Evening star., 1922-09-23
Show of Firmness Yet May Save
the Situation.

The developments in the near east
| are being followed with intense in
| terest by editors generally. 1t is
| felt that the attitude of the soviet
has injected note of the utmost
I seriousness into the situation because
; its support of the victorious Turks
naturally will encourage them to re-
fuse to accept the limitations OF the
treaty. of Sevres However there is
hope that if France and England
can be prevailed on to stand firmly
together the Turkish national party
will modify it's demands and assume
more reasonable position. Admit
tedly. however. the situation is filled
with dynamite.
The possibilities that complicate the
situation are endless, in the view of
the Cleveland Plain Dealer, which
noints out that the negotiations now
in progress at Chang Chung may
mean working agreement between
Noscoy and Toxic, and that a Ger
| man Russian Japanese alliance has
been the most beloved bogy or the
professional alarmists since the treaty
was signed at Versailles. 1t Is no
time for treading warily. 1t is time
for sudden decision and fearless fac-
ing of the future" The immediate
necessity. in the opinion OF the NOR
folk Ledger Dispatch. is that france
and England stand together. because
"if they do not there is no means OF
estimating the strength of general
Asiatic upheaval against European
rule. a strength made doubly strong
by religious frenzy" But no lnltla.
tive can be expected by the Cn'ted
States, the Petersburg Progress ana
index Appeal holds, because even
the slightest action on the part of
this government to stem the tlde OF
Turkish cruelties would cause Amerl-
cans to realize after demonstratlon
, that Mr.. Wilson was rlght Wnen ne
proposed the elimination OF Iurkey as
a nation and the assumption OF con-
troll by the league of nations or Ar
menia and other territory formerly
, under Turkish rule.
on the other hand. the Pittsburgh
Leader takes the position that we
see the blaze and the lntrisu ues VI
France and England in the near east
is an unnecessary demonstration or
what we escaped when the Senate
refused the Wilsonian Interpretation
i; of article ten. No one can doubt that
had we Joined in the terms prepared
minute would be assigned the job OF
hardest service in the theater of war
and it's overrun territory adjoining.
History is repeating itself in the
Balkans. the Nashville Banner argues,
and. while 1.-The great powers may
manage, by one expedient and an
other to bank the fires from time to
time. so far as human judgement can
foresee, the flames will always
shoulder underneath, breaking out
whenever any sort Of unusual breeze
comes to fan them" The error OF
the allies, the ST. Louis Globe-Demo-
crat believes. was in not stamping
out the Turk when the opportunity
was afforded, and now hope Tor set
tlement without a general war lies
largely in the prevalent feeling that
the Turks must not be permitted to
come back into Europe" In his
defiant attitude, the Lynchburg. News
thinks, "Kemal has in mind the at
titude of Russia. whose black shadoW
looms omirously in the present crisis
dianapolis News. which. however,
hopes that united action against the
fnsufferable pretentions OF the
Turkish autocrat may make it pos
sible without war to effect settle
ment that will not be wholly dis
graceful to Christian civilization" To
achieve this hope. in the opinion OF
the Detroit Free Press. the allies must
present united front and take ac-
. tion which will convince everybody
that they mean business anu iHteIo
to see things through to the end.
A note Of caution In accepting refu-
gee stories at their face value is
sounded by the Cincinnati Tfmes-Star
which recalls that murder and out
rage are not unusual in the near east.
and that suggestions that kemal
plans "a general assault on western
civilization, "is great talk, but the
danger still seems rather remote. AS
yet Kemal has done nothing more
than to recover part of what had been
his country for half-a-dozen centuries.
The recollection by hundreds OF mil
lions of men and women of what they
went through between 1914 and 1918
ought to prevent another world con-
f1ict at least for a decade Of two. In
the opinion of the Knoxville sentinel,
however, the come back" Of the Turk
hits us with others" and 1t is con-
WINGED that 1.-The allied powers are the
only hope of civilization. and the
Christian peoples of the near east and
they cannot act too promptly and
vigorously for the salvation OF all"
Indorsipg this line of argument. the
st. Paul Dispatch suggests that the
Turkish nationalist government must
realize that the United States will not.
fsufrer INJURIES to its citisens in silence.