The New York herald., 1921-03-06
Bv FRANK H. sIMONDS.

"A ten the meeting of a new world con-
ference in London this time, marks
a supreme crisis in the whole liquidation of
the World War. We once more face cir
cumstances which must recall those of the
fatal Twelve Days preceding the catastrophe
of nearly seven years ago. We have now.
as then, reached the point where the recess
sion of one great Power, the approximate
surrender of one Government can alone
avert what may easily be another war.
And now, as in 1914 the chief difficulty
lies in the domestic situation in the coun-
tries most affected. The Germans have come
to London commissioned by their people to
resist the demands of the Allies in the mat
ter of reparation. To surrender, to yield to
the insistence of the Allies, means beyond
all else the certainty of the fall of the Ger
man Ministry, it means almost certainly
the ruin of the German Republic and the
return of the old regime.
But the French situation is not different
Were BRAND to consent to any modification,
even an inconsiderable modification, of the
terms reached in the Paris Conference of
January 20, not only would he fall, but the
fall of the last moderate leader would ineluc-
tably be followed by the selection of Poincare
to conduct the foreign policy of France and
the choice of Foch to express in action what
Poncare represents in policy.
Twenty-eight months after the armistice
then. the whole European situation has
reached another crisis All the elaborate
terms of the Treaty of Versailles have failed
TO bring about a settlement. Months ago
Mr.. Harding, on the morrow of his election,
told the American people that the League of
Nations was dead. few weeks ago BRAND
chosen to succeed Leygues, told the French
people that the Treaty of Versailles was
dead. In word. after a single year OF
operation the whole Paris settlement seems
to have demonstrated its fut ''ity.
UIterior Cause of Failure
Found in League of Nations Itself
Champions of the League of Nations in the
United States are accustomed to charge the
failure to the defeat of the Treaty Of ver-
sailles in our own Senate, but month by
month the fact becomes more and more pa
tent that the real trouble lies not in any
minor circumstances but in the character
and duration of the war itself: beyond all
else it lies in the nature of the war the
German waged. In this must be found the
explanation of the decisive element in the
present situation, namely the French pur-
pose.
Broadly speaking 1t lies outside the re-
sources of Germany to pay for all the de-
struction she has wrought. In reality Ger
many damaged the whole fabric of our COM
table globe to the other there is disorder,
greater less, disorder which is expressed
in violence, in something approximating war
or rebellion, disorder which is expressed in
economic chaos. in human misery. We
suffer now more than two years after the
end OF the battle. hardly less acutely in GER
tain regions than during the period of hos
tilities themselves.
Beaten Germany was liable in the legal
sense. to repair the damage she had wrought
in the moral sense she was doubly liable
The world was entitled to ask two things of
Germany, having at last broken her military
strength, reparation for what had been DONE
guarantees against a new assault. And
France. nearest to the danger, most gravely
wounded by the last affray, was entitled to
ask, not merely of Germany, but OF her own
allies and associates certain clear advan-
tages, certain minimum of protection
against the enemy whose methods were
manifest, whose purposes had been revealed
whose barbaric spirit had written its self
expression indelibly op the whole face of
Europe.
If we have arrived at a new crisis to-day
the explanation lies in the fact that the
allied world has steadily refused to accep.
the French point of view and the refusal,
which has encouraged the Germans to re-
sist, to stand firm against disarmament
quite as much as reparation payments has
led the French. step by step, Enthusiastically
TO the point where French public opinion
envisages a new invasion of Germany with
utmost equanimity and sees in a new war
the only possible means of making sure of
the things which the liquidation of the last
war failed to provide.
A New War Waged by France Is
Not Remote Possib iIity