Evening star., 1925-11-23
Europe Seeking to Abolish War
BY Getting at Primal Causes

the parties in interest who might so
to war.
That is what Locarno means. All
the guarantees and other cirCum
stances are relatively unimportant:
what counts is that Stresemann and
Luther on one side and BRAND on the
other have been able to sit down and
find a basis of adjustment between
the two countries not intolerable to
either. The League of Nations, fol
lowing the treaty Of Versailles, would
have condemned Germany under pen
atty Of collective punishment from
the member nations TO keep the peace
without regard to her own conception
OF the treaty. LOCarnO represents
an agreement between Germany and
France on situation, and the guar
anteeS follow the voluntary aCCep-
tance by Germany and by France.
AlSaCe-Lorraine was a cause of war
Just as long as it was held by Ger
many. 1t might have been cause
of war if held by France. In either
case inhibition of war was a futile
operation, because one nation would
rather fight than resign, the other
was prepared to fight TO acquire. All
turned on whether the possession of
Alsace-Lorraine by France could be
endured by Germany. and if So on
what conditions. At Locarno the con-
ditions were discovered
10 outlaw war while failing to re-
move those causes of war which are
so strong that a whole nation regards
the act of prohibiting war as unjust
and immoral is futile. While twenty
millions of Poles were subject to three
AMEN tyrannies, no international dec
laratlon against war could have any
Polish value. because it condemned
the Poles to eternal slavery What
Europe is trying to do is to strike
at the cause of war, knowing that as
they are eliminated prohibition of
war becomes unnecessary or aca-
demic.
Europe has discovered Just as
clearly as Senator Borah, although in
totally different way. that the
league cannot keep world peace. 1t
can administer state of peace so
long as all concerned are ready to
submit the situation to peaceful
means or while the great powers are
sufficiently united to give to the
league the power and prestige of
their support. That is why the re-
cent Greco Bulgarian mess had no
serious consequences and the league
functioned admirably. But, conversely.
1t is why the league failed half a
dozen times.
"A peaceful Europe, and that is
what we have now, is, with utmost
caution and deiiberation, knowing the
past difficulties caused by undue
haste, seeking to approach the prob
lem OF peace by the elimination of
the causes of conflict which exist and
cannot be abolished by any paper fiat
against war. One day, perhaps. in
the distant future, when the several
European states have accepted an
adjustment of their present griev-
ances, 1T may be possible to bring all
TO a joyful common resignation of
war but in reality such a resignation
VIII be no more than the acknowl-
edgment that causes for war have
been eliminated
AS long as this is a major griev-
ance in Europe, affecting any people
big or little, dividing two nations, a
prohibition Of war is as futile as
congressional law against typhoid
You have to attack not the symptoms
of the disease but the sources of con-
tagion-and war is no more than a
symptom of a disease. Mr. Wilson
wanted to arrive at peace by a sud-
den spiritual regeneration, Europe is
striving to arrive at peace by a