Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-28
1924 BESTPOST-WAR YEAR.
BUT 1925 HOLDS DANGERS
Returning Strength Threatens to Re-
awaken Rivalries- Help
Nightly to Bring Permanent Peace.

numDeE nau enQuTeQ from aug
1914. to the same date in 1924.
After the London conference came
Geneva and once more there was dis
closed, this time for the whole con-
tinent, the same demand for peace,
the same spirit of reasonablenesS and
accord which marked the London
conference Out of this session, to
be sure, emerged the protocol which
has already awakened the profound
est disquiet in Great Britain and
must be regarded as totally unlikely
to find acceptance there, save in
greatly modified form.
Yet even this Geneva meeting and
the protocol were valuable, as they
resulted in the formulation of the
continental as contrasted with the
British view of the maintenance of
peace. Once for all with utmost clar-
ity the fact was demonstrated that
not France alone, but every CONT
mental nation insists that all discus
sion of disarmament shall be pre-
coded by a definite solution OF the
problem of security. The protocol was
a proof that the British-and Amert-
can-notion that disarmament can be
made the unconditional means of in
surfing peace was utterly fallacious
and that neither nation could press
for disarmament without undertaking
specific responsibilities in the shape
of guarantees.
1925 Less Promising.
This clash of primary conceptions
had existed ever since the Paris con-
ference, it had been responsible for
the failure of all the various efforts
at Limitation of land armaments from
that moment But not until this latest
- &l,a oof q do
clear that there was not the smallest
chance of imposing the insular view
upon the continental mind. AS a con-
sequence the conference to discuss
the Limitation of ornaments has been
adjourned and seems likely in the
end to be abandoned, since one set or
nations refuses to lay down their
arms in the face of dangers, save as
they are promised security against
these dangers, while the other set de-
clines to accept the risks incident to
giving such guarantees.
Geneva, in sense, marks the hlsh
point in the years history On the
whole the surface of things, SO tran
quill then, has been roughening again
and, just as one can say accurately
that 1924 was the best year since the
war. one must also say that the out
look for 1925 Is far less promising.
In the first place, the British election
of October suddenly broke the An
glo- French entente, which was In
reality the understanding and friend
ship between Herriot and Macdonald,
by throwing the latter out or once
and thus undermining the position
of the former, whose fall Is imminent
Between Britain and France there
are unmistakable signs of the arrival
ndinprG The OueS
ton of the French debt, opened IN
Washington in it's American phase,
has produced repercussions in London
which hold out at least a threat or
disagreement in the Paris discussions
which begin in January. Even more
serious is the problem of North AZ
RIGA raised by the evacuation or the
Riff by the Spanish, which opens the
way to French advance to the
shores of the Straits of Gibraltar,
where British feeling is most sensi-
tive.
Egyptian Affair Significant.
The Egyptian affair. momentarily
banished from the news, remains
portent Of very evil significance, not
alone for the British in Egypt, but
for the French in Tunis and the Ital-
ians in Tripoli. In fact, one must ap-
Turkish triumph over Europe, as
in the treaty Of Lausanne,
has shaken the prestige of all the
powers and endanger-
ed European rules from Bagdad to
Tangier. Again, in the Egyptian cpl
sode one sees again the working OF
that principle Of self-determinauon
accepted at she Paris peace confer
ence for European nations, but now
invoked by all subject native races
from Manila to Morocco City.
Thus men are asking themselves the
world over If the year which will be
for having seen the first
long step taken toward the liquida-
ton of the latest European struggle
may not be in the end yet more to
be remembered as having witnessed
the first concrete evidence of the
of a new struggle, the revolt
Of the Near East and the Far East,
Of western and southern Asia and
northern Africa against the white
mans rule. And this problem is ter
ribly complicated by the fact that on
the edge Of the disturbed regions and
within communicating distance of the
aroused races stands the great mass
of Soviet Russia, hostile as ever to
the western nations.
AS a direct menace to European
Institutions Russia has manifestly
continued to decline. The slow but
sure process of economic rehabi1ita-
ton in all the border states, like the
swifter recovery of Germany, has
ended the chance that misery and
desperation might throw other
peoples into the same chaos which
mastered Russia nearly eight years
ago. The latest British election is
- A.
destructive effect upon any liberal
or radical movement Of the mere
suggestion Of Russian influence. In
America the same feeling was one
of the factors in producing the re-
suits OF our recent election.
Danger In Russia.
But there remains the other danger.
the single danger for the world
which Russia now constitutes, name.
ly. the possibility of its operations
through India, Mesopotamia, Egypt
and North Africa, where it's agents
have boon discovered fomenting re-
volt. preaching assassination and
generally exploiting unrest. If one
conceives that the present disturb
ances in many portions of the Near
and even the Far East represent I'M
settlement, then it is plain that boil
sheNisrn, REFUSED IN Qlrect attack,
dangerous because of its
capacity and opportunity to strike
If one turns from the examination
of general affairs to the survey of
national circumstances it is plain
that Great Britain, after a brief but
enormously important interlude of
Labor rule, has turned to the Tory
party and by an enormous majority
given to the Conservatives a control
likely to be continued for at least
four years and to be characterized
by vigorous and sustained efforts to
restore British economic health at
home and reconstruct British pres
ffre abroad and narffcula rly In the