The New York herald., 1922-05-26


the sinister possibility of leaving this
question alone. l am referring to the
Russo German agreement. l am not
going to discuss it on its merits. think
it was a great error in judgment. and it
was a mistake undoubtedly for Germany.
That is not the aspect of 1t which l.
want to bring to the notice of the House.
In fact that agreement in itself Is por-
tent.
Consider what it means. Here you
have got two Of the greatest nations in
the world. whether you regard it from
the point of view of territory. population
or potential power and resource. Both
are out of favor. each of them having
done something which disgraced 1t with
the other nations of the world. They are
not quite received into the full society
of nations.
There was the sense OF a superior
and an inferior nation--the nation that
sat above the salt and the nation that
sat beneath it, These are fundamental
facts. There may have been good rea-
sons In both cases 1t is the sort of
society treatment of persons who have
behaved discreditably. You felt that in
the conference there was community of
misfortune, a community of debasement
a community of what they regarded as
maltreatment. There was difficulty in
getting them on commissions. This sit
uation may ripen into a fierce friend
ship. What does that mean?
Dangers of usso-G erman Pact,
II want the House thoroughly to un-
derstand the possibilities. Germany has
disarmed, and IL necessary you can dis
arm her still more. You can render her
perfectly impotent; but there is one
thing you cannot do. and that is pre-
vent the rearming of Russia IL that
nation is driven to despair. Germany
cannot reequip her economically. She
has not got the capital. You need to
go west for that purpose.
But that Is not the case with arma-
ments, where you have got every nat
ural resource on one side and every
! technical skill on the other. 1t Is neces-
sary we should look to all the possibili-
! ties Of the situation: and l hope the
warning / give to-day may not be
quoted a few years hence. 1t is my sim
cere hope that no occasion will ever
arise that would make it necessary 20 go
back and refer to the warning which
am giving as 10 the danger in the possi-
bilities of the situation.
''The average man cannot be excited
to hopes or fears as to the prospects OF
something happening years hence. That
| is the business OF statesmen (cheers)
and that Is why / am appealing to the
House, which is responsible in behalf of
a great nation and empire-a RESPONSE
bility not merely TO that empire, but
responsible to large extent to the
whole OF Europe--to consider the dan
gers that lurk in the situation, and to
provide against IL.
"The British delegation met together
N he tphO nf
There was not a single step taken with
out previous consultation, and the steps
we took had the unanimous support of
the representatives of the empire. They
came to the same conclusion that we
did, that 1t was necessary in the in
terests of the peace OF the world--what-
ever we thought about Soviet Russia
and we had no difference OF opinion
about that-some arrangement with
Russia was necessary, in order to allay
the misery in Russia; was necessary In
order to enable Russia to make her con-
| tribution to the needs OF the world was
necessary to enable Russia to help In
the restoration of that volume of trade
upon which SO many millions Of people
depend was necessary in order to give
sense OF stability and security to Eu-
rope and. above all. was necessary to
avert those evils which lurk In the
/
continued misunderstanding
Russia's Needs and supply.
For these reasons the British EN-
pire's delegation--all OF them-gave the
whole of their strength and minds. day
after day. in the fight for the peace OF
the world. But there were difficulties
| In dealing with the Russian problem.
Russia needed goods and customers for
her produce I'm the future. We needed
her produce and customers for our
/ goods, which Russia needed IN her de-
| velopment. There we had her need and
her supply. II seems very simple.
But when you came TO deal with Il
you found chasm deep, wide and i'm
passable between the men who needed
these things and the men Who could sup
ply them. First, it was could the chasm
be filled up? We said, No: not for a
! generation The next question was, can
IL be bridged? That was our problem,
and a great engineering problem It liz.
because you have to find the foundations
for the piers of your bridge in shallow.
shifting mud and quicksand. Without
that. there is no intercourse between
these 10000, 900 Of brave. hard working
people. How did this difficulty arise?
Or rather. what concrete form did II
take?
Revolutions on great scale always
carry In their train the confiscatlon OF
property. and, / am sorry to say. con-
fiscation without compensation. That Is
our experience in England CHEERS from
the Labor members). The French Revo-
luton was accompanied by the wholesale
confiscation OF land. in fact, the con-
servatism OF France to-day is rooted in
confiscation. In addition 70 that there
Is another feature OF revolution and that
is the population of the pre-revoluton
France created a system OF peasant pro-
prietorship without compensation, but
she was not seeking credits from the
world
Russia. with her reputation, Russia.
with her confiscation. is coming to the
very people whose claim she refused to
pay, and whose property she has con-
fiscated, and she says: Lend me more.
They are practically asking credit OF the
same people. and can only get II unde-
\ the conditions that have been laid down
the restoration of confidence upon
which credit is based. Russia quito real
VI lied this.
tw-ha Tuootano ara n.a,, - awennttonat