Evening star., 1924-09-28

it is true that if Germany should now
or eventually enter the league and
become voluntary member of an or
eanization to preserve peace then
both Hungary and Bulgaria would he
left without any real chance of up
setting the decisions of Paris There
fore. the real. decision for all three
rests with Germany
The present session at Geneva
amounts to no more than pro-
longed attempt to bring about COM
promise and a viable compromise be-
tween the British and the French
views of the maintenance of peace To
put the thing a little differently. the
effort is to find some way of insurinE
security, which will be acceptabIe to
the British and the French. some way
by which security will be guaranteed
not by a combination of nations, act
ually members of the league, but
bound to act together. since the
league has, as yet, neither authority
nor power. but by the league itself
Now it is fairly evident that the So
luton cannot come while Germany
remains outside the league or while
Germany. inside the league. pays only
lip service to covenant obligations.
Today Germany is minded to insist
shall be accompanied by, benefits, that
she shall have restored to her the
Polish Corridor, the lost fraction of
Upper Silesia and at least some spe-
cial privileges in those of her colonies
which fell to Great Britain. Such con-
ditions If insisted upon would end
the discussion at once and Germany
would stay outside.
Unhappy Outside League.
But Germanys position outside the
league is almost certain to become
less and less attractive. Her isolation
will be embarrassing and her refusal
to enter the league will ALLEVIATE pos
sible friends both among the neutrals
and in Great Britain. 1t will conSti-
tute in some measure a confession
that Germany does not desire peace.
that she is really planning q war of
revenge and reconquest and this will
play into the hands of France and
that group of nations adjoining Ger
many. who are insisting upon the
need for security.
If there is one thing which is GER
tain now it is that the great mass
of the people of Europe desire peace.
The group which centers about France
and that which more or less closely
follows Britain are a unit on all save
the question of how peace can be
established and preserved. Any ma
tipn which stays outside the league
any European nation-and manifestly
continues to cherish and formulate
plans for provoking a new war must
presently find itself the object of
common European suspicion. The
clearer German purpose to make war
becomes, the better will be the case
of France for guarantees and the
more closely France and Britain will
be drawn together.
Would Tie Germany's Hands.
Sooner or later Germany, then, will
be forced to enter the leagues En-
terinE the league, Germany will un-
miStakably recapture considerable
European position. She is bound to
be a great power again, but the meas
ure of her influence for long time
to come must depend upon the de-
gree to which she accepts the COM
mon object of the league, which is
to prevent war. Surrounded by ma
tions large and small, all of which
desire peace, all of which would suf-
fer and few>of which could hope for
even the minutest gain as a result
of a conflict, her hands will be meas
ureably tied for a considerable period
Of time.
The German alternative is some
sort of alliance with Soviet Russia
and perhaps limited understanding
with Italy. But to be useful to Rus
sia she would have to depend greatly
upon foreign capital, while the whole
bolshevist conception is foreign and
hateful to the orderly German mind
and the racial antipathy between the
Teuton and the Slav is almost un-
extinguisha BILE. AS for the Italian
alliance. it could hardly be more
valuable than the last. the memory
of which remains in all German minds.
In sum, then, 1T seems to me almost
inevitable that within a relatively
brief time Germany will join the
League of Nations, receiving certain
ly a permanent seat upon the coun-
Gil. Pending German admission, in