Evening star., 1922-02-26
BY OLIVER OWEN KUHN.

it were not so awfully shock
ing. SO terribly lacking in dig
nifty and revealing lack of
respect for high-titled positions.
one would be inclined to say that
the statesmen of Europe today have
donned pinafores and now are OBJ
sessed by a frantic fashioned
game of button, button-whose got
the button?" And diplomatic develop
ments would indicate that the but
ton in this particular instance is
Russia. All statesmen are striving
to determine toward whom Russian
favoritism is directed. Or. to go
further: A group of little boys. all
neat and trim. with plastered hair.
polished faces and immaculate hands,
played together in the European
sandpile. but. oh. so daintily.
Then wicked old genii trans
formed them into a group of awfully
wicked. fighting little boy devils. the
result of which hair became unp!as-
tered. faces smu lged and hands be-
smeared. While the fight was at its
Another wicked old genii came along
and further transformed him. Upon
his head long hair sprang. The face
was covered with bristling whiskers.
One-time babyish notions OF right
and wrong crystalized into terrlnle
mouthipgs and far-flung edicts. The
little boys shovel became sword
and the transformed voungster.
shouting in blood-curdling fashion.
charged his one-time playmates, who.
having practically settled their own
quarrels. had. as children do, settled
back into semblance of former
complacency and smugness. The old
comrade became, as he truly was. an
ogre The little boys were terrified.
hut could not forget that he had at
long had coveted. For the sake OF
those trinkets they permitted him TO
exhaust himself in his own foam
fnss, then invited him. wild whts--
kers and all. to play in their sand
pile.
The little boys-the SNUG ones
are the powers of Europe The be-
whiskered ogre. which as yet has
not met with benefactions from the
good fairies. is Russia. And Russia
has consented to play around a bit.
But the powers of Europe still have
not recovered from their first fright
and are so terribly suspicious they
really do not know just what they
will do. but that they must do some-
thing is taken for granted. for Rus
sia has the material things that go
to make up community welfare.
European powers can forget the
bloody sword which threatened at
one time a complete breakdown In
modern civilization: they can over
look the terrible fright they suffered
because they realize that Russia. evil
as she has been painted. doctrinaire
as she may be and dangerous as she
vet may prove, temporarily at least. is
essential to the working out of the
financial, political and economic
schemes which various nations have
advanced for the general recovery OF
Europe.
It is not without some degree Of
amusement. however, that close stu
dents of old world affairs have watch
ed developments in the past week or
ten days First OF az. France has
consistently declared that she never
would deal with the bolsheviks unless
the old czarist obligations to France
wore recognized by the bolsaevist
regime and paid. However. today
sees France admittedly dealing with
the bolsheviks by wireless and cou-
rier, presumably about famine relief.
However, Berlin and London hear
that the French are definitely striv-
ing to heal the old breach that has
existed between France and. Russia
and cause the boIsheviks to forget
that the French were largely instru-
mental in initiating the kolchak.
wrangel and other counter revolu-
tionary movements in Russia. AT
termine what the reds may or may
not ask in the Genoa conference once
that gathering gets under way. Fur
thermore, Premier Poincare declared
previous to his assumption of office
that If France pursued her policy "f
isolation she might see ether powers
step into Russia and there gather