Intermountain Jewish news., 1926-01-07
BY ]. LEFTwICH

lett.
BY ]. LEFTWICH
The trouble about the minorities
problem Is That you cannot fix your
frontiers anywhere In Europe without
putting n minority or several minor.
tiles under the rule of one OF the
other peoples. more or less the major
ity. within the said frontiers. No mat
ter which of the peoples you select
create host OF grievances. Give the
rule to the Poles and you get an Uk-
rninian problem. Give 1t to the Tx
rainians and you get a Polish prob
lem. Give wilma to the Lithua mans
and the Poles won't rest until they
seize 1t by force. Include Transylvs-
mia because of its big RoumanIan ropu-
lation in New Roumania and you get n
Hungarian problem.
And in many places YOU get not one
minority, but several-ns In Lithuania.
where you get Poles, Russians and Ger.
mans; and in Poland. Lithuaninns.
White Russians and Ukrainians. And
everywhere the Jews. detested and
courted in turn, according as they
adept an irreconcilable attitude to-
wards the government in common with
the other minorities or attempt to live
at peace with 1t
The whole minorities problem brings
one mp against what is surely the
greatest tragedy of all, that of the
really. well-meaning person whose aim
Is to do good and whose every well-in-
tentioncd move brings something heavy
and crushing topping down ON the
head of one of his proteges Self-deter-
mination for all peoples, the right TO
let every nationality. however small.
live its own life regulate its own af.
fairs according TO its own very laud-
ably expressed ideals-how it all set
aiire the heart of the idcalst seeking
for new heaven and new earth to
give him some justification for the
cruel waste and the hell of the war.
And the result-''new frontiers. pass.
port regulations. tariff walls. racial ami.
mosities md standing armies which
have Balkanised a large part of Eu.
rope" as Sir Philip Gibbs comments
his introduction to Mr.. Vernon Bart.
let's book. THE Brighter Side of Eu
ropean Chaos" Heath Cranton. Ltd.
London.
1t is net misleading title, If things
that make you laugh are really to be
classed as bright. For the book does
make you laugh. though with wr!
face at the incongruities of what oui
Peace has created. Mr.. Bartlett hold.
up our Europe and our Peace as q
laughing stock; perhaps he thinks h,
will by ridicule shame us where witt
scorn he would only have angered. No
that Mr.. Bartlett could not hav,
raged-he tells us himself that he ha,
eschewed politics, partly because OF hi'
private opinions on the political mo
tivcs Which guide aftcr-war Europe ar,
unprintablc. And in the few scathn,
lines Of his introduction he can tell IN
of the starvation of hundreds cf thou
sands of people IN Russia. which prob
ably affected the average Englishmur
land America, less tilnn the illness q
n dog. For Russia j. hundreds %
miles AWAY. nnd his dog l. in n kcnnc
in his garden or in II basket far cioscl
TO the fire than is good for it."
Professors in Europe" he tells us
are paid less than luborcrs. aud com
posers exc out n prccarious living h,
playing in cafe urchcslr,s. The trag
cdy of Europe Is that there is nothin:
sufficiently sensational about its fadin;
away to arouse public opinion
Mr.. Bartlett travelling over the Con
tment as journalist has seen til,
Peace at work. To quote Sir Phii,
Gibbs again, his story of smuggling
typewriter tells us more about the diff
ticulties Of European trade than al
] oultlul report on lnteT1flllonhl com
mercc. 4 little anecdote about som,
Bolsheyiks who tried TO barter golt
watches for some scraps of food in t
German prison camp pulls the curtain
inside from one Of those scenes of mis-
cry which have not been recorded IL
official histories. The detail of III,
springs on German bicycle wheel does
not seem very important. except Il
those who eau see that it WAS one rca
son for the German collapse. owing I,
the lack of rubber and the brcakd' vi
Of their whole machinery of life be
cause of the British blockade which
/ stopped their import OF raw material
| 1t is illuminating as well us amusing
] that when he called on AN Itnliun dep
/ uty-onc of the Fncisti-and put his
hand to his bip-pocket to get his card
case he found himself covered by re-