Evening star., 1932-06-26


prove for the future historian the most
Illuminating single detail Of contem-
porary history. Recent years have seen
an ever-increasing number Of these in
ternational gatherings, and between
this number and the rate of economic,
financial and political decline in
Europe the relation has been constant.
Why, then, Goes the craftsmanship
of the world insist upon applying to
present evils that remedy which has
with such monotonous regularity failed
to work? The answer, Of course, is
that there is nothing else that the
craftsmanship of the world can do.
Until the various peoples are prepared
to permit their governments to modify
national policies and coordinate ma
tional interests with those Of the rest
of the world there is nothing that
can be done in domestic affairs 10
improve conditions.
The present crisis in the world is
purely international. The causes which
have produced it lie outside of the
frontiers of any one nation. 1t has
been induced by war and by the at
tending complications of debts, repa-
rations, loans and tariffs on the eco
nomic size, and of territorial, military
and naval issues on the political. The
reason the statesmen of Europe &c
trooping from one conference to
another, committing between Geneva
and their respective capitals, is double.
They can do nothing at home and
they fear the moral effect Of a confes-
sion that they are helpless.
The journalist who attends the vari-
Gus conferences discovers promptly
that the statesmen he meets there
have not the smallest real hope Of &C
complishing anything. They are all
perfectly well aware that the state of
public opinion back home forbids them
to take any steps abroad which might
lead to cooperation through COM
promise. They know that they must
continue to repeat in each others faces
the national theses, which are irrecon-
cilable. They are satisfied that as long
as France insists upon security by in
ternational guarantee, Germany upon
equality in armament and territorial re-
vision, Italy upon military and naval
parity with France there can be no
progress in a disarmament conference
Hindrance to Progress.
They are equally well aware that Sc
long as Germany refuses all further
reparations payments, the United States
! rejects all proposals of debt cancella-
ton or reduction, France insists upon
keeping up the fiction of German liza
bility as long as the United States
sticks to its debt policy there is not
going to be any progress in any
economic conference. Successful con-
ferences. whether concerned with dis
armament or economic and financial
questions, can succeed only when the
representatives of the several nations
| concerned are in a position and their
peoples in a mood to compromise.
But today the politicians Of the
,, United States are satisfied that their
assent to any modification Of the debt
settlements would spell their ruin.
Those OF Germany know that to agree
to future payments or consent to pres
ent abandonment of agitation for terri
torial revision would mean political dis
aster and not impoSsibly physical death.
Those Of France realize that, with a
militarist-j -junker control in Germany, to
consent to reduction Of armamentS un-
accompanied by new guarantees of Sc
curity would be suicide.
From the European point Of view it
Is just as silly to undertake an eco
nomlc conference with the questions of
debts and tariffs taboo as it is from the
American point Of view to preface the
0NAA'SAOAA Va WOAA0 RCdIC 09 CoLdD1ASIl-
ing an international army to wage war
against a nation guilty Of aggression.
And 1t Is equally plain that until the
American people are willing to talk
debts and the French to discuss dis
armament on practical basis, confer
enceS on economic or armament queS-
tlonS can produce only deadlocks.
Nevertheless the peoples of the several
countries must not be left with the i'm
preston that the politicians are help
less. These politicians can, in fact, do
nothing, but they must in appearance
always seem to be going somewhere and
doing something
What is actually happening is that,
despite all their show Of industry, the
politicians of the various nations are in
reality just waiting until the things
which they can't prevent do happen
and their publics reconcile themselves
to the resulting situation. Reparations
is good example of this process. All
the allied publics are now perfectly well
aware Germany will never pay another
pfennig. When the Young plan was
made they still believed payments Of
half billion dollars a year could be
exacted for two generations. All the
allied publics are now asking of their
statesmen Is to hang on to the legal
claim against Germany until they can
get rid of the American mortgage.
U. S. Cannot Collect.
One day the American public, in its
turn, is going to wake up to the fact
that it cannot collect the war debts. 1t
is going to become just as satisfied that
the allies of the war will not continue
the present arrangement as the allied
publics are now convinced Germany Is
done with reparations. When this mo-
ment arrives an international confer
ence can and will assemble and take
note of the accomplished fact. The de-
f1ation Of reparations and of debts will
have been completed.
The difficulty which confronts the
statesman is that he can't tell the pub
lie what he knows in these matters
until the public is ready to listen to
him. The evil of the situation arises
from the fact that the politician feels
compelled to tell the public what he be-
lieves it desires him to say irrespective
of the facts, and thus prolongS the
agony. There never was any other es-
cape from the reparatlons mess except
the bankruptcy of Germany. because
only when they saw with their own
eyes that Germany could not pay would
the allied publics accept the fact
1ucL6 VIII ucfeT Uc any 6tlu W IA4C
debt problem until the European states
quite unequivocally tell the American
people they will not continue. They
may pluck up the courage to do it this
Fall; they may temporiZe by announcing
their momentary inability when the
date for the December installmentS
comes round. But until the American
people perceive that they are not going
to get any more money they will not
agree to go to conference and consent
to the wiping out OF the bad debts all
around.
At present their is an enormous agi-
tation going on all over the world for
a speedy elimination of reparations and
debt obligations as the one necessary
antecedent step to world recovery. IN
questionably there would be a vast
gain. But the trouble is that such a
course is politically impossible. Democ-
raeies don't function that way: poll
ticians can't indulge In such enlightened