The Washington herald., 1920-07-13
DELAYED PEACE
MENACE, CLAIM
Senator Knox Agrees With
House That Neglect of
Treaty Is Perilous.
COULD BE TENTATIVE
Would Cover Army, Navy,
Reparations and Ter
rltofy.
(Pubie Ledger service.)


Knox was deeply interested today
in the cabled statement from Col
Edward NJ. House upon the inter-
national situation, printed in this
mornings Washington Herald. Col.
House in his dispatch blamed the
peace treaty delay for the danger
Gus European complications which,
in his opinion. again are threaten
ing the peace Of the world. Among
other things, Col. House said:
"A suggestion was made in Paris,
just after the armistice. to proceeo
at once in the making Of a pre-
liminary treaty of peace with Ger
many alone, based upon broad gem
sral lines and concerning four sub
tects-army. navy, reparations, anu
dclineation of boundaries. The
boundaries need not have been exN
act, but should have been so drawn
as to give Germany the assurance
that her loss of territory would not
be greater than indicated. Such a
treaty could have been made by
Christmas of 1918, and would have
been not only the usual but the
obvious thing to do. There was at
that time facing Germany the en-
tire allied army. militant and flush
ed with victory. and there would
have been no delay or evasion of
terms.
Knox Is Grntfned.
Senator Knox. in an interview At
his homestead. valley Forge
Farm" expressed great gratifica-
ton over the fact that Col. House.
whom he holds in high esteem.
aside from all political considera-
tions. had confirmed the views the
Senator held and expressed in the
Senate on three different occasions
between October and Christmas of
1918. Ever since before the ar
mistice until the time of President
Wilson's first trip to Europe the
Senator in speech and resolution
urged that peace with Germany be
concluded Immediately and that
league of nations be considered aft
/ erward.
The passage in the dispatch in
dicates that Col. Houses mind did
not go along with the Presidents
1t will be remembered that that was
the phrase Wilson used when he
chucked Lansing, and Col. House
! is a man of great common sense,
keen judgment and wide expert
ence. and he is a man who is not
afraid to have and express an in
dependent view. That sort of
thing will never do with Wilson"
Sees New Menace.
| Senator Knox said he agreed with
Col. House that the present Euro
pean turbulence held a renewed
menace to the peace of the entire
world. And he continued:
"All the world disturbance of to-
l day. including the war between the
Poles and the Bolshevists and the
twenty-one or twenty-five other
wars now raging in the wrecked
countries Of Europe. has been
caused by President Wilson's stub
bornness in refusing to separate the
peace treaty from his covenant of
the league OF nations.
when he visited us for a week.
after his first European trip, he was
very angry because Of the cool re-
ception accorded his league by the
Senate, and went as far as to threat
en- that he would get the treaty and
the league so intertwined that those
gentlemen will not be able to un-
ravel them
I'VE should have made peace. as
Col House says, when the allied
armies were still militant and flush
ed with victory; when the Germans
knew that they were beaten and
before they had a chance to regain
| their self-conf1dence and insolence
not to speak of their struggle"
Sitting in the sun-spotted library
OF his farm. once the headquarters
of his forebear, Gen. Knox, of Revo-
lutionary War fame, the Senator
smiled with satisfaction as he read
Col. Houses dispatch. He nodded
in enthusiastic assent when perusing
the passage referring to the treaty
delay.