Evening star., 1928-12-31
TEN YEARS REQUIRED
REGAIN POISE ABROAD
Foreign Nations Are Now About Where
United States Found Herself
i'm 1920.

and pressure could always be brought on
France and French policy by friends
and foes alike, by the simple process OF
attacking or threatening that weak
point France having accomplished the
prodigiouS feat of placing the franc
firmly on a gold basis, and without any
considerable foreign assistance, there
remains no important country in Europe
with speculative currency. and that is
a fact that makes the difference OF
night and day between the Europe Of,
say. 1923, and the Europe of today.
The adoption by the principal nations
of the kellogg anti-aggreSsion pact was
the greatest diplomatic event OF the
year. That pact does not, to be sure,
outlaw" war. nor even attempt &C
tually to insure universal peace. But it
is a prominent factor in the worlds
struggle toward tranquility and pros
perity, because it is the expression of
state of sentiment That the nations
of the world only 10 years after the
most violent war in history, can be
moved to make such declaration and
to reveal such sentiment is remark
ably significant thing. 1t could. not
have happened five years ago-nor even
two years ago.
Even Russia was moved to join in
that manifesto. the first important ges-
ture of solidarity with the rest of the
world that the Sovicts have made since
they came into power. 1t opens the
creaking door to Russian trade an inch
wider for the nations of Europe as well
as for the United. States, and strength
ems the chances that, in spite of differ
enU political and economic ideals,
working basis for normal commercial
and financial relations with Russia can
be developed.
The Naval Disagreement.
| The chief disappointment of the year
was the failure of the principal naval
powers-the United States, Great Brit
ain and Japan-tO come to an agree
ment on the limitation of naval arma-
ments below the capital ship class. That
| failure appears to destroy the hope OF
reducing naval budgets, and hence the
| hoped-for benefits Of the Washington
naval agreement largely disappear. II
man promises to give us whisky, and
| then promptly takes 10 gin, his wife and
| dependents may well say they have
reaped little benefit from the pledge;
and SO the agreement to limit the build
| ing of battleShipS will do nations but
| little good, if the money thus saved is to
| be spent on cruisers and submarines.
1t is particularly regrettable that adj
vantage cannot be taken of the present
opportunity to nip naval armaments
competition in the bud. No continental
nation at present has a considerable
navy But as their financial conditions
/ improve, they will all slump back into
| the custom of spending all they can
afford on warships. France, a few
years fore the war, had the second
largest navy in the world. Germany
went ahead of her several years later
and subsequently the United States
| captured the position of chief sea rival
| Of the British Empire. A building race
between France and Italy is impending
and nothing but a general limitation
agreement seems likely to prevent those
| two nations from running themselves
in an orgy of submarine and cruiser
construction. Germany is watching
| her chance to get back into the swim
| also.
| When these three powers have got
well started on their programs, when
their Shipyards are rebuilt, re-equipped
| and working on full time, it will be
| much harder to check the evil than
| it is today.
Reparations Problem.
| Experts are now at work again en-
| deavoring to settle the great repara-
! tions problem once and for all. If they
| succeed-and the principal govern
mentS concerned are determined that
they shall-the last trace of the finan-
cial havoc of the war will disappear in
| about 20 years-that is to say, so far
! as relations between European coun-
tries are concerned.
| What may be left over-the last ac-
| count to be balanced-iS the debt of
Europe to the United States.
1t will seem anomalous that the
| United States, the first power to shake
OF the lettering war pSychosis," the
first power to get back to normally
and to wipe out its grievances against
| the common enemy, should be the last
/ TO close ITS books and write "Finis" to
the financial chapter of the wars his
! tory.
| The rights and wrongs of the debt
question have been sufficiently dis
cusSed. What Europe finds hard to
understand is that America should say,
apropoS OF reparationS: Quit wranglina
about who is right and who is wrong;
| forget impossible demands and prom
iseS: agree on quick and practical
settlement and wipe your slate clean"
But when 1t comes to the debt queS-
| ton. in which America is the only ulti-
mate creditor. the attitude, according
to the European view, changes; the
rights and wrongs of the matter. re-
gardleSs of practically, become para
mount.
These payments are made now, and
Will doubtless continue to be made, with
American money loaned to European
industry. The original public debt is
being transformed into a multitude or
private debts, which in 81 years will
reach staggering proportions. Some
uneasiness may be felt at the prospect
OF having 50 large slice of Americas
capital invested abroad
(Copyrieht. 1921