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

Enthusiastically the headquarters of
anarchy. I do not mean by an
archy Bolshevism; I mean just
chaos. Industrially. economically.
wherever politics can touch indus
try. the same anarchy Is discover
able. Yet over against this picture
you have to set that Of the average
citizen who has gone back TO his
work, who has no interest in poll
tics, no great concern for news and
an abiding WEAKNESS of statesmen.
Over his head pass all the storms
of the statesmen. unending debates
of conferences as far as one can
see, they don't interest him.
Masses Diverted ON Strife.
wish might give American
readers some little glimpse of this
European state OF mind. because it
explains SO much. Seen at a dis
lance the rivalries of The leading
statesmen seem destined to plunge
Europe into a new chaos. We have
constantly before our eyes quarrels
between Britain and France,
France and Italy and all minor
messes of Middle Europe. One de-
rives a notion that Europe itself
must be a madhouse and most II
not all the inmates insane.
At close range, however. the I'm
preston is quite the opposite. The
quarrels Of the politicians still at
tract the attention of the foreigner.
but one observes that they pass by
the notice of the Inhabitants. He
does not raise his eyes or shift his
glance. Politically ] should say the
European masses were the most
overfed and completely wornout
people in the world. They no
longer believe in war. they believe
less in peace, but least OF all do
they believe is what now energies
from parliament houses and prime
ministers. To use a Wall Street
expression. the European political
market has nothing to sell and no
desire to buy. Yet underneath this
state of mind makes for steadiness.
There Is no longer the old appre-
lHdI INCu sOSptl ut-
struction will march from Moscow
to Madrid. Even nationalistic
rivalry makes a greater impression
on paper than anywhere else. Take
a simple illustration. l came here
to Paris straight from the WASH
ington conference. All the mem
orles of that session were fresh in
my mind. all the steps taken by
French representatives which pro-
duced such tense dramatic mo-
ments.
Thus one might conclude there
has been in France profound emo
ton over Washington. But no; in
fact scarcely anyone in Paris
seemed to know anything beyond
the vague fact that there had been
another conference, in fact that two
conferences lad been going on at
the same time, one at Cannes the
other at Washington, and that the
Cannes affair was much the more
exciting. What the Washington
conference had been called to do no
one had the remotest idea.
While I was here, a debate in the
Senate on the four-power treaty broke
a paragraph a day; il excited no in
terest. Ii you suggested that the
French policy at Washington had
awakened American resentment, you
were asked what the French policy
had been. Evidence of American dis
pleasure at France, manifestly a
result Of Franch sense Of injury.
What had France done to deserve
such brusque gestures as that to do
over the Rhine army costs?
Overlook Washington Farley.
Frankly speaking. the situation is
not lot different in London. Britain
had direct interest; many Britons
actually believed that the United
States was building a navy in the
German spirit to challenge British
seapower. When the Washington
agreement abolished all chance Of
such rivalry there was a profound
sigh of relief. A danger avoided, a
little money saved. this is what Lon
don thought OF the Washington con-
ference before Diminishing 1t. But
London has too many troubles to
consider to linger long over any one
detail and Washington obviously was
a detail.
My italian friends tell me the
same thing Is true to an even greater
extent in that peninsula. No one
knows or cares about washington.
What difference did or could 1t make
to Italy. since every question which
concerned the Italians was religious
ly omitted from the agenda? There
Is something amusing in this total,
quite palpably honest, European
ignorance of the whole Washington
adventure. It meant nothing, just
nothing. to the continent. Abstractly
eminent publicists had reasoned that
the United States and Japan were on
the edge Of war; abstractly they had
argued that the same was true of
Britain and the United States. Wash
ington seeming to deny both concep-
tons, they were dropped.
But Of all the emotions, in the
United States, what 1t meant to the
American people at the moment II
opened. what was claimed for It when
Its last sessions were over. Europe
neither knew or cared. Cannes and
Boulogne were far more significant
circumstances. Even the newspaper
correspondents who had been to
Washington before they went to
Cannes spoke Of the former with un-
mistakable patronage and emphasized
the misfortune which II would have
been for them had they missed
Cannes by staying too long at
Washington. In terms of the
Weather Bureau. Washington was
a local disturbance In a remote
corner of the globe. 2
fcsnvright, lsss.)