The New York herald., 1921-09-18
AFFECTS ALL NATIONS
Revival Of Russia Needed to
Restore Trade Balance
and Destroy Unrest.
NEW VIEW GIVEN OF REDS
British General Tells How
Starving Country's Old In
dustrial System Is Dying.
BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS.

BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS.
Special Cable to THE NEW YoaK HERALD.
Copyright, 1891, BY THE New York HnRALD.
New York Herald Bureau,
London, Sept. II.
AS far as I can see through the
dust and turmoil Of events now NOV
ing our world the state Of things
is not looking bright for the Wash
ington conference on limitation Of
ornaments in November as regards
its larger hopes Of arranging the
foundations Of universal peace.
The success of that conference will
depend largely on the previous set
tlement Of outstanding troubles and
en- the cooling down Of that witches
cau1dron Of the passions and fears
of Europe and otter parts Of the
world. 1t will be useless for Secre-
tary HNsnes, Senator Lodge and
other American delegates to put for.
ward ideals or proposals before Eu-
ropean statesmen like Mr.. Lloyd
George and Premier BRAND IL Eu.
rope and Asia are convulsed by po-
litical or moral fevers or threatened
by imminent upheavals.
Nor can any decision made at the
conference be effective If the ma
t.onal delegates, however distin-
guished, however sincere, fail to get
the support Of the democratic opin-
ion Of their respective countries, and
still less II powerful forces like hun
ger, poverty and the despair Of great
populations lead to new tragedies ut
terly beyond the control of the gen.
tlemen sitting in the Washington
council chambers.
Great Britain Has Handicap.
In the case of Great Britain, one
handicap which would spoil every.
thing may be removed by November
IL If the Irish leaders declare for
peace instead Of war. as I fully be-
l.eve they will at the eleventh hour.
Mr.. Lloyd George Is working gal.
lantly to that end, and so is repair
ing errors of his past policy; but
there is India as we'll as Ireland,
end Egypt as well as India, and, as
! wrote at length in recent article.
the British Empire is faced with q
very sinister movement in the Mo-
llammedan world.
Great Britain also Is advancing
toward winter which is bound to
be full of anxiety for domestic rea-
sons. Unemployment still is an
alarming problem. The unemployed
are becoming insistent upon relief on
a far more generous scale than
hitherto at time when British
trade Is at low ebb, with no imme-
diate prospects Of rapid recovery,
owing to the economic i'll health in
all parts Of the world.
1t may puzzle my readers to un-
derstand how I connect that situa-
tion with the programme Of the
Washington conference, but the truth
is that 1t is just this economic dis
ease affiicting the world to-day which
may wreck all hopes at Washington.
For there can be no advance in ideal
isms or even common sense among
countries entirely absorbed in desper-
ate efforts to keep on solid ground
amid the quagmire of ruin and to
save themselves and their own ma.
terial interests at the expense Of
other people and with any kind az
risk according to the law OF SELF.
preservation.
Famine n Dominating Factor.
The Russian famine dominates all
Of the international problems to-day.
oven as far as the United States. It
is Russia that may wreck the Wash
fngton conference. The reason for
that is simple to any one who has
row learned how all the parts OF
the world are dependent upon all
other parts as links in the chain of
cur commercial and material life.
Before the war Russia was one of
the big granaries OF Europe, and in
return for grain and other supplies
received exports Of manufactured ar
ticles from many countries. and
above all Germany. Germany's re.
ccvery and ability to pay the in
IDENTITIES depend good deal on her
future chance OF reconstructine Pms.