Evening star., 1923-06-24
AMERICAN |NACT|0N
IN PEACE DEPL0RED
French Writer Believes Vet
eran Bodies May Restore
Cooperation.
BY ANDRE TARDIEU,
Former French HfGh Commisaieaef to
America.


Former French Hish CommisAieaer to
America.
By Gable to The Star,
PARIS, June 23-Allied success in
the. war came vividly before me today
as said goodbye to Gen. Gouraud.
The Lion Of Argonne" Is en- route to
America to be the guest OF the <2d
(Rainbow) Division. 1t was under
his orders that this outfit. in whose
ranks were represented every Ameri-
can state, fought.
How far away that June day in
1918 seems when Clemenceau and /
went to Chaumont to plan troop
transportation. But Gouraud will
recall those stirring days when VIC
tory was wrested from the enemy as
he meets our comrades of the 42d
next month, and this evocation must
bring forth some mournful comments
now because IL there Is one dominant
trait throughout the world at this
very moment 1t, is lack of that eff
cheney then so conclusively demon
strated.
Many Lessons Learned.
Mistakes were made during the war
the victors. Fifty-two months It
took for the united efforts of the most
powerful nations of the world to beat
Germany. 1t required unified COM
rnand, Capitalization of supplies and
powers and it was not until this was
achieved that the allies could put
forth their maximum strength. The
lessons were learned then and bore
fruit little by little.
But what have we seen since 1919?
The most astonishing marking time
%as made Rqep Th peaee
executed In 1919 have remained in
force ever since then. But not a
single one of them has been fully
executed I am forced to admit that
reopened Immediately they were
signed. Everybody yielded to the
temptation to revise the treaty of
Versailles-eveH France. Conference
after conference has been held. With
what result? Nonel There is no
unity of mind or action since the con-
hict ended.
Has Negative Policy.
America has had purely negative
policy. / beg your pardon, but one
must speak the truth to ones friends.
First came the Lodge reservations,
then refusal to ratify, then unofficial
and passive participation in the repa-
gle sign of positive action!
You Americans have severely criti-
eized Europe and Europe has deserved
1t. but have you done better your
selves? No! Nothing anywhere but
as. the war would. had it been con-
Quoted in the same way.
1t often happened during the war
that the allies disagreed on important
questions: Yet agreement always
was reached through mutual under
give and take then Hut since the
peace was signed everybody seems
to think we can get along without
solutions. That's the fundamental
mistake and it is due to WEAKNESS
after the exertions Of this gigantic
pie take pleasure out of each others
troubles-what the Germans call
Schadenfreude. But there it is and
it seems as II humanity had lost its
sense of action.
Value OF Visit.
If commemorations such as Gou-
raud-that loyal soldier who. unlike
certain others. does not use his mill
tary glory for political ends-is
our taste for accomplishment. 1t will
be q great gain all around. But every
week in every land we get beautiful
speeches about the origin, history and
lessons of the war and nothing comes
Of 1t. Our governments live from day
to day and the people follow heed
lessly.
The intellectual moral mediocrity of
these postwar days exceeds all meas
ure. There are no ideas, no domin ant
aims. no ideals
You may say this is all generalities.
You are right But don't our present.
troubles come from profound causesf
why busy ourselves recording Ruhr
sabotage, Cuno's notes, Baldwin's hes =
itations, Poincare's speeches and the
like when experience shows all these
things mean nothing practical. Be
fore we can have a new creative
constructive policy We must have ar,
organized public spirit. Who Is or
ganizing It? Nobody, so far as I
can see.