The Washington times., 1932-08-20
A Friendly Error

y FrIendIy error
Anyone who has experienced ntermission in
French theater knows how much of sneer is con-
tanned in that word 'entr acte" and anyone who
has watched Europe going back to her bad t oId
ways knows what "serous business Is meant.
The hostility is definite and the mlsund derstandlng OF
American motives is complete. But before going into
that let me cite the other form of misunderstanding
which is based active frierdliness toward u.s. In
A. E. Orages New English Weekly the editor posi-
lively mocks British opinion for not understanding Mr.
Hoover; he shows how natural it is for Americans
to insist that there can be scaling down of
debts long think that the money surrender
will be used for armament; And then he says that
America does not care to finance Europe so long as
EurOpes purpose is to arm against America
7 90 Clever For Us
Mr. Orage has clear mind; Mr.. Orage has Europe
at work and hasn't always liked it, Mr.. Orage may be
right in thinking that Europe unit must, sometime
in the future defeat America Yet Mr.. Orage is,
sure, wrong in assuming that we want Europe to dsarm
because afraid that Europe will make
We aren't nearly sophisticated enough to arrive at that
concusion aren't wise enough With all due respect,
axen Euopeanized enough to have thought that out
for ourselves We are, let say stupid that not
out of hundred thousand among have thought of
the whole of Europe combining to make military and
naval against We have just thought far enough
to be painfully of economic war; not believing,
after all these years. that economic warfare may lead 10
actual
The Old Skeptics
Neither the French nor the British for moment
believe that want disarmament because dislike
The French resent ideas because they do not
to accept dictation from anyone especially anyone to
whom they owe money The British accept ideas,
far they do accept the because they fall in with the
British political scheme and the temporary economic
needs of their country does not to them that
may have hidden objective that actually think
it would be good thing for the whole world to spend
less tanks and bombers and submarines Omit for the
all thought of diplomats and imagine yourself
asking 50000O00 Americans why they would like the
world to dsarm. think that supremacy in pacific
world safety in half-armed world would be the
last answers you would get The first would be
pure ideaism not that that ideasm is ntell-
gent it may be downright foosh but it is not hypo-
critical.
"Serious Business"
Mr. Orage is profound nationalist by intellectual
vctiOn The French natiOnaists by tradition and
habit which important. The French know what
the serious business of international conferences really
is. They know that you must throw sop to pacitlss
by declaring that civilians shall be killed more than
in and all soldiers shall be killed by the
rect weapons. They know that economic conferences
must not discuss fundamental economic problems and
that all the principal powers must return from confer
with something which looks good paper They
know that the Soviet proposal to disarm by the simple
process of disarming and the American proposal to
duce ornaments by the equally simple process of spend
ing one-third less money them inadmisslbe
We understand them little they understand us.
Their argument against is unfortunately strong If
going to be anti-imperiaist had better do
something about certain South and Central American
states. If want friendship, might do something
about tariff Like all powerful capitalist nations
have a fund of hypocrisy upon which draw at
a moments notice.