The Morning Tulsa daily world. [volume] (Tulsa, Okla.) 1919-1927, 1922-02-12

Great Britain, but there IL no way
of co.ordinating common sense
with idcaliSm. The course OF
Europe Hes In the fact that there
II no reasonable adjustment, equal
ly appealing To- nll concerned.
Every treaty ever made affecting
continental Europe bears tcsti-
mOny to this fact. from Wcstphalia
To Versailles. short OF United
States of Europe moreover there
T. no obvious solution. Since
Rome fell, there has been u olOng
continued pcact'--nnd such peace
ns there has been has been brief,
prCCariOus and due rather to cx-
haustlOn than To actual appcasc-
mcnt
In sum. the Washington confer
ence abolished Nhc danger OF war
between Britain and the United
States, postponed if it did not per-
maucutly eliminate tho chance of
war between tho United States and
Japan. Il did away with naval com
petition which was accidental and
naval expenses which were totally
unnecessary, however one might
view them, whether from tho angle
OF national national interest or in
tcrnntional policy. II represented
internationally something like n stu
alton whore three railways, serv-
ing territories sufficiently rich TO
maintain them, abandoned n useless
and unnecessary competition, not
because OF any altrulstlC sentiment
on the part OF dlrcctoratcs or stock
holders, but because OF common
sense view on all sides.
such course would not affect the
policy of other railways whose direc-
tors rightly or wrongly believed that
there was not enough for all and
that only by competition could ade-
Quate traffic be secured thus at tho
expense OF the others. And that,
after all, Is the situation In Europe.
Therefore II is not safe TO reckon
that because Washington succeeded,
the same common sense can be ap-
piled elsewhere, should have been
applied at Paris. II can only sue
coed where self interest In nations
concerned obviously and In tho view
OF each nation recognized the fact,
sees the profit.
Wherever, In Washington, the
sclf-intcrcSt of the nations repre-
scntcd ran In parallel courses, we
had u successful termination 10
tho negotiations. Wherever self
lHttTtHt ulNtTEhhs WI Nhfttt w uh
abrupt stop. To H. sure we
Americans regarded the diycrgcn-
CiCs as evidences Of inferior NOR
nlity or unfortunate blindness.
Occasionally, M In the case OF
Shantung, delays In arriving nt
decisions gave the appearance Of
conversion after resistance, but
the fact was that n bargain was
required 10 reconcile Emergencies
In interest and reconciliation led
TO conclusion.
In Washington the three naval
powers gave up weapons they did
not need, weapons they could Ill
afford to maintain. They co-ordi-
mated policies which did not actu-
ally clash, but might drift into col
llsion. In doing this they displayed
common sense but they did not
reconcile other nations having other
interest to their own view nor did
they. when their own views varied,
reach any real compromise. Thus
the Washington conference did not
promote peace in the world, II only
registered that desire for peace
which already existed. To do this
was an exceedingly useful thing, but
something far different from the mo-
tion generally held as to the present
and future meaning OF the first
American international conference.
Copyright, lo22 by The Mcclure News
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