Evening star., 1924-09-28
WORLD HOPE OF PEACE
in LEAGUE OF NATIONS
German Membership Essential to Pro-
gram, and Membership Essential
to Germany.
BY FRANK H. SIMONDS

escape the conclusion that the
league has at last established itself as
european institution and that hence
forth not only is it's permanence as
sured. but its Importance is almost
certain to increase. If one chose to
assume. as the cynical may still, that
IT would remain powerless to prevent
war in the face of any such deter
m1nation as dominated Austrian
craftsmanship in 1914 and made the
world War inevitable, If one chose to
regard with more or less reserve the
elaborate machinery and formula for
preventing war, there would remain
the solid fact that it has become the
most potent factor in Europe for the
organizing of peace
When the statesmen of Europe
we're liquidating the Napoleonic Wars
and making the treaties of Vienna it
was Lord CaStlereagh. l think, who
remarked that the settlements which
were being framed could not be ex-
pected to last more than seven years.
Yet these territorial settlements, in
fact, lasted almost half a century
and hnally succumbed to forces un-
forseen at Vienna, namely the strug-
gle of the Italian people for liberty.
OF the German for unity and finally of
the Balkan peoples both for liberty
and for unity.
EHAp hcco"InS StaD1l1zed.
More than five years after the ter
rtorial settlements of Paris were
completed it is becoming increasingly
clear that all the agitation for revi-
slons. large and small, is dying out.
The economic settlements, the repara-
t1ons provisions of the treaty of Yer
sailleS have been completely r~vssed
but aside from the readjustmenD due
to the Greco-Turkish War which
after all affected only slight areas
in Europe, the map of 1924 is well
nigh identical with that of 1919.
II, as seems inevitable now, Ger
many should, with brief delay, enter
the league, accepting naturally the
commitments which are thus required
becoming, in fact, participating as
well as a nominal member of the Gen.
eva organization, there is at least
sound reason for believing that this
very circumstance might be as signi-
meant as the return of France to the
European system which followed the
Congress of Aix-la -Chapelle in 1918,
only three years after the Battle of
Waterloo.
hundred years ago the system
which represented European solidar-
1ty was. in reality. the Holy Alliance
the combination of the Sovereigns of
three great states which had over
thrown Napoleon, namely, Russia
Prussia and Austria, with which was
associated Great Britain. In 1918
France was received into this sys-
tenn and oddly enough the return of
France to European Importance
marked profound change in the gen.
eral direction of European history. 1t
marked the end of the revolutionary
period, it disclosed the acceptance by
France of the territorial decisions of
Vienna.
Todny's OutstandinE Problem.
Today the outstanding problem in
Europe is precisely whether Germany
Will accept the territorial decisions Of
Paris, whether the German nation will
consent to become a member of a
European organization designed to
preserve peace, based. of course, on
the status quo, or whether Europe is
TO see develop again system of al
1ianceS centering about France and
Germany, the former the champion of
peace based upon the map of Europe
as it stands and the latter the pro-
tagonist of a revision which can only
come about through a new war. which
like the last, would be general.
Peace in Europe. not merely the
absence of immediate conflict. but n
stmosPher of tranquility in which
there can be progressive disarma-
fnent and the elimination of war and
postwar fears, rivalries and COM
petitions in military establishments,
turns wholly on the question of
whether Europe is to divide between
the satisfied and the dissatisfied ma
tions or is to work out some general
system. And If it does the latter it is
hard to see now how it can escape
adoption of the League of Nations as
the center of the new system.
Acceptance by Great Powers.
The League of Nations has profited
enormously in recent days by the
presence Of the premiers of Britain
and France. This has constituted in
some measure a recognition by the
Great Powers, which was hitherto
lacking, but 1t is we'll to remember
that the league has already been ac-
cepted by the smaller powers with an
enthusiasm which is in itself signi-
ficant and that whatever the real SEN
timents of the British and French
people, the mass of the people not
alone of the smaller states which
emerged from the war either reborn
or vastly increased, but of the neutral
states of the war itself have accepted
the league as the best promise of
their own future security.
Moreover the fact, too little noted
on this side of the Atlantic, the out
standing fact In the new Europe Is
that the Importance as we'll as the
number Of the small states has been
enormously increased. Ten years ago,
at the moment when the World War
broke. the continent was dominated
by two combinations of great powers
Russia, France and Britain on one
side. Germany. Austria and Italy on
the other and the smaller states were
either minor satellites or quite with
out Importance.
But in the Europe of 1924 there are
at the most only three great powers,
Britain, France and Italy. Moreover,
Italy. for a variety of reasons. is
without much influence or any follow
ing. while Britain, by reason of its in
sular position and desire to avoid en-
tangIements generally finds itself iso
hated in. any discussion of the major
problems. such as security and arm
aments. Austria has disappeared as
q power. Russia is in temporary
eclipse, which may continue for a
long period OF years. while Germany,
potentially a great power always. is
for the present without any of the re-
sources of first-class nation, in
something Of the situation of France
after Waterloo.
France In Dominant Position.
In this state of facts France has
risen to a position of European i'm
portance which she lost with the fall
of Napoleon. Her supremacy rests
upon two essential facts. first that
she has the most powerful army in
existence and second that she is the
natural champion of the existing con-
dition Of the European map and thus
the inevitable ally of all those states
which were either emancipated or ex-
panded by the World War and the
MOra than this