The Washington herald., 1921-06-05


century, has disappeared as an is-
sue. II there are now Siav and Ger
man minorities within Italian from
tiers, as the recent election showed.
their claims DO not now constitute
between the Jugo-Slav and
on both sides OF the new
frontier and has brought an end to
Intrigue by Italy and. increasing
threat by Slav..
As to France, she has returned to
the Rhine and with the reconquest
Of the "lost provinces" has. like
Italy, parted with an issue which
has been in the back of all French
minds ever since the treaty of
Real peace between Ger
many and France was impossible
while Germany held Strasbourg and
Metz. But with France returned to
her own, this basis for trouble Is
To be sure there is the
German hope of reconquest. But one
may take the present German threat
with a grain of salt. Seated on the
Rhine and the Sarre France has an
tack, Germany must now invade, not
alone through Belgium. but also
through Holland. as some of her
generals urged in 1s14-and this
means adding Dutch and Belgian
armies to French, and almost newt
ably insures the temperance OF
Britain on the continent. Even the
Sarre basin. which is a thorny prob
lem, can be disposed of when the
hour arrives, IS years hence, with
out necessarily constituting a cause
for war.
Conducive to Order.
The simple fact is that the geo.
graphical settlements of the Paris
conference in The west and south,
despite all the outcry which they
have occasioned, represent a gain
for European order as well as for
racial integrity. Certainly economic
adjustments between the succession
states of Austria are essential, must
come, but, deduction again being
made for Austria, reasonable soIu-
tions are not impossible. Accepting
for the moment the views that the
reparations issue has passed out of
the debate: European peace would
seem probable. were western obsta-
Cies alone to be considered.
But II is at this moment that the
Polish quetsion takes on it's true
We may believe tina,
Germany, in the end and with re-
luctance might accept the AIsace-
Lorraine decision of the treaty OF
Paris haransa he
future dangers of challenging il are
enormous. would not impossibly
bring Germany again into collision
with the nations which defeated her
in the recent war, all OF whom have
debt OF honor to France so far as
the question of Alsace-Lorraine is
concerned. We may believe that the
western frontier of Germany would
be accepted by Germans, as well as
by Frenchmen and Belgians, Just as
1t seems probable that what consti-
tute he natural frontiers of Italy
Will stand the test OF time.
Injustice to the Poles.
But can any German accept the
Polish settlement? Let US concede
at once that this settlement. So far
as II has been made, represents an
injustice to the Poles, rather than to
the Germans. The partition OF Po-
land. engineered by Frederick the
Great. was one of the supreme DO
litical crimes OF all history. The
steady colonization of Germans on
territory which was clearly Polish
has represented only the second step
IN the wrong done the Polish people.
III upper Silesia in whole, or in large
part, is retained by Germany. more
Poles will still live under German
rule than Germans within the from
tiers OF the new Polish republic.
But this does not in the least
change the fact that the treaty OF
Paris cut Prussia in half. 1t sepa-
rated East Prussia from the main
mass OF the old Hohenzollern mon
archy, thrusting the notorious Dam
zig corridor" northward. In giving
the Poles Posen, a province in which
the Slav majority was overwhelm-
ing, the Paris conference made Ber-
lin almost a frontier city, granted
that only a portion of the Silesian
mineral fields fall to Poland ulti-
mateiy, Germany will lose a con-
siderable source of wealth and a
portion of her resources for modern
war which is founded upon coal
and iron. beyond all else.
Other Questions Minor.
Every German statesman from
Frederick the Great onward. has
spoken of all other problems of his
country as minor, by comparison
with the Polish question. To be-
lieve that 6o.ooo.000 or "a, 900 900 of
Germans will permanently endure a
situation in which their country is
divided by the Danzig strip, will ac-
cept the loss of Danzig, Posen,
Thorn, Bromberg. to say nothing of
other lands that may be lost in nm
per Silesia, is to believe what is on
the face of it impossible. Moreover
Whatever be the expansion of Po-
Iaho IN the next two or three dec
aoes' Whatever the gain in consoli-
oatlon and refrigeration. Poland can
not hope to be a match for the Ger
many which must presently become
again a world power.
In this situation the French noIic,,
makes itself felt. France. too with
a prospective 10000, 900 people a
rev decades hence, cannot rasi.n
nerself to Impotence in the presence
OF Germany of 20, setting ont on
a new career of conquest, with Po-
lahd as the first objective and the
"nole OF middle Europe as an at
.ractiVe artichoke, to be eaten leaf
oy Ieaf' Granted tnat the restored
Germany might long delay an ar
.ack IN the west, given its dangers.
M lime might welcome even there
when British Intervention wouid
nave no peril. no threat for a Ger
many expanded to cover all tbe
lands between the vistula and tbe
hnine and between the Baltic and