Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1922-04-20
RUSS-GERMAN PACT
IS LITTLE FEARED
Only Danger Would Be Policy
Driving Two Nations To-
gether, U. S. Opinion.
BY DAVID LAWRENCE.

BY DAVID LAWRENCE.
Although on the surface the Amer
lean government gives the impression
that the Russo-German treaty has no
particular meaning to the United
States. the truth is tfe wish is father
to the thought. Oficials hope it has
no meaning. They would be as dis
turbed as Europeans If 1t turned out
that the Russo-German pact meant a
political upheaval in Europe and a
consequent delay of reconstruction.
Anything which makes the world
as officials may sometimes to conceal
their concern.
But the consensus Of opinion here
is that when all is said and done the
Russo German pact will literally be
found to have very little meaning,
that it can be a source of disturbance
only if the other governments choose
to pursue a policy which drives Ger
many and Russia into each others
arms and makes them interpret their
treaty more or less as an offensive
ana defensive alliance.
On the subject of concluding SEN
arate treaties without consulting the
other powers. very little is said in
Washington. for the United States ne
gotiated separate treaty with Ger
many and no official has ever dis
closed whether the allies had any ad-
vance copies of it. In fact, the evil
dence has been all the other way
that the treaty was made without
the consent Of the allies on the the
ory that Germany and the United
States could do as they pleased. This
precedent is cited here today as JUS
tiflcation for a German treaty with
Russia. another former member OF
the allied group.
See Many Flaws.
The burden of thought here is tina,
the allied powers can f1nd plenty OF
flaws In the German Russian pact
plenty Of grounds for charging a vio-
lation OF the spirit of the Versailles
pact. and they can at a later day in
sist that admission of Russia and
SGermany to the league of nations
cannot be permitted without an
Germany to renounce the new treaty.
power to interpret whether a treaty
Is consistent or inconsistent with the
covenant of the league, and ii would
be simple matter for the council to
find the Russo-German pact as COM
ing within the latter category.
What the American government hopes
is that out Of all the confusion will come
some fundamental agreements on a
pull-together policy in European af-
fairs. Otherwise the factions and
alliances and group arrangements
will keep alive the flame of human
hatred and the torches of national
rivalry.
Count ON Lloyd George.
On Lloyd George. the British prime
minister, his skill and resourcefulness
many an American official is counting.
It's the climax of his career And it
is also the crisis as between a system
Of Alliances return to the balance
of-power idea-or the making of
European concert in which all powers
large and small, stand as sovereigns
on an equal footing. Woodrow Will
son fought for the league of nations
on the ground that the alternative
was the system OF balances and alli-
ances. His prophecy has almost come
true. America has encouraged the
idea of four-power treaty by agree
ing to a pact in the Pacific. but it is
stoutly denied that any military obli-
CATION turks in the treaty. Leaving
America out Of the problem. it still re-
mains for Europe to decide whether
the tendency of the last twelve months
toward little ententes and tripartite
treaties will mean a permanent
system of military balances in Eu-
rope, or whether Lloyd George can
apply the league idea to the whole OF
Europe, and coat all the treaties, in
cluding the Russo-German pact, with
a greater agreement for cooperation
that supersedes all previous pacts and
paves the way for an economic accord
in which the United States stands
ready to join.
copyright, 1927