The Washington herald., 1921-12-04
Y. S., Too, Must Sacrifice
In Farley, Says Ida Tarbell
All Nations Must Yield Something to Make
Conference Success, Declares Noted
Woman Writer.
By IDA TARBELL.

80 By IDA
Az international conference such
as that we are now watching In
Washington has almost as many
stages as Shakespeare gave the lie
of man We have lived through the
ftstr> stage. the one in which the
pros5re ms are cut They are all out
now, on the table. First, Mr.. Hard
ingS, fine program OF sentiment and
idealism. Second. Mr.. Hughes bold
and detailed plan for reducing the
nayies OF England, Japan and the
United States. Third. China's ten
far-reaching generalities. Four
Japsn's reply OF less far-reaching
generalities. Fifth and finally, 10
date, Mr.. Roots four rules accepted
by, everybody for handling the Far
East agenda. aiming principally TO
give China a square deal
second stage Uncertain
The curtain now goes up on the
second stage, at least we hope It Will
go up. The chances are that II VIII
go up ana down in a way tantaiZing
to observers. for this Is the stage
in which we are to begin TO realize
that IL the programs are to become
practical realities there must De
sacrifices all around.
II was this realization at the open
ing Of the second stage Of the Paris
conference that gave the first chill
to the noble and worldwide en-
thusiasm which greeted the programs
that body adopted in its first stage.
The members Of the Paris conference
were warned at the start OF what
was before them. On the 18th Of
Ia1a Na1 n
the thirty allied nations first met in
the great clock hall Of the depart
ment of foreign affairs in Paris,
Clemenceau. as always astute and
farsseing, said in his speech in which
he thanked the gathering for making
him its PERMANENT president, There
are no sacrifices TO which you must
not be ready TO consent" So far as
I know he was the only man to say
or to think sacrifice at the Paris
conference.
Then Came Objections.
When it came to the test of work
ing out their platform you know what
happened One OF the things to
which they had committed them
selves was disarmament, but
England must have her navy; her
security required H.
France and Italy must have their
armies; their secruity required il.
Each one Of the little new nations
that one would have supposed to have
been so fed up on war that they
never again would have been willing
TO spend a dollar on a soldier. must
have their armies; their security re-
quired It
Japan must have her army, her
navy. her war loot; her security re-
quired it
Moved BY Fear.
That is, no one of the allied ma
tions. was ready to make a sacri-
flee to carry out the plank of dis
armament they had adopted They
insisted on applying the plank to
the enemy they had beaten, but not
to themselves. This was not in any
large degree because of greed or
revenge, it was because OF fear
fear Of the vanqulshed. They be-
lieTed the vanquIshed dangerous
because they believed that their
one thought was OF revenge, and
that II the victors disarmed. the
vanquished would rally and pounce
on"them-
There was utter lack of conf
dence in the plan OF peaceful inter-
national cooperation which they
had written into their program.
Force alone spelled security in
their minds. They had no sense OF
safety in a mere covenant, though
all the nations Of the world dIa
commit themselves to its pro-
visions.
America Also Baked.
II has been our boast that we
alone asked nothing at Paris. But
Is this true? When II came to the
showdown in working out the code
which the world had acclaimed as
the true path to permanent peace.
we refused to accept the one point
on which all the rest hUng-that
for ap association Of nations look
ing to the continuous peaceful
handling Of international difficult
ties. Such an association we saw
would invade our isolation and
that isolation we have come to be-
leve to be our chief security. That
IS, in essence the United States was
10 more willing to make a sacrifice
for permanent peace than were the
distracted and disheveled nations
Of Europe.
We and they all held on to the
particular device which we ha@
come by national experience to be-
lieve' essential to safety-England
her navy. France her army, Japan
her army and her navy, we our
freedom from entangling alliances.
Success Entails Sacrifice.
Now here we are at the same
point in the conference on the lin
itation Of armament; the programs
are on the table. but to work them
out In the spirit in which they are
framed must Inevitably mean sac
rifce. We say we have made sacri-
fee when we consent TO scrap these
millions on millions of naval
strength. A sacrifice which reduce,
our tax bills Is not going to cause
tears in this country.
The sacrifice which we will prob
ably be called upon to make in re-
gard to this naval program will be
mainly spiritual-giving up our
pride In having the plan put
through as we laid II down-not a
tot or little OF II changed. Our
pride in Mr.. Hughes fine work may
well prove to be a serious STUN
bling block. 1t has led already to
the ugliest gesture vet made in
washington-the fourishing of the
big stick" whenever any sugges-
ton Of change was rumored to have
come from Great Britain or Japan
Calls Threat Unworthy.
were not going to tolerate
transferring with the great work. 1t
muse be accepted as Il was laid
DOWN and IL IL were not We could