Evening star., 1920-03-09
TREATYSFREE|NG
90 MILLIONS, ACT
WORTHY Of PRAISE
Criticism of Certain Liberals
to Be DepIored, Simonds
Asserts.
BY FRANK II. SIMoNDy.

| 6OOCl lOs
BY FRANK III. SIMONDy.
| In all the welter Of criticism Of the
peace made at Paris last year there
are certain things worth remember
\ ing. Today the criticism of the docu-
| ment. based upon the economic as
poets. is general; in addition, the con-
| ficts between various races over Del-
atively small strips Of territory serve
any peace was made. Americans. per-
ceiving this confusion and proximate
| chaos, are gradually accepting the ex.
trene views of a relatively small
number of critics. chiefly British. who
style themselves liberal and seek
| TO achieve an entire revision OF the
treaties with the obvious purpose to
benefit Germany at the expense of all
the nations which recently united to
defeat the German attack.
These British critics would lay the
chief burden of the rehabilitation
upon the United States. which IS to
be asked to cancel a debt of $10,000,-
O0O 900. and then to begin . new Sc
ries of lendings. Germany would, in
the end. be the beneficiary. and the
$40, ,000, 100000 would reduce the cost
to the German of his recent war.
American taxpayers taking that load
off German shoulders. But America
would not alone be asked to contrib
ute; France, Poland. Belgium and
Italy would have to make contrtbu-
tions.
Fifty Million Freed From slavery.
Now, shifting the discussion of the
peace terms to the economic side
leads in the end to very partial
view of the treaty itself. The truth
n
ent in the fact that together these
two things amounted to a vast sur
gical operation. upward of 60.00o.--
900 of human beings were rescued
from slavery and from something
worse than slavery. The operation
mutilated Germany and resulted IN
the actual extinction of the Haps-
burg empire. And just as no opera
ton can be accomplished without
bleeding, the results have been such
as to bring protest from the most
squeamish.
But granted that economic disorder
has resulted, does this justify blanket
indictment of what the French, Brit
,ish and American negotiators OF Paris
did in recognising new facts! the
burden Of all criticism now is that the
treaty terms are too severe upon cef-
many, but at least il 1t out OK place
to indicate what was done for other
that the war was moro than once ad-
vertised as a war Of liberationr Must
the single test Of the peace terms be
the effect upon Germany!
People Getting Liberation.
The truth 10 that the peace treaties
liberated 25,000,000 Poles. 100000
Cxechos1ovaks, 40.000.000 southerr
Slavs, 100000 Rumaniane. 100000
Italians, 100000 Alsaoe.Lorraine
ESQ, 900 Danes. 10000 Walloons of the
Belgian frontiers. at least 1000 0Oe
Greeks. All told upward Of 5o.0oe ,o0o
Of human beings were set Tree from
German, Austrian, Hungarian, Rus
sian and Turkish tyranny. In accom-,
plishing this upward OF 5000 ooo o.
Austrian Germans, were Included In
Slav and Rumanian frontiers.
We are now asked to regard the ter
ritorial phases Of the treaty as fail
ure, because the lines IS drawn de
| not arrive at complete justice--a thing
Of various races at the several meet
ing places Of ethnic frontiers and t.
set aide the gain Of the 1000 900 lib
Grated, because of5th 5,000.0O0 placed
under alien rule. More than this, W
are asked to regard the liberation Of
human beings as unimportant sscaas'
| 1t is accompanied by economic chaos.
But is this q just demand? Was Il
Necessary that the Poles should con
tinue under German rule because t.
free them meant to shake the edihct
of German industry? Ought the worlt
to accept as legalized the stealings o.
Frederick the Great and his success
sors, beeause the result Of the steal
ings had been the erection Of m eco
noml6al1y 'efiicient state? II effciency
so much more important than liberty
aftsn anal II it is then we made s
great mistake in opposing the Ger
man.
New st4tea emerge Fron war.
The new states. which merged al
Paris. had emerged actually from the
war, for Paris did not do moro than
recognize existing facts. They will
mot easily hnd their feet. They have
aspirations not differing, from those
@ % s5o1s or later a1 ev. o%T ev
denca ofeappe tites like our own. The,
have necessfties. dangers. external
1lenaceg which stimulate q desire fol
4trategfc frontiers, but is this human
tendency sufficient to damn them for
Fever and to vitiate the work of lib
feration?
It is an odd circumstance that those
! who call themselves liberal" evince
little or no interest or concern fol
the human aspects Of the question
! and concentrate upon the economic
phases. They would deprive the
Poles of regions in which the popula-
| tion is two-thirds Polish, because the
regions are economically necessary
! to Germany. But when German
speaking districts necessary to the
Czechs are assigned to the Czecho-
slovak state no denunciation of this
iniquity is too great. That Germany
should hold the upper Silesian coal
basin, with Polish population
strikes them as thoroughly just
thing, but French occupation Of the
Sa rre is a crime against the fourteen
points. intolerable and unforgivable.
And now for political reasons
these denunciations of the treaty of
peace are seized upon in America,
where the actual knowledge OF the
treaty provisions is very slight and
totally colored by the domestic po-
liticaI difference. But do the 10000
900 of human beings set free count
for nothing? Is there no such thing
as a comparison OF evils. In l9l4
Getmany occupied lands inhabited by
between 100000 and 100000 Poles
and in certain regions had been for a
century expelling the Poles to make
the districts safely German. Small
sections of these regions have been
! included in the purely Polish sectors
What Of it?
Looking at the map Of Europe. tn
ethnic map and placing It beside tn
| new political map and the old. one vii
see in a moment how closely the new
! follows racial lines and how lntl'
regard the old paid for them. To o.
sure there are still disputes along th'
| fringes, there are things that sug