The St. Joseph observer., 1921-05-28
RE-ENTER WORLD AFFAIRS
The United States Must Do SO wbcth-
or Desirable or Not, Says a Iead-
ing Republican journal.

One OF the features of the peace
treaty that was attacked in this coun-
try with most vigor, that shared with
Article X the assaults of Wilson's chief
critics, was the representation of the
United States on the rcparations COM
missions. Yet we have now the pre-
dction OF Mark Sullivan. set forth in
the following excerpt: ,r '..
"Our foreign program is making 7
steady progress. 1t is now clear that |
we shall take part in the cOnsidera-
tion of reparations. The broad basis |
Of Secretary Hughes contention about |
zap is that our rights go with our
interests. We have right to be |
consulted wherever our interests are
concerned. The same theory will
call on us to have hand in all that !
is done about reparations. -.t''
We've a right to be there because
our interests will be affected by what
is done Whatever tariff is put on
Germany will have anc economic eff
feet on every business man in the
United States. II we were not in the
reparation conferences we. should have
situation in which two parties,
namely, the allies and Germans, be-
ing present would have every reason
to ignore the interests of the third
party. the United States being absent.
Similarly we have an interest in
the amount of reparations Germany is
made to pay. Our first interest is
that she shall be made to pay just as
much as she possibly can to undo tho
damage for which she is responsible.
Our second interest is that there shall
be no attempt to leave Germany pros
trate or do anything which would
make her economically impotent in
the future"
We need not rest on sullivan's
statement alone. though Re is relia-
bic. We have. as Sullivan mentions.
the administrations attitude toward
zap. We have our governments re-
ply to Germany's appeal for media
ton. which comprised not a question
| OF the appeal alone. but also a plain
statement that the United States is
| interested in having the reparations
dispute settled amicably and soon.
We have. in short. plenty OF evil
dence that the administration either
deliberately or because OF inability to
do otherwise is going to re-enter
world affairs. including particularly
European affairs. We may re-enter
boldly or hesitatingly. we may even
think our participation will be wholly
on the economic side, but we are al
ready moving definitely ard ir-evoca-
bly, in that direction and we shall find
that interesting ourselves in economic
settlements amounts to interesting
ourselves In the very kernel Of world
politics.
The only important difference be-
tween the Wilson idea and the new
idea OF American participation lies in
the fact that Wilson emphasized the
idealistic side while the new idea en-
phasizes the practical" then we took
pride in saying America wanted moth
ing for herself. and now we remind
the world that America is going to
look out for her Interests"
It is worth mentioning here that
both in the matter OF Ysp and in that
of the Mesopotamian mandate. VIII
son performed exactly as Harding ap-
parently would have performed. At
any rate. he contended primarily for
our nationalistic interests. and Hard
ing has picked up these disputes at
exactly the point where Wilson re-
linquished them.
The fact is that after the failure OF
the permanent peace programme that
was crystalized in the covenant. the
worlds mood changed so rapidly that
nobody could resist it. If this shows
! anything it is that Wilson saw. clearly
whom he decided that if new order
OF international politics was to be es-
: tablished it had TO be done first. ahead
of the punitive settlement with Ger
many, even.-Des Moines (Rep.) Reg
ister