New-York tribune., 1920-08-15

1IH the collapse OF Poland
wv and the advance of the
Bolshevists upon Warsaw
the world upheaval en-
ters upon new stage. An eX-
hausted and divided Western civili-
zation faces a renewal of the as
saults of barbarism, of anarchy, Of
dissolution such as temporarily
overcame Roman and Greek civili-
cation more than fifteen centuries
ago.
What the Paris conference un.
dertook to do in the face of this
barbarism was to construct a bar
rier such as Rome had erected at
the Danube and the Rhine. The
later wall was to be composed of
separate nationalities freed from
Russian and German tyranny, the
three Baltic races, the Let's, the
Lithuanians and the mixed tribes of
Esthonia; of the Poles and the Ru-
manians, and behind this outer ram
part an inner wall made up of
Czecho-Slovaks and Jugo-Slavs.
So far as Paris could agree upon
anything, this wall, this Gordon
sanitoire, represented it's Russian
policy. These states, depending for
existence, for prosperity, for every
thing, upon the Western nations,
were to stand to arms on the Rus
sian marshes and repel any attempt
Of Russian revolution to flow west
ward. The armies of these smaller
states were to be organized and
officered by military missions from
the West; they were to be the allies
both against Russian and German
attack.
Second Choice at Paris
This barrier policy, to be sure,
represented the second choice at
Paris. The statesmen and the SOL
diers Of the nations which had con-
quered Germany would have pre-
ferred to direct their still powerful
armies against Russia and crush the
Bolshevist regime, in their opinion
still hollow shell. But this course
was impossible because the soldiers
who composed the armies were un-
willing to fight a new war, the mass
Of the public was dead against any
such adventure and the limit of
Western contribution was mani
festly comprehended in the purpose
to support the border tribes and out
Of them construct wall.
Now, the thing that it is essen
tial to perceive is that the wall has
not alone been preached but demol-
ished by the Bolshevist successes.
The Baltic states have entered into
peace negotiations with the Reds,
which leave them momentarily free
and untroubled but seal their ulti-
'mate fate, for they no longer have
the strength to oppose vast Russian
armies. Poland has fallen and Ru-
mania alone remains standing be-
tween the Gulf of Finland and the
Black Sea.
All of which is only another way
Of saying that the Allies in the first
place abandoned the logical policy
of making war upon the Reds, who
were making war upon them, because
their own people were too weary to
fight on and too blind to perceive the
meaning of the Red menace to all
classes Of Western society. Then, in
the second place, they attempted as
a substitute to persuade the border
tribes to do their fighting for then
in return for subsidies and technica,
assistance. This second method has
now led straight to the ruin of al,
but one Of the border tribes, SO fal
as the main question of resistance te
Russia is concerned.
Russian Peril Still Hidden
We come now to the third phase
Obviously the necessity at the pres
ent hour is to fight the Reds, to re-
sist them in tho aoct ood oop+ox 81