Evening star., 1924-09-14
SEES LITTLE HOPE
IN geneva PkhEY
Harden Declares Rosy Words
Will Not Bridge Chasms
Separating Allies.
BY MAXIMILIAN HARDEN.

BERLIN, September 13.-If the
writer should declare that he be-
lieved the Geneva session of the
League of Nations had brought the
cause of enduring peace, interna-
tional justice and the reign of COM
mon sense a step forward--he would
Ne making the same mistake that ap-
pears to endanger the League-the
foolish delusion that divergent in
terests can be cemented with words
and that firm bridges can be built
with eloquence over chasms of vary
ing wills.
That the premiers of Finland and
France shake hands again at Geneva,
to the accompaniment of'applause. as
at Chequers. at Paris and at London,
and that they pose for photograph
arm in arm and journey in the same
sleeping car, is naturally very con-
soling and their speeches may have
delighted the ear. But if one sifts
their contents through the seive of
cool understanding. there is not a
spoonful of real nourishment left.
Obligatory arbitration, collective
guaranty of territorial integrity, dis
armament-these three pillars that
are to bear the temple of world peace,
were erected a quarter of a century
ago with transitory of cheap words
when Czar Nicholas summoned the
states to peace conference at The
Hague.
Wars Followed Eloquence.
And the best hotel in this beauti-
full capital of Holland where Car
negie built the peace palace. still
owns book containing splendid ut
terance in which ministers of kaisers,
kings and republics emphasized their
hatred of war and their will to main
tain peace. no less loudly than the
delegates at Geneva this week. And
thereafter came the Russo Japan
ese war, the Italo-Turk war, the Bal
kan wars and four years of horror
from 1914 to 1918, and the peace
palace remained a mere object for
sightseers which the League of Ma
tions was unwilling to use.
Will the League still find the pre-
else, practical formulas that were
lacking in the speeches OF MacDon-
aid and Herriot? Despite all the
good will and all the photog graphic
friendship, there remains deep
chasm between England and France
The island kin gdom, which would not
seriously consider proposal for
disa armament, desires, in
order to be safe from French air
bombs and submarines and also from
Franco-German export
competition. to prevent France from
securing the full fruits OF her. VIC
tory. She wants to induce France
with pleasant words to disarm, to
secure a broad basis for British in
fuence in Russia and to strengthen
Germany SO that while she will not
endanger British trade she will be-
come a factor en restoring the bal
ance of power ID, held In the Brit
ish tow rope, On as member of
the League of Nations handicap every
French effort at world domination.
Words Fail to Conceal.
The effort to conceal this chasm
with words is just as useless as the
glowing zeal which now endeavors
to prevent the Berlin government
from sending out the circular note
which it promised the German na-
tfonalists and the contents of which
had been made public offi-
eially.
To the repeatedly controverted as
sertion that a false confession of
guilt. imposed by force on the Ger
mans, is contained in the treaty of
Versailles. the League of Nations
must answer clearly.
"The official text of the treaty.
which was subscribed to by victors
and vanquished, does not contain 4
single sentence. even referring to the
guilt of the German people, but says
only what is incontroyertible after
Berlin's declaration of war on Russia
and the invasion of Belgium, that
Germany imposed war on the world
and caused the damage due to that
war; and, If the German public now
heatedly asserts the guiltlessness of
the imperial government, which it
overthrow, it merely casts on the
German people the suspicion that
they were not deceived and desire
under a republican veil to carry on
the business of a monarchistic policy
of force
Such an answer would clear the
situation. AS long as the League
thinks it can bridge chasms with
speeches, and regards words as deeds,
nothing great can be hoped from it.
Fear of chemical warfare in which
a single flyer can kill the whole popu-
lation of city in a few minutes, will
assure peace better than the most
eloquent resolution.
And the sole road that can lead to
the Leagues aim is illuminated, more
clearly than by MacDonald's and Her
riots rhetorical art, by one sentence
of Gen. Hamilton:
Instead of cheerishing mad ideas
like the gentlemen in Geneva that
war can be fettered with rose-colored
words, we will endeavor to strive
that Europe unite like America did
opl that M Frrnnaan shall ouor