Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-11-13
WERE THEY ALL CRIMINALS?

1t is quite certain that nowhere is the treaty Of
Versailles regarded as providing the basis for an
ideal disposal of the various. problems arising out
|of the world war. But if certain writers on that
subject are to be believed, that compact is much
worse than imperfect; it is positively criminal, and
the present woes Of the world are due, not to the
war which involved the peoples of the earth for
more than four years. but to the mdignancy Of
those who, after the war, in prescribing the terms
of peace, saddlcd the world with greater burdens
than those due to, the war itself.
Isn't it time that a little common sense were
applied to our discussions of the treaty? The war
bad shaken the foundations of civilization. 1t had
destroyed whole economic systemss 1t had cut
millions of people adrift from every sort of orderly
control which they had formerly recognized. 1t
had left vast areas of the earth subject to the juris-
dictio,.. OF nobody. And the problems resulting
from these facts had to be solved in some manner,
and solved on short notice, not by philosophers i'll
the seclusion of their studies, able, through their
detachment, to take a calm and comprehensive view
OF the whole situation and render decisions on a
purely academic basis, but by men who had been
active participants in the great struggle, who rep
resented nations whose interests often conficted,
decisions which would be to their advantage.
10 accept the frequent characterizations of the
treaty would be to declare the men who made it
monstrous criminals, quite as guilty as those who
precipitated a needless war. If that is the case,
humanity itself must stand convicted of crime, for
eAN Sdiy vi ' SdillS dNlllIllCOly uClCSllNC III
many particulars, was generally accepted as the
best that could be done at that time with a bad
situation.
Furious denunciation of the treaty is a poor
compliment to pay to our own statesmen, for no
where in our public life was there any considerable
group of men who opposed the ratification of the
treaty except on one ground. The one thing which
prevented the ratification of the treaty by the Amer.
lean senate was its provisions for the creation of
the League of Nations. And the League of Ma
lions was accepted in principle by most of those
who opposed it on certain matters of detail. The
treaty itself was sufficiently acceptable to have in
|sured its prompt ratification had the League of Ma
lions feature been eliminated or amended.
1t is a simple matter to sit in an easy chair
now and point out the blunders which led to the
fall of the Roman empire. 1t is very easy. to pick
in the Treaty Of Versailles. But the men
who framed that treaty were doing something that
had to be, do1e quickly; they did, probably, as we'll
las they could under the circumstances and it has
not yet been made clear that anyone else, if placed
in the same situation, would have done any better.
That the treaty is not the monstrosity that it is
often said to be is indicated by the fact that with
the exception of one feature, all ofithe nations con-
cerned were willing to accept it for what it was
worth.