
worthy of the high inspiration
which had actuated the people of the
allied nations and America during
the war.
at sounds paradOxicaI, but In q
large sense II IL true that Europe for
the past year has been suffering less
from the effects OF the war than from
the effects of the peace