The Washington herald., 1921-11-29
Frightening Skies.

4
i Island, Anatole France, member of the Acad-
emie Franchise and winner of the Nobel prize for
literature. develops with gloomy but convincing
power the belief enuncated in of his briefer
sketches that "the human race is not susceptible
to indeterminate progress" He pictures the
growth OF syper-Paris which, at length, and with
the republic of which it is the metropolis, crashes
into ruin brought about by cataclysmic struggles
between utter materialism and rampant anarchy.
Then through ages to be, rises city and
this in the funess Of time suffers a similar deba-
Gle, and so the thing goes through endless
history"
After the fervor and tangible spirituasm of
the days Immediately following the armistce the
exhausted world certainly seemed trcading the
fatal ways of Frances pictured nation. The men
ace OF the Reds, the upspringng OF new wars, the
European prostration of mind and body the I'M
happy wrsngling of Britain and Ireland and a
host of grave difficulties national and nternatona
confronted weary peoples, sobered from the in
toxication of military victory. Men questioned
one another with eyes as. fearful and grave a,
during the great German drives in the spring of
1918 and the of hope shone palely not at all
a
civilized world senses within itself once the
workings of the forces which made
possible, and took on intensity with, its struggles
upward from the chaos and old night of prehistoric
times The all-powerful weapon OF common sense
once more is in the races hands. All eyes are
open and sustained buoyancy pervades the
tions-save Germany and Russia
The best indication OF this return to mental
health is the refusal to blink at conditions The
problems that caused depression and pessimsm
in 1910 and 1920 still remain with in large
number But have come to regard them not
as symptoms of diseased social stage but as phe-
nomena of unrest and readjustment leading to
better order of things, not to order at all.
Of, Russia lies PROSTATE beneath starvatioa and
Soviet dominance, but the true appreciation Of
the universal result Of unchecked famine has come
to US and the Soviet government has ceased its
threats to envelop the world in vast comnlunis-
tic scheme. The war between Russians and Poles
has ceased and two other struggles are inactive,
one being intensely unpopular and the other a
burlesque. Europe has gone soberly to work and
busiest of all are the Germans. The leaders Of
the allied nations are beginning to heed the
ings that too much economic pressure will ineyit-
aby bankrupt the former foe and precipitate the
continent into a Slough of monetary and prodtc-
tive inertia Britain and Ireland sit at the coun-
Gil board and though frequently arising to expos
tulate the parties reasonable. And all over the
world labor and capital coming to a reaiza-
ton of their .interdependeney and the barriers Of
caste and misunderstanding are breaking downs
Best of all, the dominant powers confer on
limitation of arms. The worth of the conference
is not to be measured in terms OF ships and regi-
ments smashed or disbanded, in the amounts of
monies diverted from fabricatng INSTRUMENTS of
destruction to the aid of peaceful industries, but
in terms of the spirit which brought the convoca-
ton about and will itself to obey the precepts
laid down. 1t has been demonstrated that the
new diplomacy is not parvenu, that IT is not a
demagogic gesture but instrument made effec-
tual from the force OF the public will behind it.
No longer is surgery being applied to a sick
world The terrible excisions of universal war are
no longer in vogue. Rather, is homeopathy the
present treatment. The patient is being aided to
cure himself Necessarily the process is long
one: The swift and marvellous, but impermanent
effects of the 'scalpcl beguile no more. Organic
reintegra,io is the goal of todass statesmen and
prophets.