South Bend news-times. (South Bend, Ind.) 1913-1938, 1920-11-19
DIFFERENTIATION AND FREEDOM
FOR ALL EXCEPT IRELAND.

or course DR.. r. A. White Of Chicago, guest and
speaker before the Knife and Fork club Tuesday
night is entitled 70 full courtesy and confidence
in his honesty from his point Of view This can be
accorded him. however. without accrediting to him
other than a view from a very point. II
is easy enough. in discussing and massive
document like the Paris treaty and League Of Ma
lions covenant. 20 pick sentence para
graph here and there, or condition left here apd
there untouched. and magnifyng it from a mole
hill into a mountain. appear exceedingly wise to
the uainitated.
One is bound to be considerable Of DR. White
since admitting his lack of admiration for Prest
Wilson no is so wrapped up in his "a points"
20 believe they would have settled future in
Europe had they been adhered to in the framing
of the treaty. He accuses the president of lacking
the courage Of his convictions" else the IA
points" would have controlled the treaty negotia-
j tons and all would have been well with the ship;
ne, assuming. to be sure, that they not adj
hered TO- and asserting it. without proof expecting
his word TO be taken "of course" Such allegi-
to the "a points refreshing, since if it de-
velops that they were adhered to, and that DR..
White msrepresented that phase of his subject
wars in Europe ought to be permanently done away
with.
But we are in much the same predicament as
with that lengthy document toto. Gisprove his
representations It would take whole newspaper.
The best We can deal with the little slips
in the operation of his wheels of thought; his forget
fulness. addenda. dependence upon the forget
fulness of his auditors that the school Of critics
10 which belongs just Prolific in their
condemnation of the IA points while the treaty
was in the making he is in his praise of
them. 1t was their influence upon Paris through
press propaganda, and round robins" that made
the presidents task of adherence cumbersome
1t was never until long after the treaty had gone
before congress. when little places it
found that the "a points" had presumably been
neglected-so pronounced by the treaty's enemies
acting on advices from Dublin and Berlin.-that
the virtue OF those points opened to
discovery. They have been the acme of virtue with
these critics ever since. That had DR.. White ad
dressed the Knife and Fork club here two years
ago. he would have condemned the "14 points"
just for the sake criticism, he uphOds
them. is logically certain.
Take his reference to the doctrine Of "sef-deter-
mnation." sample:
"Only three instances of justice shown
at the Paris conference that of giving back
Poland her land which had been in possession
of Germany the birth of Czecho- slovakia, and
the establishment of government in Austria.
The the story of the peace conference
is very discouraging and the seeds at that
conference will result in future world
as there is a God in heaven.
Things were Is they the pres
ent time. The giving of the Saar valley. to
France Will result in more Alsace- Lorraine dis
putes Soon Germany is going to cast longing
eyes that valley and the result will be
between Germany and France. There was never
a more damnable thing in the history of the
world than the transferring of Shantung to
Japan
'.Egyrt Morocco Arabia India the Philip
pines and Armenia have been pleading for in
dependence and if the peace conference were
based justice these smaller nations would
be allowed their Independence
which the gis of his whole lecture; this and his
Trust in Cod Oh America your
armies and build more battleshps'
And it furnishes the key DR.. Whites knOwl
edge He mas read J. NJ Keynes Economic con-
sequences of the Peace" swallowed it in gulp,
and given it to us secondhand. digested for Amer
lean consumption. Mr.. Keynes being English
man, opposed TO Irish indeI endence, naturally
elected to mention ireland among the smaller
nations" which the peace conference. il based upon
justice, he says would have allowed their indie
pendence." and Or. White. loyal his tutor. makes
the same Identical omission Why Ireland? Has
any people thirsted for independence more cried
for it more loudly? Why Egypt, Morocco, Arabia
AIDA Armenia and the Philippines, and Ire
land? this latter-day advocacy of the gospel os
"sef-determination" gospel to be applied by its
advocates basis of territorial proxi-
mity-or religious prejudice whim?
DR.. White knows every Intelligent American
ought to know that it was not the mission of the
Versailles conference TO reuap the world.
up new nations outside the domains of the con-
Quered foe. here to make peace with
Germany and with Austria and Hungary and Tur-
key. Beyond that conference set ur a League
o Nations, making it party to the treaty, for the
enforcement or modidcation-get that modification
of the peace there agreed upon, into consonance
with the conscience OF the world. The Versailles
conference would have gotten long ways toward
settling peace with Germany had they set about