The Washington times. [volume] (Washington [D.C.]) 1902-1939, 1921-12-11
LADY ASTOR IS
OPT|M|ST|CON
| PEACE FARLEY
Declares Progress Has Beer
Made, but Broader Plan
IL Needed.

sa4 Nout1uuoO AIVm THbt 6a8OJ
bug bear Of all. has been faced
squarely By those most concerned
bugbear Of al. has been faced
with . frankness and friendliness
that augers well for the future.
The very greatest satisfaction IL felt
over here in the new agreement
for peace which. a. I write IL moro
q less accomplished fact.
II some Of the dark suspicion has
bssn exploded. there Will be little
chance Of any other kind Of explo.
aon. II comradship Ii going to take
the place Of competition, the Pacific
may yet justify its name. That In
Z second item to the worlds credit.
Thirdly-and here I speak moro
&llfidontly-the conference has per-
hsps made Il easier for America to
realise the genuine difficulties Of
European politics. NJ. Brands
speech. for instance. must have
exemplified in . vivid and eloquent
way the state Of mind that still
exists In some countries In Europe
and the consequent difficulties in
the way Of those who seek peace.
I know that the spectacle Of Europe
has made many people in America
feel that tho only way to save civil
liAtion Is to give up the Old World
~ q bad job and concentrate build
ing tho New World in the other
hemisphere.
World II Ono
But the presence Of European
representatives in Washington may
have helped to imprint on public
imagination the truth that the
world is one and that the Old World
policies react ON and profoundly
affect New World policies. Tho
lives and deaths, the happiness and
misery Of thousands Of men, women
and children in Europe and Asia
Minor. whom America Ii ever so
generously helping through tenn.
ultimately upon the political and
trade policies of the great Powers.
The United States In now 30 in
Quential that she cannot entirely
separate her action from other
nations. Armenian massacres have
followed on the Angora treaty.
which concerns oil supplies, as
surely as the breakdown Of the
European exchange has followed on
the reparation clauses OF the peace
treaty and payments exacted In
American dollars.
World Opinion.
None Of these things can be
dealt with except by the pressure
OF world opinion, including the pub
lie opinion of the United States.
II we have learned this at Wash.
ington that surely Is another item
on the credit side. I have left out
so far the agreement for the reduc-
ton of naval armament. There has
been a tendency to belittle this as
a mere economy stunt and no gen.
uine peace move. 1t Is rash to
prophesy, but believe that it will
be by this agreement that the
Washington conference will be long
est remembered.
The generosity Of the United
States in throwing down the friendly
challenge, the readiness of Great
Britain to accept the new standard
of naval equality with the United
States (she never has before with
any nation) have surely welded an
other rivet in Anglo-American
friendship. '
Ostracixe Nations.
This achievement, however leads
me to the first item on the debit side
Of the account. For, undoubtedly,
It is one of the disappointments Of
the conference, so far as this coun-
try is concerned. that the menace Of
the submarine has not only been left
where 1t was, but has actually been
increased. / beg you not to think
that this British feeling against sub
marines springs wholly from self