Evening star., 1925-05-10
BY FRANK H. sIMoNDs.
n the present article I shall try to
summarize the impressions Of my
:, three months trip abroad. which
. carried me to ENGLAND. Germany.

N the present article shall try t
summarize the impressions of m.
three months trip abroad. whicl
i carried me to England, Germany
- Poland. Czechoslovakia an
France, and my talks with yer.
large number Of statesmen and jour
nalists in all these countries and sew
eraI adjoining states.
Last year, returning from a simila
trip. wrote that the outstanding i'm
preston Of Europe at that hour wa
the remarkable development of tn
sentiment for peace and for economi,
and even political appeasement which
1 discovered in all countries, a senti
ment. which contrasted strikingl,
with certain situations which I hat
found in Europe two years before
that is. In 1923..just before the Ruin
occupation.
In the current year the same i'm
preston was not only, to be felt, bu
found it to an impressive extent
even in Germany, which 1 had no.
visited before since the war. 1t is true
that the election Of Hindenburg ha.
seemed to give the lie. to this asser
tton and that it has constituted. as
wrote last week, the greatest disaster
since the making Of peace in 1919
Nevertheless. for reasons which I shall
aet forth presently it seems to me
that this German vote does not actu
airy, contradict the evidence which
every traveller In Germany in the past
six months has testified to.
Out of War State Of Mind.
Europe, as I saw it last Winter and
this Spring, is in many ways impress.
slvely out OF the war state Of mind
The recovery mentally in England has
been. most impressive. For the Brit.
tsh people the war is no more now
than an evil memory, something to be
forgotten, something the evil conse.
quenoes OF which have to be removed
but the circumstances and emotions
OF which are to be dismissed. Men.
tally. morally. the British public, next
to our own. which was infinitely less
anected, has most completely recov.
cred from. the great struggle Eco
nomically, by contrast, Britain today
suffers perhaps more than any bellig-
Grant nation, with the exception of
Russia.
One of the public men who was
closest to events during the war and
the making of peace expressed to me
his view that up to the moment in
which he spoke his country. Britain,
was the one unmistakably defeated ma
ton of the struggle. He was speak
ing not of any battlefield circum-
stance, not of any decision of the
peace conference; what he meant was
that the economic structure of hts
country was more terribly shaken by
the conflict and its consequences than
that of any other combatant nation.
and that its recovery would be more
difficult
In England any visitor must be
struck by two facts-the enormous
courage and determination with which
the nation has set itself to face a
frightful situation, the industry and
effort which It is applying to the re-
construction of the shaken edifice.
and the relatively slow and difficult
task itself. British recovery Is slow,
slower than that of any other country,
for the paradoxical reason that there
is little that the British people can do
in the situation, or, rather, when they
have done all that Is humanity possible
themselves, great deal more re-
mains to be done which is outside Of
their power.
Cause Of Situation.
Forty-odd millions of people living
In the restricted area of the British
Islands are dependent for existence
upon their ability to sell coal and man
ufactured articles abroad and buy food
with the proceeds. They could not
live, save as they could sell and buy.
Their food came from abroad in prac-
tically a complete sense. But the
war did two things-it destroyed the
capacity Of the foreign peoples to buy
British products, thus automatically
depriying vast numbers of British
workfngmen of their employment, and
in addition 1t stimulated production
within. these foreign countries OF the
things formerly bought from Britain.
For more than Ave years, then,
Britain has been struggling to re-
cover foreign markets, but, mean
while. it has been unable to sell Its
coal abroad, its shipping has suffered
alike from American competition and
the absence of foreign freights. There
has been little coal to carry abroad; !;
there has been an appalling decline
in the market for British built ships.
Thus roughly speaking. Britain has
suffered acutely from the decrease In
revenue coming from coal, manu-
factured goods and shipping returns.
1t has been stricken in the main
sources of it's income. 1t has had to
maintain a million and a half Of
workingmen in idleness; it has had
to meet the most colossal burden In
taxation ever known, and while the
situation has materially improved, 1t
remains still a frightful problem.
England, then, alone of the nations
which made the war, Is facing the
problem Of life or death. 1t must
find markets for it's products; it must
find homes abroad, for Its surplus
population, or it must ultimately col
lap&e. under it's burdens. The coal
miners of Britain, for example. are
today, with few exceptions, living
and working for subnormal wage,
less than is required for decent living
conditions: but. even on this basis,
the ceal trade is rather losing than
making money.
= Peace Abroad Desired.
Now in this situation all British
effort is obviously directed at insur-
political method to bring about
economic peace. British statesman
ship is seeking reconciliation and ap-
peasement in Europe that markets
may be restored, trade regained, that
the national life. may be restored.
The very thought of another war is
abhorrent to a nation whose exist
ence has been imperiled. not alone
or chiefly during and by hostilities,
but by the aftermath. by the conse-
Quences of the struggle. And every
thoughtful Englishman realizes that
. nav war in Europe in any present
time, whether Britain fought or not.
would be well nigh fatal to Britain's
existence, by reason of the inevitable
reduction of the purchasing power of
the world.
Thus, ever since the peace con-
ference we have seen all the efforts of
British craftsmanship directed toward
tl1ea restoration of peace In Europe,
but 80 far these efforts have enjoyed