Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1920-02-14
PROTEST .
AGAINST TREATY
An English Expert Who
Thinks Its Economic Terms
'Are Too Hard

When man has the courage-or
shall we say the audacity-to set up his
Judgment against that of the great ma
lorlty of his associates il. is always ad-
visable to inquire who the man is before
accepting or even seriously considering
his opinions.
For this reason it is important that
the identity of John Maynard Keynes
be fixed before considering his book on
The Economic Consequences of the
Peace. book the publication of which
IN England was described by the Lon
don Times as political event. Mr..
Keynes was born in 1889. He was edu-
Gated at Cambridge University. From
l9O6--he was then twenty three years
old--to 1919 he was connected with the
British civil service. first in the India
Office and later in the treasury. Dur
ing the war he was in charge of the
British financial relations with the
allied powers and was the chief repre-
sentative of the British treasury at the
peace conference aud was member of
the supreme economic council of the
allied and associated powers. He is
fellow of Kings College, Cambridge,
and is, editor of the Economic journal.
He resigned his connection with the
British treasury and with the peace
conference in June of last year when
it became evident that hope could no
longer be entertained of substantial
modification in the draft terms of
peace.
His book is in three parts. One is
devoted to an admirable description of
the council of four at work. in the
course of which he presents pictures of
Clemenccau. Lloyd George and Wilson
that make the men live. His remarks
about Wilson as an International states
man are not flattering to that gentle
man. For example. he says that Will
son took his fourteen points to Paris
without any plan for their detailed ap-
plication to an existing state of facts.
He could have preached sermon on
any of Them" writes Mr.. Keynes, cor
have addressed a stately prayer to the
Almighty for their fuiillment; but he
could not frame their concrete applica
ton to the actual state of Europe.
His thought and temperament were
essentially theological. not intellectual,
with all the strength and the weakness
of that manner of thought, feeling and
expression.
The second part is devoted to an
analysis of the economic terms of the
treaty. Mr.. Keynes insists that they
d
possible of enforcement, that they place
in the hands of the reparation commits
sion powers which it should not have
and that they make for the pcrpetuation
of hatred and discord. 1t is because he
so regarded them that he declined to be
connected any longer with the commits
sion which drafted the treaty. Resig-
nation was his form of protest. 1t was
not effective because the treaty contains
the provisions to which he objected.
That he is unduly pessimistic has been
set forth with specifications by David
Hunter Miller, legal adviser of the
American peace commission. But there
is no doubt that he expresses the view
of the group in England that regards
the peace terms as too harsh, group
that was filling the British newspapers
with protest last summer.
The third part considers the remedies.
The indispensable prerequisite to the
application of the remedies is ''the re-
placement of the existing governments
of Europe" This must be followed by
a revision of the treaty by the League
of Nations. by settlement of the inter
Ally indebtedness through its cancella :
ton Then there must be an interna =
tional loan and reform of the cur
rency. And finally the right of Ger
many to assist in the industrial devel :
opment of Russia must be recognized
and respected.
The book deserves attention as the
contribution of a qualified mind to the
discussion of the questions involved il
the recovery of the world from the raw
ages of war. But it would be mistake
for any reader to surrender his judg
ment completely to that of Mr.. Keynes
Men just as we'll qualified as he hold
different views and set them forth with
just as much plausibility.
THE ECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES OF THE
PEACE BY John Maynard Keynes C B
New York: Harcourt, Brace g. Howe
$3.50.