Evening star., 1925-03-19
LEAGUE HARD HIT
BY BRITISH ACTION
Rejection of Protocol Proves
Serious BiOW-PoIand
Cast as Martyr.
BY FRANK III. SIMONDS.

By Gable TO The Star
BERLIN. March 19.-The rejection
of the protocol by Great Britain,
which constituted the outstanding in
cident of the Geneva conference. is
the heaviest blow which has bee
struck at the League of Nations since
the United States refused to ratify
the treaty of Versailles and become a
member The extent of the disaster
is further indicated by the fact that
British policy has sought and is seek
ing some arrangement outside the
league between the great powers as
a guarantee, of European peace.
An inevitable consequence of the
rejection of the protocol which rep
resented the views of the continental
nations must he a temporary cool
ness between Britain and the various
smaller nations, such as Poland.
Czechoslovakia Rumania. JugoslaVia,
whose positions are anew compro-
missed, and not improbably strength
ening of the tie binding them with
France. whose policy and military
strength now constitute the only
"oIid guarantee for these smaller
states. The eventual collapse of the
British effort to arrive at some ar
rangement between France and Ger
many, some five-poWer pact which
west as laid down by the treaty of
Versailles. now seems equally inev-
table, although British diplomacy on
the continent still remains optimistic
and insists the right way to peace
has been opened and must in the end
be followed.
Propose Polish Sacrifices.
In pursuance of this objective of
western settlement, the British have
influenced the Germans to make
rather far-reaching proposals. which,
as unofficially discussed in the. Ger
man press, amount to voluntary
remuneration of all claim to Alsace-
Lorraine. Secret proposals of the
same sort have undoubtedly been
made Unofficially by Foreign Minister
Stresemann both at London and Paris.
But the basic principle of the Brit
ish conception, which has been adopt
ed by the Germans. is that in return
for German acceptance IS final of the
frontiers in the west she should be
permitted 10 look forward to an ulti-
mate readjustment in her favor of
her eastern frontiers. which means
she could expect to regain the Polish
corridor and the city of Danzig
Poland would thus be called upon
to pay the price of readjustment only
by arbitration through the league,
but this does not disguise the fact
that Polish sacrifices are proposed.
Faced with this danger, Poland ap-
pealed TO France on the basis of a
Franco-Polish alliance. France has
responded unequivocally. France,
standing with her Polish Czech allies.
demands that Germany shall accept
both the eastern and western from
tiers as final. I was at Warsaw in
the critical days when the Polish ap-
peal to Paris was presented and can
testify to the unanimity of the de-
termination of all Poles.
France Opposes Plan.
The weakness of the whole British
scheme for settlement lies in the fact
that 1t presupposes placating Ger
many by the ceSsions of Polish terri
tory; there is no way except by force
TO compel Poland to give up territory.
Nor is there any force save German
to compel Poland. But France can
not and will not consider the present
and future possibility of an increase
IN German military strength to pro-
portions necessary to dispose of Po-
fand, because that strength might
eventually be used a against France.
Two squarely opposite policies for
european settlement are now brought
into collision-the British for partial
acceptance, partial revision of the
German frontiers, a conception which
mas been the British view steadily
since 1920, and the French conception
that the whole Versailles decision
must be accepted integrally Ger
many, for her part, has indicated a
readiness to adopt the British view,
which would insure the French from
tiers, but demolish the Polish.
British Position Weakened.
The action of the British in reject
ing the protocol at Geneva weakens
the British position by depriving it
of the support of the smaller nations
which saw in the protocol their real
guarantee of security; it STRENGTHENS
the French position by consolidating
relations between France and the
smaller nations, but it leaves the
whole European situation even more
tangled than before
In a word, the British in rejecting
the protocol rejected the continental
conception of general settlement; now
almost infallibly the continent ia
going to reject the British because
once the principle of territorial re-
vision is established, all the success
sion states are threatened with equal
Iy pressing claims by their neighbors
In the meantime German readiness
70 resign Alsace Lorraine as finally
lost is the outstanding circumstance
which cannot but continue to excite
comment.
After Geneva, there is now assured
whole Summer of important con-
tinuous negotiations, with not i'm
possible several conferences; but in
the meantime the whole subject of
disarmament goes by the board with
the protocol; it cannot be reached
until the matter of security is finally
disposed of. In reality everything
goes over to the September meeting
of the league, which may be decisive
for the league itself, shaken in its
prestige by recent events.
Copyright, 1925, by the Mcclure Newspaper
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