New-York tribune., 1920-01-25

'AAo ooicVeu IN 1914
that our country was called upon =.
fulfill a great world mission e ~
thought in the we'll known Gerr.s
manner, then, would we now w,.N
we were faced with future viii.
promised national decadence. if ".
accepted it, long period of forens
occupation and an enormous nav ~
ment to foreign governments. no.
manent abdication as one of -.
great world nations, resign our ala
visions and settle down to what IL.
ahead?
The Cure
The answer seems to me clear r.
cure Germany of her vast and sv;,
cream we had not merely to defeat
her in war, which we Just baralv
succeeded in doing, but we had Ole.
to create a stable European system
which would be a barrier tn h.,
further efforts to realize her fond
Illusions. Just this the peace NJ
Paris does not do. If German patb.
way was inviting in 1914 It is ter
times as inviting now, whether ons
looks south toward Constantinople ~
east toward Moscow. Instead of
solid barriers, Germany looks oplv
at jerry-hujlt states and govern
ments, incapable of standing uraid-
ed and lacking those guarantees from
Western nations, which alone could
insure their development into lasting
edifices. A war has been lost, but to
the German the opportunity has not
teen removed, rather it has been en-.
HANGED, in so far as Russia has been
transformed from a certain enemy
into possibly ally and perhaps an
ultimate vassel.
We come, almost inevitably, then
to the conclusion that the Allies who
won the war lost the peace. The
great opportunity to erect barriers
against a new German flood had dis.
appeared. Instead we have no.
merely the old German menace, but
the new Russian peril If we had
crushed Bolshevism, when the mo-
ment was favorable, a year ago, Ger.
many would have to-day looked out
upon Europe Offering her no posi-
bic ally and no favorable field Of
exploitation, the saved Russia would
have been a partner in our new sys-
TEN, a great force in our new Eu-
rope.
Instead, we failed and perms.
nently alienated 1875. 100000 Rus
slams who are to-day moving more
and more clearly toward a tempo
rary association with 100000
Germans, who remain equally ont
side our new system, who hate us
and our ideas with a hatred which
is no longer to be mistaken. And
in this Russo-German sea of hostile
millions the little Slav and Latin
states we have fashioned in the
East and South are chips. They
could hardly be maintained even il
we sent vast armies to them now,
once Russia begins in earnest or
whenever Germany resumes.
Slav and Teuton
Is it conceivable that the S!av
and the Teuton will fight? In such
fight there would be salvation for
the rest Of the world. But the na-
tions Of the Entente are an enemy
whom both detest far more than
they detest each other. No, the
things seems fairly clear: in the new
Europe which begins with the pres
ent month, an alliance between the
Slav and the Teuton to overthrow
the settlement of the peace OF
Paris is almost inevitable.
This is not to say that German
armies will spring up overnigik or
new German war arrive this year
or next. What it does aim TO assert
is that the present conditions in
Europe hold out SO much hope to
the German Of ultimate realizat on
Of his old ambitions that he will
not now lay them aside; rather he
will cherish them and await the
hour when they can be realized.
He is powerless now. but his con-
querors have totally failed to close
his pathway, their hour is passing
their system is already threatened
by deadly attack from Russia, their
alliance is crumbling, America Is
gone, Italy patiently bitter and re-
sentful, Britain faces wasting exer-
tons in all her far-hung empire
from Ireland to India; France, NC
torious, is almost bled white. The
little races newly liberated hate
each other more than their old OPP
nreSSnrs In s,,n, tho ,,oa.a of Y hle