The Washington herald., 1920-01-30
EUROPE NOT
HELPING SELF
Laziness and Aversion to
Work Are Retarding
Reconstruction.
"PANHANDLNG" u. S.
Hearley Says More Loans
Would Be Wasted on
Allies.
"PANHANDLNC" u. S.


? nomic disorder. naturally result
ing from war. is making for cha
otic bankruptcy in Europe. Finanz
cial reorganization will be practic-
ally impossible. as long as the
Old World persists in her down.
right laziness and her inefficient
and antiquated methods of indus
trial and agricultural production.
Unless Europe's productive enter
prise acquires pep" and learns
modern efficiency any further loans
on Uncle Sans part would be
tossed into a bottomless well.
The Old Worlds salvation essen
TALLY must come from the inside
and can not come from the out
side. One of the traditions which
should go and go quickly is that
work is necessarily undignified and
servile- The prevailing class" idea
Is responsible for many of Eu-
ropes present woes; the notion
that a "gentIeman's" field of activ-
'ity is limited to diplomacy, law.
the army. the navy. a professor
ship. or the church, still sticks
democracy or no democracy. More
over. too much theorizing and too
much talking are done overseas.
and the economic demand cries to
high heaven for workers. and not
for thinkers and conversationalists.
belgium Sets Good Example.
Belgium admittedly is setting
good example. but the rest of the
Old World is not copying it. The
Belgians. a thrifty and Industrious
people generally. are getting right
down to the brass tacks of exist
ence. They are reconstructing their
war-wrecked land and forging
ahead toward normal paths of In
dustry and agriculture. Little Bel
Eium promises to get the foreign
trade jump on the greater number
OF her bigger and more talkativc
sister countries.
The Old World will stand on the
international street corner and hold
out her hat for the aims of loans"
until she is convinced that pan
handling" no longer pays. Before
such conviction comes. she will
d. display all her real and counter
feited war wounds. like a shrewd
Eeapolitan beggar. and make a
studied and even piteaus appeal for
help.
Europe's economic confusion is in
some part due to the Anglo French
manufacture of a bad peace. and
present anti-American propaganda
is merely glancing at the surface
of the situation The London Daily
Express and Bottomley's John Bull
can blame any Old World financial
crisis on the conference of Paris
much more logically than on pres
ent-day Washington The allies
were so concerned with territorial
and political imperialisms that
they absolutely ignored such real
essentials as the Old Worlds eco
nomic and social troubles.
Having wilfully exposed herself to
bad weather and deliberately invited
material consumption. Europe is now
pressing the United States for mUre
and more financial medicine for her
great plague. In the meantime she
does little or nothing, in the way of
self-nursing. to restore her strength
refraining from the exercise of steady
and honest labor and breathing her
old airs of industrial and agricultural
inefficiency.
Quaek Remedies Insufficient.
II foreign debts have brought the
allies to the brink of bankruptcy, only
the force of work will really draw
them back. Every other argument
begs tie essential question and is
more propaganda than logic. Foreign
money will continue to depreciate and
the dollar to be the financial cock of
the international walk. as long as
the Old World loafs or simply dab
bles agriculturally and industriaIly.
Besides. financing undemocratic and
iInperialistic adventures is not FILL
ing the allegedly empty pockets of
France. England and Italy.
The allies have long had their
"quacks." who openly or secretly
offer "remedies- for these condi- !
tions. France has a former foreiRn
minister. who even in Parliament
proposed that the allied war debts
be pooled" and Uncle Sam stand
his share" For Italy. a head of
italian Masonry months ago adyo- !
Gated that the normal value of the
lira be arbitrarily lifted to one dol !
lar instead of the present twenty /
cents.
Although there is a large English
party for pooling" England up to /
this time has been inclined to hide I
automatically behind these French
and Italian backs But it is possi- |
BILE that Downing street is about to |
change tactics. and London's indi-
Gated call for an international con- /
ference of financiers and experts to
consider the exchange situation
may have far-reaching conse-