Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1920-04-18
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS.

dispatch from Paris. much criti-
cised at the time. i told my
readers that the league of ma
lions was dead and that all hope of
real settlement in the peace con-
of the past twelve months have
adequately confirmed this conclusion
and the recent crisis has demonstrated
that the same difference In fundamen-
tai conception between the Continent
| tai and Anglo Saxon nations has
doomed the association of nations
which. even where firmly united,
barely succeeded in defeating the
Germans.
In examining the latest incident. the
action of the French in occupying
| the cities of Frankfort and Darn
stadt. 1t is essential to perceive at
once. that underlying all else is the
! same divergence of views which
wrecked the Paris conference. In
Paris the United States. through Pres
ident Wilson, insisted that peace
should be made on the assumption
! that the war and the revolution fol-
| lowing the war had totally trans
! formed the German policy and the
German purpose and that there was
no longer need to take precautions
against German militarism. Substan-
TALLY this principle was equally earn
| estly affirmed by the British.
Argument Made by the French.
| But the French. for their part. ar
gued that there was no known meth
| cd Of proving that the German char
| acter had been modified. that the Teu-
tonic rulers Of the future would turn
aside from their own policies and &C
cept western principles. Pointing to
the history of Prussia for century
| and a half, the French indicated that
she had been a predatory state, from
Frederick the Great to the moment
| when a Prussian king. following the
victories Of 1870 became William l OF
Germany.
France. exposed to all German at
| tacks, recently ravaged and deVas-
tated by the most violent and savage
| Of them all, insisted that the treaty
| which was to be made should. as an
| essential circumstance, provide pro-
! lection against a new German as
sault, both by giving insurance to
France and by depriving Germany,
SO far as was possible. Of the means
for any immediate repetition OF the
| arRresstons of 1870 and 1914. Add
To this the French demand for repa-
| ration for German devastations ana
the whole French case at Paris 10
set forth.
| Continent Versus U. 8. ana Britain.
| AS consequence Of the collision
! of two wholly divergent views. the
Paris conference resolved itself I'M
mediately into a battle between the
| continent on the one hand and the
limited States and Great Britain on
the other. President Wilson. under
! the gentle impulsion of the British
| took the center of the stage and pro-
ceeded, using American financial re-
sources and moral prestige. to en-
force upon the continental nations
that view, presented by him and sup
ported by the British. the view ex-
pressed in the league of nations
dreamed by the President and put in
writing by the British. which under
took to establish peaceful world
without other than moral guaran-
| tees.
But naturally the French. the
Italians, the Poles. the Rumanians.
\ FOL
suffered from German or Austrian
violence, rejected this Anglo-Ameri-
can adjustment OF their future.
| Now. following the clash between
| these two totally irreconcilable views.
the Paris conference fell into a state
Of anarchy. It's deliberations amount
ed to no more than an effort to hit
unon compromises which should en-
able the advocates of each of the
two methods to append their sigma
lures without sacrificing their princi-
ples. In the end such compromises
were approved as amounted In real
ity to the negation OF both principles
and to the creation of sort OF ar
J ranrement which neither conformed
10 the AHSi $3.50
the continental.
Trenty Faces Both Ways.
The treaty of Versailles faced both
WAYS; it reduced beyond the margin
of bare safety the precautions al
lowed to the continental nations, in
their own opinion, and 1t enormously
overpassed the limits of the peace
of understanding sought by tho
Americans and supported by the Brit
ish. 1t was neither one thing nor the
other, because, in the end. both sides
despaired of establishing their own
views and WEAKNESS, and popular
unrest drove them to agree to some
thing.
But no sooner had the treaty terms
been reluctantly announced to an i'm
patient world than the debate which
had been hitherto confined to the Sc
cret sessions of the conference was
transferred to the press OF the world
The result OF the transfer was I'M
mistakable. The press and the pub
lie opinion OF the continent instinc-
lively rallied to that view defended by
continental statesmen in the confer
ence. while with something less of
unanimity American and British opin-
ION supported tho main lines OF the
argument of Wilson and George at
Paris.
Such a divergence of opinion could |
not fail to lead TO new crisis. rep
resented by the demand. principally |
in Britain and only echoed in tho |
United States by certain journals |
and writer's whose whole stock in |
,r,de intellectually is borrowed from