The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-04-05

moment seem in agreement. 1t is
for Greece and Turkey to sub
nit or consent to be put back in
their respective boxes until the
statesmen wish to play with them
again.
Certainly there is a vast differ
ence In the situation of Europe to-
day as CONTESTED with the Europe
of the Paris conference period. But
ii is a change in which, II one may
say so. craftsmanship seems to have
played little or no part People, the
little people, have with infinite diff
ficulty at last got demobiliZed and
gone back to their homes. Here in
France they have gone back to
work. You may see them as you
saw them before the war in all the
countryside.
Nations Worn Out.
In Britain 1t has been different.
because unemployment interviewed
and millions cannot work. Yet even
those who cannot work have re-
lapsed into passivity. The thing I
feel most. coming back now, is the
absence of the old apprehension of
three years ago. when Lenin and
Trotsky seemed to threaten the
stability of the whole continent.
When Bella Kun came to Budapest in
the old days, all Western Europe
had a panic. Now Bella Kun is be-
ing incarcerated in an insane asy-
lum and the fact hardly attracts
two lines of comment.
Three years ago men talked and
believed in revolution. 1t was pos
sible that the Russian revolution
might yet advance. at least to the
Rhine and the Western Alps. Eu-
ropean institutions, quite as much
as states, were in flux. But most
If not all of this has gone now. Eu-
rope has settled down. The fever
epidemics have done their worst
and are dying out. Even talk of
the German revolution, so familiar
in peace conference days, is no
longer heard.
Everyone who was in Paris on the
first of May three years ago will
recall the manner in which the
streets were guarded: thousands of
troops were called. machine guns
were in every square. But this year
doubt If an extra battalion will BID
moved into the city. The people
no longer think of rising and re-
belling. They no longer believe in
new solutions for the oldest human
evils. They believe in little, II one
may judge from the great weari-
ness that seems to Cypress them
People Lose Interest.
One of my Italian friends. a very
acute observer. tells me that in his
country the great interrogation re-
Mains. why did we enter the
war;" He tells me even in Italy
the political crisis has passed, but
a moral crisis has succeeded. He
is leaving journalism because he
says in his country people no
longer read the newspapers or care
about public questions, or want to
know anything about the world in
general.
And I think in France and
Britain there is much of the same
feeling. The politician, or, il you
please, the statesman, Is visibly
going out in Europe: that is just
as true of Lloyd George as of
Lenin. Public faith in leaders has
not survived the rigid tests of the
past seven years. There are no
giants left but Lloyd George-and
1t is a question whether the people
are still Interested in paying ad-
mission to see the giants.
The thing you feel here today is
that everything the little people
could do to restore normally has
been done. The simpler questions
of life have been solved. not with
system. perhaps, but with patient.
enduring application. The plain
people our politicians have talked
so much about have done their Bit
Life is normal wherever they have
charge. l am not speaking of
Russia, concerning which no two
men agree; but to Judge from what
I hear in Western Europe generally,
the humber citizen has gone back
to what war left him and tried to
start the old machine running
again.
British Statesmen BIunder.
1T is only when you come to large
questions that chaos is instantly
discoverable on all sides. Britain
Is perhaps not bankrupt, but in
danger. Her statesmen have so
handled imperial affairs that she
has the whole Moslem world at war
with her-India is in revolt, Egypt
must be surrendered. Ireland has
claimed liberty and having OBJ.
tanned more than seemed conceiv-
able stands ready to ask more, with
new civil war as a possible detail.
The little man Is ready to work,
the citizen Is ready. but the states
man can find no work. for him;
that is, he can find no way of re-
storing the markets of the world.
As to France, she is at least
semi-bankrupt, she is bankrupt be-
yond debate IL Germany does not
pay what few Frenchmen believe
ever will be paid. On all sides of
France are difficulties. Recent Of
have reused apprehensions. Italy
is frankly hostile. Britain is no
longer friendly. Finally there is
the eternal spectre of Germany.
The political horizon Is ciouded be-
yond the possibility of exaggera-
ton. Nor is, the italian situation
better. while Germany remains an
insoluble enigma to all, apparently
drunk with prosperity and on the
edge OF an abyss at the same mo-
ment, IL one would believe compe-
tent witnesses returning from CO.
inciding visits.