Evening star., 1927-09-18
FAILURE OF PEACE PLANS
is HELD BLOW TO LEAGUE
Disarmament Problem Still Stares Ce-
neva Assembly in Face as European
Criticism Grows Keener.

in fact. has tended to increase the
bulk of these same obstacles.
Thus at the preparatory conference
on disarmament no possible formula
could be found to reconcile the de
vergent views Of the aeveral peoples.
While the British refused to under.
take new responsibilities to maintain
the security of peoples whose for
tunes were not linked with Britain's,
the Continental peoples declined to
lay aside physical weapons of defense
until they had received effective guar
antees of security.
European Opinion Divided.
Moreover, the fact was once more
emphasized that Europe remains di-
vided between races and peoples who
insist that peace shall be predicated
upon the preservation Of things as
they are and those who insist that
the only road to peace is revision
of the frontiers created by the war.
Thus if the German people are will.
ing to renounce Alsace-Lorraine, they
unanimously demand the return OF
Danzig. West Prussia. Silesia and
parts of Posen. to retain which $780,.
900 Poles are prepared to fight to the
death.
Similar sentiments divide Magyars.
Czechs and Rumanians, Serbs and
Bulgarians. Poles and Lithuanians,
while the aims of the southern Slavs
and the Italians are in violent COLL.
sion in Albania. Finally, the disin.
tegration of Austria increasingly inn
perils the whole central European
system.
And in this situation, what has the
League done? What can it do? In
the first place, it attempted a general
treaty of mutual assistance. All men,
Der nations were to pledge themselves
to defend any member wantonly
attacked. But Britain was not pre-
pared to send troops to the Dneister
nor ships to the Baltic to defend
Polish or Rumanian frontiers and re-
jected it. The protocol was an even
more elaborate experiment in the
same direction, which also failed be.
cause of British action.
In the arms conference no progress
could be made because each people
inevitably discussed limitation in
terms of it's necessities in the event
of another war. No people Is suffi-
ciently convinced of the efficacy OF
any convention to agree to limitations
which would compromise it's power Of
self-defense in case of aggression.
But when the various national views
of self-defense and the machinery
necessary for this were set side by
side, not disarmament but increased
armament was foreshadowed.
On the heels of this failure came
that Of the naval conference. Great
Britain and the United States have
been at peace for over a century.
Neither has the smallest sense Of
perils coming from the other. And
yet these two peoples were totally
unable to find a basis for reconciling
their. naval strength within limits
which might make for reduction. Over
the preposterously insignificant ques-
ton of the caliber of the guns on q
few cruisers the whole conference col
lapsed.
Not only did it collapse, but in the
manner of its ending was contained
the promise of later competitive arma-
ment The idea that the United
States should have more 10,000-ton
cruisers than Britain, or that smaller
American cruisers should mount
larger guns, was so intOlerable in the
eyes of those charged with the de.
tense of British security that rupture
was deemed preferable. But even a
preliminary discussion Of limitation
led actually to q prospectus Of ex.
pansion.
designations Recalled.
After this failure came the resigna-
ton of De Jouvenal and Lord Robert
Cecil, men who in their own national
delegations had been recognized as
eager advocates of the League. Both
too, reproached their own colleagues
and governments with having no con.
Germ with the League or for the larger
views of international conciliation.
~s-~l-A
after the end of the World War, to
what amounts to deadlock in an
attempt to find some methods of pre-
venting catastrophe. The League has
tried and failed, and shows no real
disposition to make new and ambi-
tiOus efforts which may end in fresh
failures even more fatal to League
prestige. National governments dis
close themselves as unable or unwill.
ing to make new concessions. The
League and the idea of the League
which is more impOrtant-have come
to a complete standstill.
Such, too, was the atmosphere IN
which the League assembly opened
Twenty foreign ministers, literally
hundreds of officials, high and low,
Of countries belonging to every CONT.
nent, were gathered here. But over
all rested the shadow of impotence.
Some nations demanded fresh guaran-
tees of their security, others clam
ored for revision of their frontiers
at the expense of their neighbors
And in the minds of all there en-
tered or returned the deadly sus-
picion that perhaps. after all, the
League could do nothing to prevent the
new Europe, like the old. from resting
under the immemorial curse of recur-
ring conflict and inescapable calami.
lies. Thus there were not lacking a
sense of despair and note Of tragedy.
tCopyright. 1927