Evening star., 1926-11-14

leisure of the return voyage
the impressions of the last
~ eight weeks spent in four Euro
pean countries and, in reality,
the impressions of 90 weeks in Europe
during the current year, one 1act
stands out with almost startling clar-
ity. That Is the extent to which there
is becoming manifest something Which
one might perhaps describe Vagueiy
as a European sentiment.
The war and the postwar periods
have been times of intense divisions
between nations and races, between
the nations and races which have IN
the main dominated Europe and, IN
deed, the world, aside from the Amer
icas, for long centuries. We have be-
come accustomed to thinking of Eu-
rope as divided by frontiers almost as
! formidable as the oceans themselves.
We have become accustomed TO tnlhK
i of secular hatredS and present as wen
as past grievances as constituting
permanent barrier to anything even
remotely suggesting any form OF real
European combination or even coop
Grafton.
And vet, nothing is more impressive
| than the extent to which in western
and central Europe, in France, Ger
many, Belgium, Holland, Austria ano
| all three of the Scandinavian coun-
tries, as we'll as in Switzerland, IDEAS
! which must be described as European
are being voiced and are obtaining a
wider and wider hearing. Ana II .1e
British situation is somewhat ulIIer
ent, as a consequence or the lhsular
| fact and tradition, Britain herSell Is
| being driven more and more 10 Iec-
ogniZe the fact that she is in Europe
;1
continental affairs.
War Was Disaster to AL.
At the bottom of this European sem
timent is the clear perception py
every belligerent in the war that II
| was a common disaster, which, II re-
! peated, would mean common rum.
| Indeed, one may go further ana say
quite accurately that there Is a very
| Considerable body of opinion In all
| countries which holds that the war
was so much a complete disaster that
| Europe collectively will never recover
uhet if had in 1914 and lost In the
next years. a.
| In 1919. when peace was MADE II
was made on the basis or the results
| of the war and the word and the IDEAS
! of victory were still very definite IN
| the minds Of the nations when IN
combination had defeated GERMANY.
And the idea Of defeat became clearer
and clearer in the minds OF the Ger
man people themselves, as the treaty
of Versailles laid bare the brutal 1acts
of their helplessness and or tne III
o,,i+ah1a sacrifices demanded of them.
| DIT seven wears after the treaty,
who is there that can be sure that
there exists any discoverable evidence
of victory on the one side or de1eat
on the other? 1t is true that Germany
| has lost much territory, that she Is
| called upon to make reparat1onS pay
ments and that her territory is st1il
occupied by allied troops. But Wnat
of the yictors, what of France in a
desperate struggle to preserve even
minor fraction Of the value or her
currency. or of Britain enduring the
greatest Industrial conflict or her MS
tory and paying for her victory at
home and abroad?
Europe Turns to Future.
The emotions of the war have passed
and left the world cold. The victories,
the achievements, the brilliant and the
moving circumstances of the conflict
are history and are becoming forgot
ten history. You cannot be in Europe
anv length of time without realizing
| that the war is no longer news, that
| it is no longer politics, that 1t survives
onlv by reason Of it's ruins. Europe
| is not thinking of how to renew the
struggle, but Of how to recover from
1t. If the war was madness, collective
madness, Europe is sane today.
| On the morrow of the victory the
nations which won were all agreed as
! to the necessity of preserving the VIC
tory, it was believed to have brought
| power, reparations, new prosperity.
France had recovered her ancient po-
sition as the great continental state
and Britain had eliminated the single
rival to her naval and commercial su-
premacy. But do not think 1t is an
exaggeration to say that not one sim
i gle incidental material profit of all
| that was expected has arrived.
! Chronologically and practically, the
end of the illusion of victory was, l
! believe, the occupation of the Ruhr
and the consequent events. That
was the last stage in the disintegra-
| ton and division of Europe. 1t was
! the final convulsion Of the war itself.
It was. also, the beginning of the
| new Europe. It was this, because 1t
demonstrated beyond all argument
that a divided Europe could ruin
itself, but in a divided Europe no
| force was adequate to advantage any
nation.
! Move Toward Combination.
! We have Travelled an enormous
| distance since 1928 and the Ruhr and
we have arrived today at the point
where Locarno and Thoiry are al
ready things of the past. French iron
and German coal have, with the in
clusion of Belgian and Luxembourg
ores, made fast combination. From
| one end of the continent to the other
impossible tariff walls are beginning
| to crumble and there Is heard the
suggestion of the removal Of the
walls themselves. Almost every days
news reports some new manifesto
| ton of the tendency of Europe to
| combine.
The tendency in our own country,
viewing what seems from the outside
and superficially not only to be a
revolution, but to constitute moral
revolution, is to interpret the change
in terms of the spirit, to accept such
| things as "the spirit of Locarno"
and "the atmosphere of Geneva" as
| final evidence that Europe has laid
aside old habits and old methods.
But, unfortunately, this tendency is
again and again checked by some
such failure, as the recent disarma-
ment conference. Just at the mo-
ment when the American Is at last
ready to accept the fact Of a new
Europe, he finds himself suddenly
| face to face with something which
is, to say the least. characteristic Of
| the old.
The difficulty, Of course, lies in
| trying to give an American inter-
pretation to European facts, whether
| they be of peace or of war. What
has happened in Europe Is very far
| from a moral revolution; nobody is
repenting former sins or conceding