Evening star., 1936-10-04
BY MARK SULLIVAN.
just possibly, the
= world has at last reached q
true turning point toward con-

- world has at last reached q
Il true turning point toward con-
i fidence and hope. The agree
ment looking toward stabilization Of
the French, British and American
currencies may be the authentic thing.
II we had not had so many turning
points" before, so many beacons that
turned out false, we would not be so
hesitant to believe in this one. But
for nearly 20 years the world has
seen one hopeful expectation after
another turn to dust and ashes.
Almost at an average rate of one a
year, something has been done, some
international agreement OK other step,
which has been proclaimed as. and
received by tormented world as. the
event that at last set the world back
on the track toward normal ways.
One can call them of like litany
of hopes turned to despair. There
was the Dawes Plan and the Young
Plan-both these settled" the mat
ter Of German reparations. and with
that settled the world would be well
again. There was the Locarno Pact
and the Geneva Conference and the
Lausanne Conference. each supposed
to settle" something. Most of the
many international conferences set
tied" the same thing. The fact that
it did not stay settled and that in a
year or So another conference was
settling the same thing again-after
nearly 20 years of that. the world
became distrustful and cynical. There
was the Washington Conference for
the limitation Of armament, and the
London Conference for the same pur-
pose. and the Kellogg Pact-all sup
posed to take us toward universal and
permanent peace, but today peace is
more remote, war more near, than at
any time since the Great War and the
pectations excited by the League of
Nations in 1919 and thereabouts. and
then to consider the present sad i'm
potence Of the League-that is indeed
a sombre comparison between hope
assured and hope destroyed.
Slogans We Believed In.
There were the slogans We believed
in. woodrow Wilson's assurance that
our taking up arms in 1917 was in a
war to end all wars" and Wilson's
other assurances, that it was a war
ito make the world safe for democ-
racy." Beginning the very year in
which Wilson held out that hope,
democracy has been set back farther
and farther; today, democracy as q
conception Of Government, with in
dividualism as a form of society, Is
trying to defend its very4life against
the new conceptions of society that
have sprung up since 1917. Little
wonder II the world Is shell shocked,
neurotic. reluctant to put confidence
In o new promise.
Yet the agreement for currency
stabilization between France, Britain
and America may be the real thing.
We know that there cannot be nor
NAL international trade in a world
in which national currencies jiggle
up and down in relation to each
other. We know that in world lack
ing normal international trade there
cannot be economic contentment
within the separate nations. We know
that economic contentment is, as Sec
retary of State Cordell Hull has said.
the best preventive of war. the best
path toward peace. We know all that
And we know that after several years
of unstable currencies there is now
a step toward alignment and stabil-
ity, a step taken under conditions
which promise probable success.
True, it is not the first step. Here
again, If we choose to yield to despair,
We might recall that there has been
a former step in the same direction,
and that 1t failed. The London Eco
nomic Conference of June, 1888, had
the same purpose as the present