The Indianapolis times. [volume] (Indianapolis [Ind.]) 1922-1965, 1923-06-30
Continued From Page u

would have accomplished by deceit
by deceiving their allies and by be-
| ing faithless to the treaty to which
their country had appended It's sig
nature. That is one French school of
thought on the treaty of Versailles.
1t is the one which has brought Eu-
rope to its present state Of perturba-
ton.
| There is a second school which
reads into the treaty powers and pro-
visions which it does not contain
and never contemplated These cri-
tics maintain stoutly that M. BRAND
and all other French Prime Ministers
except M. Poincare betrayed their
trust by failing to enforce these i'm
aginary stipulations. They still hon
estly believe that M. Poincare is the
| first French prime minister to have
made a genuine attempt to enforce
French rights under the treaty.
Third Party Afraid
There is in the background a. third
school which knows exactly what the
/ treaty means but dare not say so in
the present. state. of French opinion.
But perhaps they think it is better to
bide their time. That time is coming
| When 1t does arrive let US hope it will
not be too late to save Europe from
the weller.
In America there are also two or
three divergent trends of opinion about
this treaty One which regards it as
an insidious attempt to trap America
into the European cockpit so as to
pluck it's feathers in order to line
French and English holsters. If any
thing could justify so insular an esti
mate it would be the entirely selfish
Interpretation which is put upon the
| treaty by one or two Of the allied gov
ernments. The other American party,
I understand, defends it with vigor as
a. great human instrument second
only in Importance to the Declaration
of Independence. There may be a
third who think that on the whole 1t
| is not a bad settlement, and that it is
a pity a little more tact was not dis
played in getting it through the vari
Gus stages Of approval and ratification.
In England there are at least three
schools There are critics who de-
rCunce it as a brutal outrage upon
international justice. 1t is to them
device for extorting incalculable sums
out Of an impoverished Germany az
reparation for damages artificially
worked up. Then there Is the other
extreme. The "Diehard" section.
more influential since it became less
numerous. They think the treaty let
Germany off much too lightly. In
| fact they are in complete agreement
with the French Chauvinists as to
| the reprehensiSle moderation OF its
terms. In Britain also there is a
| third party which regard its pro-
visions as constituting the best settle
ment when you take into account
| the conflicting aims, interests and
| traditions Of the pastries who had to
| negotiate and agree.
Masses Are Ignorant
But take all these variegated,
| schools together or separately and
| you will not find one in a thousand
OF their pupils could give you an in
| telligent and comprehensive summary
Cf the main principles of the treaty
| Most of the disputants are content
to take their views from press com
ments and denunctatory speeches. I'm
happily, the explanatory speeches
| have been few Some there are who
have in their possession the full text
--nominally for reference; but you
will find parts of the reparation
clauses in their copies black with
the thumb marks which note the per-
spring dialectician searching for pro-
jectiles to hurl at the object of his
fury Clauses which ease and modify
the full demand are treated with stern
neglect and the remainder of the
pages are as pure as untrodden snow
You can trace no footprints of poll,
ticians, publcists or journalists in
the whole provinces of this unex
plored treaty. The covenant Of the
League Of Nations is lifted bodily out
OF the text and it Is delivered to the
public as a separate testament for the
faithful so that the saints may not
defile their hands with the polluted
print which exacts Justice They
have now come to believe that II never
was incorporated in the treaty Of Yer
sailles, and that it has nothing to do
with that vile and sanguinary instru-
ment.
And yet the first words of this
treaty are the following:
THE high contracting parties.
in order to promote international
cooperation and to achieve inter-
national peace and security by the
acceptance Of obligations not to
resort to war. by the prescription