The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1921-06-19
OLD ENEMIES FORGET POLITICS
TEMPORARILY AND BEGIN GIANT
TASK REBUILDING OVER RUINS
Settlements Reached at Conferences Begin to
Assume Permanent Aspect.

CfclJ ECdSOH IOA usNAuk anu
suspecting reports coming from Pet
rograd and Moscow setting forth
the change in faith and method OF
Lenin, IL Is not less unmistakable
that the Bolshevist phenomenon has
entered into a new stage. II has
ceased to be conQuering fury
threatening to sweep over Western
Europe as Mohammedanism deluged
north Africa 1t has become a dis
ease limited to Russia and Russia
has become a region with strongly
marked western frontiers. Finland.
Poland. Rumania. have taken form
as barriers against the western
sweep of the Red gospel and the
Red armies.
Peace has brought so many dis
appointments, the restoration of
normal conditions which obtained
before the war has been so pain
fully delayed, that an intense pes
simism has taken hold in the minds
of masses of men and women. Yet.
IL one will but take the trouble to
look backward over the recent
years, to compare today with this
day two years ago. 1t will be seen
that the gain has already been enor-
nous and that, so far as man can
judge of the future. the worst is
over.
Wars Followed Peace.
Since the Peace Conference ad-
journed, the world has seen several
wars. A year ago the new Poland
and the expanded Rumania were
both threatened with destruction
under the Russian attack. Again
and again anarchy has seemed sure
to break down the last elements of
order from Prague to Salonica and
from Vienna to Constantinople. but
now, almost on the anniversary of
the date when Warsaw was en-
veloped, peace reigns in all OF the
succession states, and aside from
two disputes, in Upper Silesia and
in wilma Europe Is at peace, at
last.
1t Is true that the settlements of
Paris and of the various conferences
since Paris have evoked a storm of
protest in every direction. Yet 1t Is
not less plain that these settlements,
already modified in practice, have
begun to assume an aspect OF
permanence. which gives promise OF
permitting the makers of geography
to publish new editions. Two years
ago the only frontiers in Europe
which had been even sketched to ex-
press the results OF the recent war
were those of Germany. Today there
are left but two relatively minor de-
tails to be completed, one affecting
!, 900 square miles in Upper Silesia,
the other 10000 square miles in the
wilma region.
Three Things Accomplished.
Three great steps have been taken
toward a readjustment. Russian at
tack has been broken and has sub
sided. German revolution has failed
and the will OF revolt has disap-
peared. Finally. the reparations dis
pute has had an adjustment which
opens the way for final arrange
ment without conflict. Germany has
accepted the obligation to pay what
must be regarded as the minimum
of possibility and she has. in fact.
begun the payments. And these three
each in itself con-
stituted greater obstacles to read
justment than anything remaining.
What after all are the problems
which today block the way to read
justment? They are. quite plainly,
Upper Silesia. Austria and the Near
East. Yet II is already plain that
Upper Silesian differences will not
lead to general chaos. The troubles
are far from ended. Germany, France,
Britain and Poland are enmeshed in
a dispute which will doubtless fill
the press of the world for several
weeks to come and may lead to grave
incidents. Yet it is no longer con-
that it will provoke a new
invasion OF Germany or a new clash
and Italy and Britain on the other
To put the thing simply. the Upper
fire still burns, but it has
been isolated and must at no distant
date be put under control.
Poles to Control wilma.
As for wilma. it has vanished from
the headlines. That Poland may find
for disappointments in
Silesia in the acquisition of the
Polish city of Wilma seems not ONLY
but probable. II Britain
and Italy are prepared to support
German claims in Upper Silesia. as
a detail in what seems in Rome and
London a tolerable arrangement
with Germany. neither has any keen
interest in supporting the Lith-
uanians, and the Poles always re-
main in control of wilma itself.
The situation with respect to Aus
tria is different. Here, after all.
is an obvious failure. 1t is fair
to say that no solution of the Pole
German question was possible. The
clash between these races Is 1000
years old. frontiers have advanced
and treated over centuries. No peace
could have found a So
luton which would have been ac-
cepted by the Poles and the Ger
mans. The evil of the present ar
rangement is that 1t accentuates
the old difficulties by facing insolu-
BILE rivalries with cheap and in
veracious compromises such as save
politicians. but doom peace. ulti-
But was the same situation
true in the old Austrian Empire?
New States Are Born.
In any event. the fact Is that the
Paris conference found Middle Eu-
rope in chaos. Three states had
sprung into being where one had
been before, and in addition vast
n ii