Evening star., 1924-05-25
BY FRANK III. SIMONDS.

Il pdooco away, II is DOln
possible and perhaps useful
! to examine this amazing phenomenon
at close range. 1t cannot, however,
be studied by itself, for it was un-
mistakably the result of things which
in part took place outside of France,
notably the arrival of a Labor gov
ernment in Great Britain and the ap-
pearance of a Dawes report in Paris
Five and a half years ago, the world
war having come to its end rather alb
ruptly, men and women in many
countries were discussing the future
in terms of the past, which had been
we'll nigh intolerable. Mr.. Wilson's
famous phraIe about making the
world safe for democracy" was on
many millions of tongues, and people
of most nations were hoping and be-
lieving that the peace which was to
be made would be a peace which
would register the triumph of demo-
cratic ideas and open the way to
world dominated by liberal concep-
tions.
Hopes Not Realized.
The thing did not turn out as peo-
pie hoped and believed. Instead, all
the great democracies of the west,
| including our own, were swept by a
wave of reaction. The Parliaments
elected in Britain, Immediately after
the armistice in December. 1918; that
chosen in France after the making of
the treaty of Versailles, in 1919. and
C
dent chosen in the United States in
1920 represented conservative and,
so far as Europe was concerned, re-
dictionary principles.
1t is patent that events in Russia
materially contributed to the char
acter of the governments chosen in
western nations, and even more to the
policies pursued by western democra-
cies for the first years of peace. The
men who dominated in France and in
Great Britain were men who had lit
tie real sympathy or even patience
with the ideas which Mr.. Wilson had
championed, and the Russian peril
gave point to their apprehensions.
Aside from Russia the first nations
to "go" democratic or perhaps more
exactly radical were Germany and
Italy. How far the German change
was real how far deliberate effort to
deceive the conqueror and invite easier
terms, is q matter for debate. Ger
tainly the reality fell short of the APP
pearance. AT the outset only Italy
seemed to have gone the whole dis
tance and to have invited socialism in
form which had direct inspira tion
from Moscow.
Again Turn Conservative.
!, Then, by an odd coincidence at least,
the countries which had gone radical
began to turn conservative. We saw
the coming of Mussolini with his
Facismo. seizing power by something
closely approximating a revolution. but
a revolution made by the Right, by the
Conservatives, and finally legaliZed by
the still recent Italian election. Then
we saw the drift to right in Germany
moving steadily and impressively until
1t eliminated in the recent election.
which was a transformation the extent
of which remains difficult to measure,
but the direction of which was and is
patent.
Meantime in England Lloyd George.
mainly supported by Tories, ruled for
four years. Little by little he lost the
support of the Liberals; that of Labor
was lost from the start. In the end
he became solely the creature. not
merely of the Tories but of Tory prin-
ciples. although in his own heart he
was always hoping for a chance to
ing from Liberal and Tory.
In the end this aspiration wrecked
him. Failing abroad. he was over
thrown at home by the more conserva-
tive wing of the Tory party, which
rejoiced in the significant name of
'die-hard." Then power passed to
Bonar Law, who had been the titular
leader of the old Tory party; from him
it devolved upon Stanley Baldwin. also
and foreign policy passed to the
troll of Viscount CurZon of the same
Tory tradition.
Thus, beginning with the khaki
election" of December, 1918, and last
ing right down to the generel election
of last autumn, a period of five years,
and following the Bonar Law election
late in 1922, its control has been
absolute.
Situation in France.
The situation in France was meas
urably different. Clemenceau was a
radical, but in the last analysis he
was Clemenceau, and he dominated
by virture of the fact that he was
Clemenceau. When he retired, after
the treaty of Versailles, he Was de-
MED the presidency because he had
refused to follow the advice of Foch
and Poincare in making the treaty
of peace; that is, to tit simply, he
had listened to Lloyd George and
Woodrow Wilson rather than to
F'renchmen of the Poincare and Foch
opinion.
But the French parliament chosen
in 1919 was a reactionary parliament,
comparable in the main to that chosen
in England in the Khaki election,
some months earlier. 1t was a parlia-
ment committed to maintaining for
France the fruits of the victory, such
fruits as remained after the treaty
of Versailles. 1t began with a Mil
lerand cabinet, but Millerand shortly
after became president of the repub-
lie; then came Leygues cabinet, which
was but makeshift; then came BRAND.
Now BRAND is by political habit
conservative radical. He started
as socialist of the extreme type,
as did Millerand, but, like the presi-
dent, he has been marching to the
right all the time he has been climb
ing to the top. But, all things con-