The Washington herald., 1921-12-18

league Of nations mOdeled upon the
Paris plan.
No useful purpose can be served
now by any stirring of the old is
sues of the league of nations COM
bat yet it is essential TO perceive
that in reality the treaty of Wash
ington differs vitality from that of
Versailles and finds it points of re-
semblance with that Anglo-French
entente which / have already cited.
The trouble with the situation
which Mr.. Wilson faced at Paris
was that for all practical purposes
war was still going forward. Actual
fighting had been interrupted by an
armistice. but the main business
before the world was the liquida-
ton of war.
Germany Was n Criminal.
This business of liquidating a war
carried with it very evil but not less
necessary circumstances. The vic
tors were entitled to impose upon
the conquered terms which while by
no means in excess of the deserving
Of Germany were bound to be re-
Garded by Germany as unjust. In
measure Germany was in the po-
sition of a criminal up for trial and
AOA cChNthNNs buN II inc kulll was
undeniable there was nothing which
suggested that there was or was
likely to be any penitence or any
moral submission to the verdict of
the court
Thus when the league of nations
was created it became in the nature
of things the body and the force
which was to carry out the terms
of the treaty of Versailles, the
treaty which imposed just but very
terrible punishment upon Germany
and denied to the German culprit
membership sin that league itself.
Beyond all else it seems to me that
this circumstance carried with II
the doom of the league of nations
as 1t was created at Paris Despite
all the effort of Mr.. Wilson to avoid
the danger, the league was in its
essence an alliance of the victorious
nations to impose obedience to the
treaty of Versailles upon the coun-
tries who had disturbed world peace
and in the end lost the world war
This fact has paralyzed the league
ever since, 1t has paralyzed it far
more than the failure of the United
States to ratify. Now it must be
clear that the treaty of Washing
ton, the four-power entente in the
Pacific is something totally different
from the Paris agreement. Four
nations all having interests in the
Pacific, rivals perhaps in a certain
sense, but neighbors in any case
have come together to make a
treaty the underlying purpose Of
which is to avoid a war none de-
sires and as first step they volun-
tarily recognize the existing situa-
ton of each country as just and
right and beyond challenge.
Situation Left Unsettled.
You have them all parties in in
terest animated by the same pur-
pose and equally prepared to accept
thlnss as they are, you have the
VIII Tor peace. In Europe on the
contrary the situation in 1918 and
IN 1871 is something quite differ
emit. The trouble is that there Is no
readiness on the part Of MANY ma
tons to accept their present condi-
ton as permanent or to bow 70 the
treaty of Versailles which is the
law of Europe. as just To take the
case of France and Germany as an
example each regards war with the
other as unacceptable and therefore
thinks and acts in accordance with
that belief.
This is the real difference in tho
case Of the league Of nations and
the treaty of Washington. There
are differences in the language of
the documents which impress the
lawyers which let US agree in the
case of the Washington document
inlghtlIy reduce the responsibilities
undertaken in the Paris version
But accepting all of these differ
ences the main divergence is in the
conditions, one agreement is based
upon war, the other upon peace.
PRESIDENT Harding has said that
ne hopes for an extension - the
conference idea, that he dreams of
an association OF nations. obvious
~ modelled upon the Pacific ASSOC
ciation which has just been formed
mere IN Washington. But before
there can be an association of ma
lons IN Europe il is clear there
VIII have to be some effective will
Tor peace as between European
countries. II France and Germany,
Tor example. could see their future
on the Rhine in the terms which
Japan and the United States have
seen their future upon the Pacific
an association OF European nations
would be matter of days.
Agreement Difficult.
is IL, then, impossible to apply
the Washington method in Euronep
NO one can concede that this is i'm
possible because it is clear that I'M
less some method to provide asso-
citation be found, we shall have an
economic and perhaps a political
disaster hardly paralleled in Eu-
rope since the collapse Of Roman
civilization. But what IT is neces-
sary to perceive is that there are
certain truths as to association Of
nations which the experiment of
the Treaty of Versailles make un-
mistakable.
Thus no association seems posi-
BILE except as these nations which
enter are prepared to accept in
good faith the existing situation in
the world. so far as they are mu-