Evening star., 1933-12-17

asSs asls; s1 ,Es
BY PERTINAX.
~ NOVEMBER II, the fifteenth
anniversary of the armistice,
statue Of Aristide BRAND
" was unveiled in the village OF
Pacy-sur-E where the late
statesman owned a good deal OF land
and was buried two years ago. The
place is not very far from Paris; 1t can
be easily reached by motor within an
tain M Wolf, keeys the local inn, and
his naCural ambition is to make it a
prosperous business. Therefore, he is
hard at work trying to transform the
grave of BRAND into holy shrine to
which followers of the pacifist faith will
flock in great numbers each year.
A few days before the 1lth of No.
vember the Senators and Deputies
there are more than 900 of them in all
who intended TO be present at the
ceremony in Pacy-sur-Eure, were asked
to give their names in advance so that
adequate arrangements could be made
for the state railways to run a special
train. In all, IA names were registered
no special train was ordered and the
II Senators and Deputies were con-
veyed to their destination in tourists
car.
The meaning of all this>is very clear.
Aristide BRAND has become a shadow.
still be thrown to the crowd with some
,-ir, nf
from one political party to another
However, most politicians realize that
his ideas are on the wane and will not
seriously influence future developments
More and more men open their eyes
to the brutal fact that the set OF be-
liefS which CryStaliZed in 1918 around
President Wilson, which then was
forced upon the reluctant acceptance
of most of the statesmen of the day.
and which afterward gradually went to
the heart Of the people-at any rate in
England and France-that these be-
liefs are fast disappearing as an early
morning mist disappears in full Sum
mer.
War Cleaned Slate.
On the morrow of that German
plebiscite and election, which to all
outward appearances bring final con-
soldation to the cruel racist doctrine
of government, it may be found useful
to take those beliefs one by one and
to show how specifically rooted in
European realities they always were.
The starting point of this analysis
may perhaps conveniently be found in
a conversation l had in May, 1919
with Henry Wickham Steed, the
English writer who fifteen years age
came forward very strongly in support
of the American President-a conVer-
sation which has always preyed upon
my mind. A friend Of mine, who In
subsequent years achieved great fame
as a dramattst, was about to leave for
London as the permanent correspond
ent of the Echo de Paris. He was
/! pleased with the appointment, but eX-
pressed some uneasiness lest his in,
suficient acquaintance with political
history should make 1t difficult for MIN
to become competent observer OF The
movements of the world.
The reply of Steed deserves to be in.
scribed on marble, as it was so typical
of the period
81 think" he said, that, far from
being put to disadvantage, you viii
gain by your ignorance of the past. BE
convinced that the war has made
clean slate of what existed before, and
that henceforward what will be accom-
plished on the international plane Will
bear no relation whatever to the pas
sions and to the conceptions we nave
known hitherto to rule the heart or the
mind of man."
That sentence must be regarded as
the fountainhead Of all the illusions
which afterward were co-ordinated into
a more or less coherent systen1-tne
system that by now is crashing to th :
hard pavement among the deSpalrlne
architects and foremen. Let us try to
make a catalogue of those beliefs OF
Illusions. After all, it is as good a way
as any other to describe present con-
ditions.
Would Destroy Civilization.
"Resorting 10 warfare is hardly con-
cejyable because, In the circumstances
Of TODAY. it would surely bring about
the destruction of European civiliza-
ton"
II may be true that European civili-
zation would not Withstand the test Of
another conflict; that, at any rate, the
governments involved in it and, little
by little, the other governments which
would not be able to keep aloof, would
be drawn into the vortex Of measures
of a Socialist or even of a Communist
nature. In that respect let us recall
that in the Autumn of 1917 many Brit
ish Conservatives had opened their eyes
to the social consequences of the con-
tinuation of the great war. Being filled
with fear and despair, they strove tc
hasten the conclusion Of what then was
! called "a blank peace" Chief among
them was the Marques Of Lansdowne
who went so far as to issue his famous
open letter or manifesto in recon-
mendation Of the early opening Of pour
parlers for an armistice. All the prob
abilities are that the wealthy classes
would eventually be swayed by analo-
gous feelings and tendencies.
But the remark applies to France anc
| to England much more than to the
| countries which in 1918-19 stood on the
wrong side of the peace balance sheet
After all, the victorious countries have
passed through many social disturb
ances in the last IA years, but they
have been spared the worst. On the
contrary, Germany, Austria, Hungary
and Bulgaria have been plunged int
| the most dreadful internal storms
| However, they have passed through thai
great trial without losing their soul OF
even their backbone. Hence the rea'
soning that can be heard in many Ger
man circles: What We have had u
endure would have made short WORK O