New Ulm review. (New Ulm, Brown County, Minn.) 1892-1961, 1922-03-29

New Ulm Review. New Ulm, MINI, Wednesday, MARI
lpress-clipping clerks, and It would seem
as if he might occasionally have read a.
newspaper himself
For Colonel House there is no alibi
possible Mr.. Lincoln Colcord, then
Washington correspondent Of the Phila-
ldelphia Public Ledger, stated in The Ma
ton Of September l3, 1919, that he had
the pleasure Of bringing the Balfour state
ment to the attention of Colonel House
| by letter, incl osing the newspaper clippings
of the incident and pointing out very
fully its bearings ...I can recall dozens
/ of conversations with Colonel House about
the secret treaties, going back as far as
1.-THE summer of 1917. And | remember
how again and again during that season
we urged upon the 5Administrat alton
the danger Of the course that was being
followed by America; the unWisdom Of
leaving the secret treaties unrepudiated s
There is no escaping the conclusion that
Mr.. Wilson and his nearest advisers were
hopelessly or wilfully blind. There are
many Americans who think that
Mr.. Wilson fibbed to Senator Borah. We
are not among them; we believe that
| the President and his associates
were monstrously incompetent. They had
taken the greatest brief in history
brief for all mankind and yet they pre-
pared themselves so little as to the diplo-
matte backgrounds of the war, that, as
Mr.. Baker points out, they were hope
1lessly handicapped in their fight for the
J Fourteen Points when they reached Yer
sailles. Even then brave fighter, a
man who would have insisted, under
threat of pulling out, upon holding the
ALLIES to their plighted troth in their ac-
1ceptance Of the Armistice terms, would
4 have achieved great victory for mankind
instead Of defeat ending in what Mr..
IVanderlip has called the worst document
struck off by a group Of men at any given
time the Treaty of Versailles. :
But what are we to think Of modern
history writing when we find that; Mr..
Ray Stannard Baker wrote his piece in the
! New York Times without the slightest
knowledge of the widespread publicity
given to the secret treaties in the United
States, in complete ignorance Of the publ
1cation of Lincoln Colcord, without even
being aware that the secret treaties were
on sale on the news-stands of New Y FORK
and other cities during all those critical
months when Mr.. Wilson was assuming
the spiritual leadership Of the world?--
! The Nation. - s~ II.
That sudden demand upon the Allies for payment
of 1851, 000-the sum which our Army of Occu-
patton on the Rhine has st-fel like bombshell
/ upon the deliberations of the Allied finance minis
tiers in Paris. It is an example we suppose, Of
that "tactful pressure" Of which the Washington
correspondents are taught to write, There is no
question that America has as good right to be re-
paid for her Rhine expenses as any other country.
But all through the months and years of Allied dis
cussion Of distribution of the German indemnity
America has put in no claim--untl March 10, 1922
when she suddenly lifts up her voice and asks a
share Of the spoils The result u.s. of course angry
protest and no action. England, France, Italy and
Belgium divided the spoils they had expected;
we get nothing The Nation believes that our troops
should have been Withdrawn from the Rhine long
ago; the immense cost has been pure waste Of money
The United States has technical right to be pre-
might tactfully have used that right as a means Of
to shorten the wastefu Occupation and per-
suade the French to take more rational attitude
to Germany. But bombshes are seldom tactful.
THE Ndtion
Brigadier General William Mitchell offered to
use bombs the striking miners Of West Virginia,
but in South Africa this bloody threat is being
ried into effect with mOnstrols results Armed war
fare is on between strikers and the government
forces; policemen and soldiers as well strikers,
have been killed An industrial struggle has been
turned into fratrcidal war. Press items such as
the following indicate the havoc that is being
wrought in South Africa Gan aviator flying very
low, bombed and blew up the Benomi Trades Hall
which was crowded with strikers, most Of whom were
killed, including some leaders, it is believed. No
exgencies can excuse for a moment a government
use against its own citizens Of methods terrible
The strike itself is long drawn struggle Of murky