The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-01-08

essentially Lain, out Gel fanny HO
Secondly. it is quite absurd to IN
terpret French action as a revela-
ton of militarism. The French are
not planning to build a great fleet
not even a great fleet of submarines
The submarine was a card in the
game; as such France played it; 1t
was a diplomatic not a military
weapon from start to finish.
In the third place, the present
experience ought to serve to abolish
that purely American notion, which
has played so much havoc in all our
foreign contracts in recent years;
the notion that foreign peoples can
be stampeded by the mere fact that
the people of the United States have
reached a decision in a question at
issue. Mr.. Wilson labored under
the same delusion in the matter OF
F'iume and the delusion led to de-
vastating consequences.
Paris Mistake Repeated.
Apparently Mr.. Hughes and all
those about him implicitly believed
that the French people would throw
away their own judgment and their
own interests, merely because our
Judgment was different and we saw
their interests in a wholly antithe-
teal fashion. This conception be-
dsviled all our undertakings at
Paris and IL was equally unfortun-
ate in its consequences in the pres
ent case.
Mr.. Hughes first blunder, and il
was a great blunder. was his initial
failure to perceive and correctly es-
innate the extent of the Anglo
French break in Europe. 1t was
and had been for several years the
outstanding fact in Europe. France
and Britain came here, separated
by their qqarrels, each reselyod %
.fxke.a6yaatAGBnNf A4are-.op10S
and enlist American support for
their own side of the controversy.
There was nothing to choose be-
tween the motives of either, both
were out to win America.
Il was clear, then. that IL any Is
sue arose between the two, there
would be trouble; what was not
perceived by Mr.. Hughes was that
his own program would be involved.
81 at any time the United States
seemed to stand with Great Britain
against France or with France
against Great Britain, although the
British. being much more skilful,
were likely to avoid any open dis
closure of resentment.
All of the situation was fully In
dicated when The issue of the French
army came up. For weeks British
journalists had been filling the
American press with discussions of
the French army. Mr.. Wells, for
example. had been daily referring to
the black troops of France. wholly
emitting to make any reference to
those native troops of Britain, IA
niliar to every reader of Kipling
and welcomed by the whole allied
press when they appeared in France
to reinforce British troops in 1914
As a consequence of this agitation
France found herself, although a
sovereign state. come Of her own
free will to snare in a conference,
early placed in the dock and forced
to defend herself against British
allegations which had been widely
disseminated over the United States.
Quite wisely Mr.. Hughes resisted
British leading and declined to per-
nit the question of the French army
TO be raised in direct form. Had il
been raised we should have had the
break over it instead of over sub
marines and the whole conference
would have been wrecked at the
outset
british Propaganda Active.
Since 1t was clear that agree
mcnt was impossible. the army
question was shelved. But the dam
ger signal had been lighted. the
exchange of amenities between
Britain and France had demonstrate
cd that unless care were taken nv
the Americans at every stage, the
European row would break ont
afresh and in an aggravated form,
because the British propaganda
against France was going on with
ever-increasing intensity.
Before Mr.. BRAND went home he
indicated that France meant TO
stand on the question of subma-
rines- Why? Because France
meant to build submarines against
Britain? No: because France rec
ognized that Britain. after her ex-
perience in the world war, was NOR
tally afraid of this weapon and was
prepared to make almost any con-
cessiou to remove il. France had
a concession she desired. She had
n danger which she feared. namely
Germany. She desired British guar
antees against this menace and thev
had been promised. and then had
not been forthcoming.
The French calculated perfectly
coolly that IL they insisted upon
their unquestioned right to build
submarines. Britain would find rea-
son to meet French wishes in Eu-
rope. unless at the Washington con-
ference. through American infiu-
ence. France were led to surrender
this potential advantage. And she
resolved not to surrender IL. There
never was any disguise OF French
purpose. but there was. unhappily.
never any American appreciation of
the real situation For il was clear
that there was no use in the world
Of raising the submarine question
il failure was assured in advance.
Meantime, the whole attention of
Mr.. Hughes was centered upon get
ting rid of the Anglo-Japanese al
lance and France was left outside
while the three great Pacific powers
framed a treaty which should abol-