Evening star., 1924-07-06
Continued from First Page.)

Continued from First Page)
Labor government in London and
a Radical-Socialist combination in
Faris, the German dread Of allied
war in peace. the suspicion of French
purposes to ruin and partition Ger
many, will lie down, particularly as
French retirement from the Ruhr is
seen to wait upon German perform
ance under the Dawes report solely.
IT assumes, too. that French distrust
of German purposes will diminish as
Germany begins to operate under the
Dawes report.
After all. l think, the main assump-
tion of the new Anglo French en-
tente, which is still very limited in
its nature, is that the wartime mood
has substantially disappeared in all
three countries; that it has effectively
disappeared as a barrier to the ire
ducible minimum of cooperation
which is the basis of any adjustment
1t assumes that Germany will not
only accept the Dawes report in
word but deed; it assumes that in
both the British and French Parlia-
mcnts there will be patience enough
10 await results. rather than to re-
peat the MilIerand coup of Cannes.
which led to the downfall of BRAND
and the coming of Poincare.
New Spirit Stirs Europe.
Herriot and Macdonald are, to all
fntents and purposes, minority pre-
miers. The position of the Marx
Streseman ministry in Germany is
even more precarious. Yet, in the
face of these obvious limitations, one
can still venture to be optimistic be-
cause of the unmistakable fact that
new spirit is stirring in Europe and
has even found voice in Germany, as
it has found surprising acceptance
both in France and in Great Britain
IN europe most European countries
have been modified on the basis of
Tears, rather than material inter-
eStS, for the past five years; indeed
for the ten years since the war broke
out. Statesmen have been captives
their constituencies, and, in the same
way. followed and exploited their
constituents fears.
But back of the Herriot- t-MacDon-
aid meeting, back of the recent
French election, back of the general
Ulropean progress of the past six
months. has lain the growing CONT
mental appreciation of the fact that no
solution. no peace. nothing but con-
form of general cooperation. Not
only must the French and British CO.
operate. but they must work with the
Germans. Germany has been slower
to grasp the fact than Britain or
France, but a part of this tardiness
must. be set down to the passion ex-
cited by the occupation of the Ruhr.
Ruhr Occupation.
I suppose in the light of history the
Ruhr occupation will be viewed
rather as the final campaign in the
war than as detail in the actual
after-war adjustment. The French
notion that the mere occupation
would lead to immediate German
surrender will doubtless come in time
to appear as grotes1Ie miscalcula-
tion as the German assumption that
Britain would restr ain France or
join Germany in expelling the in
vader. And in the same category
must be included the British convic-
go. once British refusal to march
were known.
Five years ago America, repre-
scnted by President Wilson. returned
from Europe. The rejection Of the
TO period of isolation, but this isola-
tion, this abstention from any real
participation in European recon-
struction, was due quite as much to
European conditions as the politics on
our own continent The long series
of struggles between France and
Britain. the Russo-Polish war, the
Greco o-Turkish war. the Ruhr occupa-
tion. these and a score of lesser af-
fairs only confirmed American dis
taste for foreign adventure.
Yet the action of the Coolidge ad
ministration when the Poincare-
Curzon discussions opened the way
for what was later to be the Dawes
commission and Washington's pres
ent action with respect to the new
London conference must serve to
demonstrate to Europe that il we
have no intention to share in Euro
pean rivalries or back one nation or
group against anothsr.- Amarican CO.