San Antonio light. [volume] (San Antonio, Tex.) 1911-1993, 1925-10-23

r OCARNO has reformed the European rules of the
il game.
The last pretentious of all the conferences
that have followed in the wake of the grandioQuen
| at Versailles mas done the most.
Versailles, with its league of nations protested to
outlaw But it such fanciful and hypocrtical
thing that nobody believed in it. Locarno, where re-
sponsble statesmen sat undsurbed by dreams of per-
sonal Immortality has worked out system of definite
easily enforced individual pledges among the nations.
By such device it, too, hasas far any gentlemens
agreement can-outlawed And for the first time
such is enlisting public credence and public
support.
1t is reform of the rules, it should be noted car
ried out without meddlng from America That is as it
should be.
Great as the step is it is nothing more than re-
American football when the Flying wedge was legis-
lated off the gridiron. This should be remembered
carefully when those who would drag America into
European entanglemen point Locarno and its results
as the ending of European rivalries.
The game will still be played One nation will seek
to off another. And though the of the flying
wedge of war will met with condign punishment under
he terms of the treaties agreed to- other devices of the
game under the reformed rules will surely be employed
This is true because Europe's lines of nationality,
lines craven deep in the unchanging hearts of
well as the changing map, established in the
days before mechanical transport Americas national
boundaries grew with the railroads, whether by the
grace of God or by American genius matters little.
The result is that we, here in America, find our
selves happily in economic unit which is likewise
national unit You sell Texas citrus in Washing
ton market without crossing single tariff frontier,
without changing penny of foreign money, without
ransating single commercial document You can sell
New York securities in Walla Walla Wash, without
arousing for moment the fear that you may have to
call out western army to collect an eastern debt
In Europe thousands of customs guards earn their
salaries by mantning national rights at borders that
have no place in any modern economic scheme For in
this day and age Europe is just much economic
whole is the United States, but an economic whole
crossed and harried by these deep and ineradicabe
boundaries of national feeling and passion.
That is the deep, underlying reason why the United
States should not try to play the European game 1t is
not the game Of the United States
We can applaud disinterestedy but heartily the de-
cisons taken at Locarno
We can hope disinterestedly but heartily that they
will be followed out logically.
The logical result is disarmament and devotion of
the still vast Of Europe to production rather
than to destruction
These results outweigh any temporary considera-
tons the settlement Of the Rhine spot over the
admission Of Germany into the EUROPEAN league Of
nations, the reinsurance the treaties will bring
France the effect they may have Russia the
lone nation now out of the comfy Of EUROPEAN
nations.
If these results are garnered, Locarno will be a
greater name than Versailles and all its kin.