Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1943-12-05


cess beyond our most optimistic expec-
tations, in the international political
field We have done less well.
We entered the war because We were
attacked. But it would be pharisaie to
say that We did not expect an attack.
From the very day hostilities in Europe
began, We went on record as favortng
those nations which were fighting ths
aggressors and the totalitarian political
and economic philosophy.
There were innumerable statements
from President Roosevelt and the high
est officials Of the State Department to
that effect. They all had the same trend
which represented the philosophy Of
the American people-we could not ac-
cept the dogma Of might Is right and
that because one nation was militarily
weaker than another, she should not
have the same place in the sun.
Do Not Trust Each Other.
This American political dogma which
sent our troops across the Atlantic IN
1917 was the most encouraging message
the nations Of Europe received IN the
Impotence, even after they had been
invaded by the Nazis, to see American
troops across the Atlantic again was
due to this fact They knew that Amer
lea was unbeatable, that America in ths
. past had stood for the rights Of the
underdog and that America, after the
Axis was crushed, would see that they
could Efo ctot
had been their privilege since the end
OF the World War
The nations Of Europe know each
other well. For this reason they do not
trust each other. They are aware that
power politics have been played on tbs
continent for centuries and that treaties
and agreements signed between them
selves have a value only for 50 long a
time as Is convenient for either party.
There had been pacts, agreements and
alliances between the various states Of
Europe ever since history began.
They were seldom more than scraps Of
paper as the German chancellor OF this
last war, Won Bethmann-H ollweg, ex-
pressed it.
VIC AIl tllC OlllCSo oOdIcD Wclc Alujk~
nant at his blunt and unsavory state
ment. So were the nations in the camp
opposing Germany. But they knew he
was telling the truth. Even after the
war the treaties did not have much more
value. The agreement between Germany
and Poland was not worth the paper it
was written on; neither was the Rus
CT eh r1,A
Czechoslovaks had treaty with Francs
before Munich in 1888 This did not
prevent the dismemberment Of their
country.
Confidence in y. S.
But while the Europeans were more
than skeptical regarding themselves
they had implicit confidence In the po-
litical honesty of the United States. We
had no axes to grind in Europe. We
had no territorial ambitions; neither
were We playing favorites. After the
World War American capital was poured
into Germany in huge amounts and
American bankers were willing to do
| business with any country regardless Of
where she stood during the war.
We helped the new nations which We
had sponsored with money and advice
and whenever we had chance, We were
their chief supporters in the various
squabbles which had occurred since 1919.
America had a political baggage in Eu-
rope which could not be matched by any
other power-its political honesty.
The Government Of this country went
solemnly on record assuring the small
countries OF Europe which had been in
vaded by the Axis that they would be
re-established and rehabilitated. With
us in the war on the side Of the anti
totalitarian nations they risked nothing.
We may not have had an imposing
Army or any air force at the outset Of
the war. but without our assistance
neither Britain nor Russia could have
resisted the NaZi onslaughts.
A homeopathic American standing
by neutral and insisting on the old cash.
and-carry provisions Of its previous
neutrality act would have handed Eu-
rope over to the totalitarians. Ths
smaller nations together with all the
Americans who desired our participa-
ton in the war against totalitarianism
expected that America would be the lead
horse in the coalition OF powers which
was created by our entrance into tbs
war. There was some Justification for
our accepting the British Russian theses
that our war effort should be directed
toward Europe first
Russians Come to Fore.
But politically there can be no justin
cation for us to change the dogma re-
bers of the United Nations. The Allan
tic Charter, conceived by President
Roosevelt and Mr. Churchill before Pearl
Harbor, was a loose document full of
loopholes, but 1t did represent certain
ideologies which were American. It II
hard to say what will become OF the
principles embodied in that document.
The brilliant resistance which the
Russians were able to offer to the Nazis.
thanks to the unflinching effort OF the
| United States and Britain, which pro-
vided them. with the tools of war, has
brought the Soviet to the fore as the
most spectacular military power in Eu-
rope. The Red Armies were reorganized
after the severe blows of l941 and 1942
and today are pushing the Germans out
of the Russian territory with a speed
which the most optimistic observers
| could not hope for.
The Russians have done superb job.
| There is no question that without them