Evening public ledger. [volume] (Philadelphia [Pa.]) 1914-1942, 1922-05-27
WHAT WILL BANKERS BUILD
OVER THE RUINS OF GENOA?
Open Conference In European
History Of Real Powers

1 Shol LII surprise no one II the inter-
national bankers sitting in conference
with ]. z. Morgan as American representa-
tive at Paris are able to propose and actually
establish peace plan better than Lloyd
George and his colleagues could achieve in
the wild wrangle at Genoa.
Such is the nature Of the time we live in
that clear thinking and rational action are
increasingly difficult in a political atmos-
phere. Statesmen are too often spellbound
at the tombs Of their political ancestors.
Political superstition and sentimentalism
did as much as organized greed and diplo-
matte opportunism to make Genoa an even
sorrier spectacle than Versailles.
Bankers do not react to the superstitions
that afict most statesmen. and, whether
you like to admit 1t or not. they are the
more efficient for that. Internationalism Is
not new and terrible word TO fnanciers of
Mr.. Morgan's type.
Finance was internationalized long ago
1t moves in accordance with philosophy
of unvarying realism. 1t reserves its rever-
ence for facts rather than for memories.
Your dipomatist follows different course.
And it is appalling to observe how little re-
needs Of men and their accepted political
doctrines.
Political thinking in France, for example
continues 70 rest upon fear and hatred Of the
vanished Germany Of 1914 In England it
is guided by the pleasant but misleading
legend Of Britannia as the Ruler Of the
Waves. In the United States it is directed
by our inherited preference for national iso.
laton. Yet, since these formulae frs. ap-
peared the whole earth and its requirements
have changed.
SO the statesmen who have been doing our
thinking for us continue TO repeat aphorisms
and codes devised for an agricultural and
self contained America. The British adhere
to ways Of thought suited to an empire in
the full swing Of expansion, unchallenged by
any external force or circumstance. In
France the politicians seem to believe that
the spiritual inheritances Of 1871 and 1914
are adequate to meet the challenger Of
thwarted, bewildered and angry mankind
Unlike these statesmen. bankers OF the
international sort cannot afford TO behave
| as II life We're nothing more than a his
| torical costume play and an occasion for the
repetition of sounding legends of the past.
Under the pressure Of necessity their think
ing must keep in step with the times. Their
| policies are grounded upon cold nctuaities.
Lloyd George cannot safely venture to
| recommend policy Of empire that would
| be likely to displease the crowd. French
| statesmen who take rational view of the
! European emergency often have to conceal
! their thoughts because Of fear Of the fear
which, previously. they deliberately planted
in the minds of their people
Your international banker is under no
such restraint. He isn't elected TO office
| He has no sentimental fallacies to perpetuate
| for the temporary spiritual comfort of his
people. He is free to think, act and speak
| as he will without fear OF a constituency
less able or less willing to look unpleasant
truths in the eye.
If men of Mr. Morgan's sort seem 10
| have too much power it Is because the people
who complain stubbornly continue 10 prefer
! fiction to fact even in a national crisis.
| and by the force Of their will impose Il
similar habit Of mind upon their elected
leaders. Bankers do nothing of the sort.
| They are not so reckless.
!
radicals sncer AZ the part that international
| fnanCiers have come 10 play openly in the
! European situation. whether bankers if
! they had their own way. wouldn't be pacf.
lists Of the most robust sort. For they must
know now, even if they never knew before,
| that war doesn't pay
II was Or. Simon Patten. of the Cniver.
! siry Of Pennsylvania, one OF the a0cst and
| least generally appreciated of modern econo.
miStS. who said long ago that if tho bankers
OF the world could be converted to the idea
! of peace there could be no more war Simi-
| lary, If bankers are converted to the idea
! Of war there can be no more peace
! So a conference Of international hnancicrs
! in the open is a spectacle Of groa, signif-
! cance. 1t may even be a cause for hope.
For II the bankers can adjust their own
colossal differences peacefully, little will be
left 10 fight over in Europe, In Paris at
this moment the real powers Of Elrope are
in open Conference--for the first time in