The Washington times., 1922-09-12
To-day
Welcome White House
News.
Europe Thinking Hard.
One Real Bon Mot.
500, ,ooo,o 900 Statue.
BY ARTHUR BRISBANE

- - - y =
tcopyriEht, .1ssa)
The nation welcomes the news
of Mrs. Harding's greatly i'm
proved condition. She is the
Presidents partner in a triple
sense, social and political, as
well as the partner of all his
plans, ambitions, and interests.
He has leaned upon her, as SO
many able men have leaned
upon good women, trusting to
her intuition, consulting her in
! all matters as he consulted no
other man or woman. It"is a
pleasure for, every American to
repeat the announcement. Mrs.
Harding has come through q
dangerous crisis and her doc
tors are filed with hope.
All Europe, and English
statesmen especially, are think
Ing hard this morning. Con-
stantinople controls the Dar-
danelles. That passage from
the Black Sea to the .Mediter-
ranean is the key to the safety
of western Europe against Asia.
Dispatches tell of Turks killing
Europeans in Constantinople,
planning to drive the allies
from the Dardanelles.
The allies have had all the
fighting they can digest. The
Turks, with good deal Of Asia
back of them, seem full of
their old energy.
, Back and forth the fight has
swung between Europe and
Asia.
The genius of the Greeks
kept ,Asiatic Persia out of
Europe. A Persian king said
to his servant: you, remind
me that i must 60 over and
conquer that little place some
time" but he never did it.
One thousand years later a
camel driver named Mohammed
Arose in Asia, married a rich
widow, invented a new religion
made out of odds and ends, and
supplied the energy that sent his
people conquering into Europe,
settling. themselves in Spain for
centuries. - -. - -
Gradually the Europeans drove
them back, took Spain from them,
sent them about their business.
A little later Europe, on its cru
sades, went invading Asia, with
out any permanent success,
In. the fifteenth century the
Turks, who, with their friends,
had wiped out all traces of the
crusades, came marching west
through Europe. The great Hun.
tgarian fighter Huniades checked
that invasion. &.
The -othep-day, Tho late war,
the Turks and their allies were
beaten, reduced to humble sup
pliance. And now here they are
again, driving back the poorly
led Greeks, numbering Christians,
threatening to take the Darda-
nelles and open up the Mediter-
ranean to all of Asia, plus the
Bolshevik gentlemen of Russia,
who could build great fleets in
the inland Black Sea and worry
all the rest of the world.
Lloyd George and a few others
able to think, in Europe, are
thinking hard today, you may be
sure.
The thing is complicated by the
fact that nobody knows how much
Gibraltar is worth to Englands
safety, now that submarines can
90 underneath the water and fly
ing machines go over, the rock
and drop dynamite on it,
Fortunately, in the long run,
INTELLIGENCE, which is never
dat Of date, wins battles. Asia
won't rule. ..
Mr.. Will Rogers, Of the stage,
who throws lassos }. and bon
4nOJS. mas LlEOWh hlo bCoIt
which is this: America never
lost a war and never won a
conference" You can't improve
on that for historical accuracy.
Mr.. Widener, Of Philadelphia,
sends S500,000 in good gold to
Europe and gets back Rem
brandt's descent From the
Cross" That's the way to
spend American money abroad.
Mr.. Widener and the United
States don't need the money
Both need good pictures.
What Is a great work Of art
worth? Nobody can say. The
two greatest works in existence
are the Venus Of Milo and
Michelangelo,s statue Of
Moses. Either would be cheap
at fifty million dollars. Neither
tould be bought FOR cne hun
dred million or twice that.
Which Is more important,
should you say, q good book or
a glass Of soda water! New
York public libraries ask for
more money and should have II,
"a