The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-06-18
Nhr nanshinatnn Herald
World Problems Unsettled
3 Years After Paris Farley
Smaller Nations of Europe Line Up With
France in Struggle Against Britain,
Declares F. H. Simonds.


another area of war devastation.
Meantime a new factor was de-
veloping. The war had either cre-
ated new natio o. or increased small
states all through Central Europe.
Poland and Czecho-Siovaka rose
from centuries of foreign slavery.
Rumania and Serbia. transformed
into Jugo- Slavia, became large
states by acquisitions OF territory.
All four Of these countries began
to press their claims for stu fur
Their territory. inhabited by people
Of their own races.
Counter to Br!tish interests.
But each of these claims created
new economic disorder and there
fore ran counter to British inter ssts.
On the other hand. France. SEEING
n these new countries future allies,
came more and more to champion
the cause of nationalism against
that of commercialism. When Po-
land laid laic claim to Uppe- S lees a,
under the treaty OF Versailles. Brit
ain supported the German conten-
ton. II was the same In wilma
and Danzir. Rumanian aspirations
on the Dniester. the annexation of
Eessarabia, evoked British protest.
To the British mind. and the
American as well. nothing was more
prepoAerous, given its effect upon
trade and commerce than the d.
vision OF Central and Southern Eu-
rope into a number of small states.
which promptly fell to quarreliing
among themselves and used their
to Int ~ h. A,.NUy
of world trade. THE Balancing
OF Middle Europe" became a familiar
phrase In British and American
mouths. More and more the Anglo
Saxons. the British actively. the
Americans passively, came to cham
pion an economic as contrasted with
a natIonalistic policy.
Want Races United,
The Pole. the Czech. the Jueo.
Slav. the Rumanian. said in sub
stance. The most important thing
to us Is that the people of our
race and language shall be united
to our state. 1t is of no COMPARE
tive Importance II this process quar-
rels with geography or with trade,
above all material considerations
rises the moral principle of national
integrity Of racial solidarity" France
on her side. championed this prin-
ciple. Since she had received AL
SAGE and Lorraine at Paris she had
no direct concern. yet the prin-
ciple was old In French history. and
underlay all French resentment over
the loss OF her provinces in 1871
and. in addition. II supplied a COM
mon basis between herself and the
smaller states in Middle Europe. all
OF which were interested not in the
restoration of the conditions of 1914.
but In the preservation of the situa-
tion created by the conference of
Paris and the logical extension Of
that settlement.
/ wish l could make clear once
for all that here is the fundamental
break between British and French
policy today, 1t has its political as
pect, for France, with her great
army and the assurance of the as
sistance of the armies Of the smaller
states. most of which have been
French trained, becomes the DOM
mating power upon the continent.
the hegemony of Europe Is hers and
precisely this situation the British
| desire to avoid-and the italians
| quite as much as the British.
Also Has Another Side,
But it has also its other side. The
French have deliberately under
taken to champion the principle of
nationality, they have become N a
sense the guarantors of the inde-
pendence of the smaller states of
Central Europe. erected at the ex-
pense of Germany, Russia and Aus
tria and threatened with extinction,
| IL Germany and Russia ever re-
gain their old-time strength. Like
their friend in Central Europe, they
perceive that a Russo German asso-
citation is likely and therefore they
nave every interest in seeing Rus
sia escape from Bolshevist control.
Britain. on the contrary, has
every material interest at stake in
her effort to re-establish the condi-
tions of 1914, the economic condi-
tions, which in turn. rested upon
political conditions. She has in adj
| dition her historic interest in block
ing the policy of the country which
happens at the moment to be SUI
preme on the continent.
Situation Mixed in Italy,
When one turns to Italy the sit
uation is mixed. Italy finds herself
politically on the wrong side of the
nationality issue. She has taken
lands inhabited by the Germans in
the Tyrol and by the Slovenes in
1stria; she has blocked legitimate
aspirations of Greeks in the Aegean
and now holds the islands of the
Lodecanesus in defiance OF all prin-
ciple. Certainly Italy, who &C.
CURED more territory than France
in Europe, desires to preserve her
acquisitions, but they are not
threatened, therefore she is free to
follow her own course.
Italy has, moreover, three princi-
pies; she is on general lines op-
posed to France: hatred of France,
Jealousy of France, these are domi-
mating factors in contemporary
Italy. Again, Jugo-Slavia Is the
enemy in the Adriatic, the rival at
| Fiume and in Dalmatia, and since
Jugo-Slavia goes with France, Italy
finds new cause for opposing
France. Finally, It is of utmost
Importance to Italy to set in mo-
tion again the stream of Russian
foodstuffs flowing to her ports.
Accordingly, with a single excep-
ton. Italian policy in all the period
since Paris has followed British.
The exception is in the case of
Greece and Turkey. There. Italy,
like France. supports Turkey
against the Greek. but this has not
served to interrupt the close rela-
| tinns hetween London and Paris so