Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-08-17
THE SUPREME COUNCILS .F1Asco."

VI the neetng OF the Allied supreme council at
Paris and its failure to reach = decision on the SiIe-
sian problem, the London Times says:
{ The supreme council meeting ended in a
fiasco. which is a confession of the bankruptcy
OF that highly abnormal institution.
Continuing, the Times says that in referring
the Silesian question to the League of Nations it has
avoided the rupture which would have followed the
final affirmation of the profound divergence in the
views of the French and British governments, and
that there has been demonstrated the existence Of
two sharply opposed views on the attitude toward
Germany.
The existence Of this divergence is undeniable,
and has been a matter of common knowledge But
the difference was not created by the council, nor is
there any evidence that the council has intensified it
The council has failed to compose the differences,
(which is no new thing in conferences, and which
scarcely ~justifies the contemptuous reference of the
Times to the council and its meeting. If the Times
could forget for a moment its ~antipathy toward
Lloyd George it might be able Is Judge more gener-
iously of the council and its work.
The two governments, French and British, NAV
jbe assumed each to reflect with ,tolerable accuracy
the attitude of its own people on this subject. Dis
missing the unworthy motives which perhaps in
some degree %tincture opinion, on both sides, the atti-
itude of each people is understandable in the light Of
the situation in which each is placed. France has
twice narrowly escaped annihilation at the hands
of her neighbor. She has borne the brunt Of the first
blows in a world war, and she is likely to receive the
49, #OAJ OSASA " q AVO1VllS WDOlC SOull-
inents. It is natural that her first concern should be
in reducing to impotence the power which has so
grievously wounded her.
Great Britain, a little more remote is in a posi-
ton to view the situation with some measure Of de-
itachment. She insists that whilG Germany must be
kept under guard, the door of hope must not be shut
IN her face.
The European powers which took the lead in
resisting Germany, in whose councils the United
States has been invited to participate, have under
taken, properly and necessarily, to make an orderly
disposition of situations growing out Of the war, Spe-
officially to provide for the government of territories
wrested from the central empires, and which, under
no conceivable circumstances, could be restored to
them intact. The Inhabitants of some of these ter
%ritories have asserted their right to independent SOW
1ereignty, and it has been, necessary for some power,
Tor association Of powers, to pass on these claims and
ito determine whether or not their realization were
consistent with the common good. In this process
4perplexing questions have arisen, and. it has not vet
been possible to provide the answer to all of these
Questions. When the attempt is made in one di-
@rection, and. fails, the obvious course is to continue
the effort in another direction, and so to proceed UNI
It'll the solution is found. Surely this can be.done
without bringing odiun on the men or the govern
ments whose effortssare not yet crowned with sue
cess. ~.
We in. the United States can find in our own
history abundant warrant for the belief that present
lily a method Of adjustment of this and other contro-
yersies will be POUNDS The thirteen. colonies were at
times anything but amicable, neighbors. Trey quar-
relied, and on certain occasions they came within a
short distance of war with eactrother. In some cases
forays into adjoining territory were actually made.
lit took a goodmany years and a lot Of experiment
ing and much discussion to evolve the American
constitution, and. after it had been framed it was as
bitterly opposed as any proposed settlement in cen
trial Europe. could possibly be. Yet the thing-was
accomplished, and the results, while not perfect. are
at least creditable.