Evening star., 1938-09-20

cannot escape David Laurence.
certain RESPONSE
bility for the circumstances abroad
which in due time may compel Amer
lean involvement.
Twenty years ago some of us who
had gone through the 19l4-l9l8 period
and had attended the Paris peace con-
ferences where the Versailles Treaty
and the League of Nations covenant
we're produced thought the war-to-
end-war had happened. Germany was
believed vanqushed. Then million
men had been killed and countless
more had been wounded or manned.
Germany was weak and hungry.
America was supplying food and con-
ducting relief on an extensive scale.
If anything seemed certain in No
vember, 1918, it was that Germany IN
our lifetime, at least, would not be
strong enough to menace the peace
of the world. President Wilson real
ized that the provisions OF the Ver-
ssllles Treaty had in them the seeds
of further trouble, but he fervently
prayed that the League of Nations
would act as an automatically contin-
uing peace conference with power to
revise boundaries and treaties.
Lost U. S. Vitalization.
Then America withdrew from the
European concert and the nations
abroad soon felt helpless to keep the
concert of power alive. One by one
they tested the strength Of the League
and deserted it. From the moment OF
American withdrawal. the League was
doomed. 1t was kept alive by the
smaller nations who looked to it for
sustenance, but the return to the
old system of balance of power and
alliances became inevitable.
While the Versailles treaty pro-
vided for self-determination of ma
tons and gave birth to such countries
as CZechoslovakia, there was no eco
nomic consideration given to the prob
lens Of the smaller, or even larger
powers. Germany was asked to pay
an impossible indemnity and was kept
in virtual subsection while patriotic
zealots in her ranks constantly played
on the emotions of the people and
finally gave Hitlerism its basic JUS
tification internally.
Secretary Hull, true to the Wilson
philosophy, has sought to break down
trade barriers so that nations could
expand commercially and relieve their
domestic unemployment. His outcries
against economic nationalism have
been scoffed at inside the New Deal
by the self -suficiency" crowd and
outside by the conservative Repub-
licans with the criticism that America
could go it alone, irrespective of the
rest of the world.
France Led Parade.
France was the first to adopt eco
nomic nationalism in postwar days
and gradually England and Germany
succumbed to the doctrines of high
protection and further restrictions on
trade. Today Secretary Hull is alone
powerful voice for the removal of
economic nationalism from the world
A stronger support by President Roose-
welt Of the crusade against economic
nationalism might have helped the
German people as well as the peoples
Of Europe generally to understand the
necessity for interna tional co-opera-
ton in trade as we'll as diplomacy.
Whether the boundaries of Ger
many were properly determined in
Paris nearly 20 years ago, whether as
an economic entity the remnants of
the old Austro- Hungarian empire can
each continue separate existence is
something which has been questioned
for two decades The Europeans talk
OF war as the only possible solution
now, when as a matter-of fact reason
and the moral support of a just and
equitable revision of the Versailles
treaty would bring world opinion into
harmony with any sane settlement
offered by negotiation.
Opportunities Neglected.
The strength of Hitler in Germany
and Mulssolini in Italy is that in an
era of "self-sufficiency" and economic
nationalism gone to extremes, the
democracies of the world offer no hope
and no alternative of practical char
acter. Hitler cannot plunge his own
people into war any more than can
Chamberlain or Daladier If there is
some other method of gaining an out
let and opportunities for the under
nourished peoples on the continent.
The pressure upon Czechoslovakia to
yield and the desire of the Czechs to
stand their ground are understandable,
but they are both tragic incidents in
long series of neglected opportunities
for the making of real peace in
which the United States, with her
enormous supply of gold and bound