The Columbia evening Missourian., 1922-06-15


certain countries is being kept from free
circulation by restrictions of unexampled
severity, while the depreciation Of cur
rency is so severe that, without restric-
lions, the countries in the best financial
position would be reduced to the level,
or below the level, Of the rest.
RUSSIAN CONTRAST
! Ten years ago Russia might have
claimed without exaggeration TO be the
granary Of Europe Today millions Of
Russians, men, women and children alike,
have died Of starvation.
( Before 1914, commerce, and reasonable
interchange of commodities. was passible
even between countries which had reason
for an attitude of mutual suspicion, but
today this commercial interchange has.
TO a large extent, ceased.
During the war years. Europe may be
said TO have lived upon its accumulations
Of money and goods. and upon the pro-
ceeds Of its investments in the Americas
and elsewhere. Today, though peace has
been proclaimed, Europe is still living to
a very large extent on its reserves, the
only difference being that when war be-
gan, these reserves were ample, where
as today We are within sight Of the end.
To take the example nearest home,
this county's American securities have
passed back to America. and while the |
United States constitute undoubtedly the |
one wealthy power of the world, that
is faced with grave economic
difficulties, because its manufacturers are
hard pressed TO find markets. They
have nearly all the money and most of
the goods and consequently they cannot
trade. because in order TO trade it is
necessary that both parties TO a contract
should have means, and as actual trad
ing is Of course not an exchange of mon-
y or goods bu, of commodities, it fol-
ows that widespread prosperity is the
rue basis of all commerce.
Enough has been said to Justify
loubt as to whether we are really at
,eace today. If We are not. the next
question that arises may be summed up
n one word WHY"
THE REAL DANGER
Ii is this failure Of vision that consti- I
utes real danger, the real menace not I
My to Europe but to civilization itself, 7
nd justifies the inference that peace has
OF yet been attained.
There is only one path to peace and c
is path TO which every nation,
neither victorious or defeated in the !
reat struggle, must direct its steps. That
ath leads directly TO reconciliation, to
nlted effort, and TO recongnition of the
nifty of Europe. We cannot afford to
I Russia strave or Germany go bank
Ipi. because quite apart from all higher
olives and consideration for human
Europe needs the best ef- Vi
rts of one and all to restore her ter.
bic losses.
If we regard the situation in this light :"
will be seen that We can no longer
ford TO deal with what has become a IL
,rld problem in terms of victors and u
nquished. A bigger outlook is demand.
from Europe's statesmen in the first a
stance, and secondly from the leaders al
public opinion; and the most hope.
sign OF the times is that the rank a
d file, simple, well-meaning folk, are la
ginning to recognize the facts Of the
Sc he
And by way of summarizing the CT
oughts prompted thereby it may be .
to quote some words by a
ted American writer, Prof. II. Emer.
n Fosdick, who said, Local patriot. al
n should be the open door into uni.
rsal sympathy. NationaIism should not
Id back from but lead to information.
sm. A good family and a good vii
,e are fulfilled in each other; SO are
good nationalism and a good interna.
nalism the complement one of the
her. But it requires a conquest over
Limitation, by the cooperative spirit.
perceive it.
This yay lies peace-