Evening star., 1926-05-30

EUROPE QlV1Q0Q into groups or powers,
| bound by secret alliances and aiming
at vast international accomplishments
Of a more or less predatory character.
Much less is It Europe in which
strong men at the head Of powerful
states are publicly or privately en-.
cheering great nationalistic opera
tions. On the contrary there is, out
side Of Britain and Italy, no cabinet.
no government which Is sure from day
to day whether it will stay in power
or whence will come the votes to
enable 1t to carry out even the most
routine Of governmental tasks. There
characteristic than the constant shut
fling Of ministries and changing of
ministers, whether in Paris or Prague
Cabinets are living from hand to
mouth, able to subsist, If at all, only
by avoiding real decisions and evad-
ing necessary actions. All the old in
ternational bitternesses survive to a
degree, but all tend steadily to become
secondary by contrast with the do
mestic resentments and passions born
of governmental failures.
And the gulf between the present
day Europe and America is almost in
conceivable. Prosperous, with an un-
equaled standard Of living, with work
for all, with no profound breach be-
tween labor and capital, with no do
nestle problem Of even headline i'm
portance, with no evidence Of any ma.
tional discomfort and no sign of the
breakdown of our political machine we
are looking at q Europe which Is the
antithesis in all these respects.
Again, we are talking about and to
this Europe-which feels vaguely. but
almost unanimously. that it's whole
scheme of things has broken down.
which is concentrating all its atten-
ton upon domestic questions-as II 1t
were the Europe which went to the
war, fought the war and made the
this Europe for cherishing purposes
and carrying on operations which
must make a new war as bad as the
old, and with doing these things de-
liberately.
General View OF u. 8.
And when we are not lecturing this
IMAGINARY Europe upon the sins OF q
mast Europe, we are admonishing 1t
In the matter Of it's debt to us. The
collection always goes with the SER
mon, and the contribution is not voiun.
tary. AS q result Europe from Lands
End to the Golden Horn resents us,
dislikes us and is with unmistakable
steps coming to have a common Eu.
ropean view Of us. More and more all
European peoples are coming to hoid
,,s responsible for the worst OF their
economic difficulties and for the least
tolerable of their peace grievances.
Thus the two outstanding circum'
stances of Europe today are, nrst, the
almost complete replacing OF interna-
tional problems by domestic, ana. sec,
ond. the equally rapid development OF
a common European dislike and worse
Of the United States. If believed FOR
a moment that the debt settlements
which have been made would last.
would be carried out even for a de-
cade. I should regard this Europe
Wide feeling with real alarm. But one
does not long remain In Europe anu
cherish any such illusion.
Europe regards the DEBT set.le-
ments as blood money. as Shylock's
hond which In this case must be
s;cned because on no other terms can
American loans be obtained. But
have never yet found a European,
who believed that In 1860 or even In
104O debt payments would be coming
to us still from the other side OF the
Atlantic.
Don't Want u. 8. In League.
Nor did I gather that there sur.
wives any general or considerable
desire among Europeans for our
return to active participation In Eu-
ropean affairs either through the
League or otherwise.
Absorbed in its own terrific prob
lens. struggling with its own tre-
mendous burdens, Europe feels that
America Is ready to do but two things:
to offer advice; which is inevitably
accompanied by indictment. and to
demand cash. Moreover, from the
European point Of view. this advice,
this constant stream Of declamatory
exhortation seems based upon notions
devoid of the smallest semblance Of
accuracy and rather the product OF
malice than Of good will.
whether, however. one believes
that Europe is in evolution or revolu.
ton. it seems to me abundantly clear
that one must recognize the fact that
Europe Is passing or has passed from
one period to another and that issues
and problems of 1925 are vastly differ
ent from those of 1914 or 1918. More
over. If the differences between the
Europe and America Of 1914 were
enormous those between the America
and Europe of 1926 are incalculable.
tCopyright. 1920.l