Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1922-04-21
THE POT STILL BOILING.

The European pot is still boiling. Whether it
will boil over or whether the ebullition will subside
is something that only the future can determine.
The present disturbances will be accepted by those
who have maintained that the Versailles treaty is a
breeder of wars rather than a conserver of peace as
evidence of the soundness of their conclusions.
At the very outset of the Genoa conference,
which it was hoped might at least point the wav to
economic rehabilitation, Germany has entered into
a compact with Soviet Russia in a manner and on
terms which indicate a truculent and defiant spirit
on the part of both governments toward the powers.
which bore the chief brunt of the war on the side of
the allies, and which have been putting forth the
greatest effort to mitigate the evils which have
flooded from it.
The Russian Soviet government has no stand
ing III any assemblage representing civilized nations.
1t has repudiated the fundamental principles on
which human government is founded and it recoe-
nized no obligation in law or in honor to any other
human society. 1t has from time to time receded
from some OF its more extreme positions, but it has
declared such recessions to be merely matters of
policy. and that they involve no abandonment of
the principles which it has avowed. Its pledges are
as worthless as is the testimony of the witness who
declares that he has no regard for the sanctity of an
oath, and that he feels at perfect liberty to lie when
ever a lie will serve his purpose.
The German government is organized on a
different basis. In form it is republican. 1t recog-
n1zes the rights of individuals to their private prop
erty and the personal freedom and security. But
its course during the entire series of negotiations
''NAi aAoV AOAO"No tAC demonstrated ITS
adherence to the conception that the end iustifes
the means, and that promises are to be fulfilled only
when it is convenient to fulfill them, or when they
cannot be evaded. =
The old Prussian militaristic regime was OBJ
sessed with the conception of world domination.
Ont step through which it hoped to realize its am
billions was the control of the economic resources
ct Russia and the development of its enormous man
power into a vast military machine under the direc-
ton OF German masters. That ambition has been
bred into the very fiber of German leadership, and
whether under an autocracy or a republic, it seems
to be inerradicable.
Germany agreed to the terms Of the Versailles
treaty. Some of those terms were hard. but NOT ali
of them were impossible. She has never given the
slightest evidence of an intent to carry any of them
out. Instead Of doing what she could to meet the
terms OF her contract, and asking for leniency for
what she could not perform, she has done nothinp
except under connpulsion, and then as little as she
could. In several cases, as in the destruction Of her
fleet instead Of its delivery to the allies, she has yio-
lated her pledges fagrantlys and Deliberately. Now
hdcveloped that she has sold large quantities Of war
material left IN Germany by Russian refugees. in
stead of turning them over to the allies for dcstruc-
ton Is provided by the treaty.
AS5French journal tells Of the dispatch within.
the past fewadaysof German shock troops against
4Oland and ut Russian troops against Rurnania.
The Dispatch is not verified, and ii may not 81
Accl2sks. B Just that snrt of thing Isl the
Jg6ica1soutgrowt of the present Gerrnan
treat. That treaty means that the world must
Nhscet he@ p3ospectso Russia exploited by Germany,
Her u soffres dSyeioped iii the German interest
+ er1shin of Poland as between the upper md.
SSastlskfsn ;listons tis sabsparption into ~ I'D