The New York herald., 1922-10-08

[ " lar as we can see the only Soou
thing that the Treaty of Versailles
can claim to have done beyond the
lave made Keynes famous. OF Keynes
x-Premier Nitti says in his Wreck of
EUROPE: After two years we must recog-
nize that all the forecasts of Keynes have
been borne out by the facts; the exchange
question has grown worse in all the coun-
tries which have been in the war; the
absurd indemnities imposed on the con-
quered cannot be paid; the depression of
the vanquished is las harmful to the VIC
tors as to the vanquished themselves.
menacing their very existence; in fine, the
sense of dissolution is more widespread
than ever"
But the two books of Keynes should
find a very serious though a congenial
rival in this birdseye view of Europe by
a former italian Premier, who, through
force of circumstances, was also a signer
of the Treaty of Versailles. Nitti's study
written some months ago to promote and
to furnish a program of action for great
international conference which became the
conference of Genoa) is a more compre-
hensive study of the peace and its conse-
Quences than any that has yet been pub
lished. 1t traverses an enormous field OF
fact, normally so embroled that the most
expert often find themselves bewildered
I'm it, isolating the essential problems,
clarifying their origins and the efforts
made to settle them, putting the whole
question of Europe. in short, into shape
for discussion. Few statesmen with
political prospects as good as those which
Nitti still has would dare write a volume
so courageous. Here there is no play
ing with phrases of double meaning; no
attempts to ground a political ambition on
all the virtues of the ages. The great
italian parliamentarian tells what the
question is and exactly where he stands
on it. 1t is possible to agree with him or
to disagree with him-every propaganda
in Europe (including those Of his own
country will take the latter course: but
he makes it easier to stick to the point"
and very difficult for right minded men to
stray from 1t.
What briefly, is the situation according
to ex-Premier Nitti? President Wilson
went to Paris with an aspiration to re-
store conditions of peace that would make
the war less of a disaster and perhaps
even the source of some blessings for the
future. This aspiration was expressed in
the fourteen points. which were upheld
by pledge of the victorious nations in
the terms of the armistice. 'In his igno-
rance of European affairs President Will
son was brought without recognizing it to
accept a series of decisions not superb
cially in opposition to his fourteen points.
but which did actually nulify them"
(The first step was the French Joker"
calling for Preparations for damages" intro
duced into the armistice agreement) The
doors are opened for the scramble. One
by one the pledges of the victorious Pow
ers are violated The regime of violence
under French patronage especially. is es-
tablished in Europe On the one hand, in
response to the pressure of this interest
or that the great German racial unit is
enslaved to a variety OF ignorant and
grasping military commissions. Strong and
cultivated peoples are broken up and
handed over to ambitious and incompetent
bureaucracies of new creation. Paper en-
pres (Poand, Greece. Rumania, Ar
menia) are glued together and inflated.
Professional patriotism becomes a manner
of life for thousands of adventurers in
thirty new and undeveloped States in
Europe. Enormous armaments, propor-
tionally greater than those of militarstic
Prussia at her worst, grow up in the Con-