Evening Star Newspaper, December 4, 1921, Page 49

EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL ARTICLES - EDITORIAL SECTION fm 2—16 Pages 'Association of Nations Proposal [EUROPE AND THE ARMS Acclaimed, Though Not Unopposed BY N. 0. MESSENGER. RESIDENT HARDING has un- ieashed another idea in con- nection with the armament limitation proposition. and sent it forth in full cry, to bereceived with acclaim. It will be recalled that the first syggestion anent armamerits related to limitation of land and na- val forces, expanded subsefuently to take in far eastern questions as war- breeders and thereby germane to maintenance of navies. Now comes the President with the logical sequence of this conference, the suggestion that there shall be periodical meetings of this kind to smooth out wrinkles arising between nations. So the international council- board plan flourishes on what it feeds upon, and sprouts and sends forth buds of promise. P When it is sald that the suggestion was hailed with acclaim the state- ment must be hedged with reserva- tions and explanations. There was Senator Borah, for example, who re- ceived it with a groan, a sigh and a look of dark suspicion. He is repre- sentative of a class in this country who groaned and sighed and looked as he did. Then there are some Of the forelgn mations who seem to have gotten off on the wrong foot in their comprehension of the scope of the President's idea, until awakened to proper realization by subsequent elucidation. Senator Borah sniffed the odor of another league of nations drifting down the wind from the unknown shores of the future, and to him it was no spice-laden breeze from a trople isle, but as the icy blast from some bleak coast, for which he is ever upon the alert. At last accounts, Senator Borah still may be sald to “ha’e his doots” about the plan and remains yet to bet shown. * kX Overseas, the President's sugges- tion also seemed to be in places con- strued as promising & bridge that might lead this country into the Jeague of nations which is altogether incomplete without the presence of the United States. In that quarter the acclaim was loudest, although misplaced. In this country, which is convinced that the present conference is bound to be a success, the first round of ap- plause was elicited by comprehension of the central thought that if the conference is a success, and proves to be a good thing, why not repeat? The future is well understood to be potential with madély . other vexing questions between the nations that should yield to treatment. * k x ¥ Then came further explanation last week of what is in the President’s mind. He does not propose the gath- ering of natlons around the council board as eithgr a rival of the league of nations or an elaboration of it The principle governing the two schemes is different. The league of nations is based upon a written char- ter with provisions for enforcing its commands by force majeur if neces- sary. What the President has in view is an assembling of nations to dis- pense with the necessity of the appli- cation of force by any one to any one. The President’s friends say that his plan is founded upon the same basis of common sense and practicality on which rests the armament and far eastern conference—which is, to get together, talk it over like rational people, give and take and reach a de- cision dictated by ordinary justice, fair play and the desire to prevent going to war about adjustable affairs. *x Xk % X Whence comes the malign spirit which is discernible in the atmos- phere around the armament con- ference intent upon frustrating its objects? Some force potential for evil, in- visible, but whose effect is felt, seems to be at work, to thwart and check and distort. There seems to be a hidden battery somewhere that is surcharging the air with suspicions, rumors, canards, gossip intended to set the conferees by the ears—any- 1thing to put sand into the machinery and produce friction. Secretary Hughes has his hands full a great part of the time trying to counteract these sinister influ- ences. His own course is so vividly in contrast. Out in the open all the while, frank of speech and sin- cere as well, his purposes clearly and definitely set forth, intent upon prog- ress, he has to stop and kick at something that rushes out at his heels. * k% It is a subject of comment, also, whence comes the determined effort to minimize the hope of success of the conference, except upon the hy- pothesis that those engaged in it started out with the preconceived idea that failure is Inevitable, and they just cannot bear to see things moving - in a way to refute their prophecies. It is not as if the conference were a gathering of zealots, of fanatics, intent upon proposing some fanciful dream of altruism above everyday comprehension or of mortal accom- plishment. For this is no such thing. President Harding and Secre- tary Hughes warned against that at the outset, pointing out that the im- possible would not be proposed and that what was contemplated was within the range of effectuation. * x k% It may be, and possibly is true, that among those approaching the conference there were some Who were imbued with a strain of old- world skepticism of the amount of good that might be effected, but in- dications are that it is rapldly disap- pearing. Those wWho came to scoff are remaining to enthuse. On one day each week, from re- sponsible sources in every delega- tion. in Washington, come expres- sions of gratification in the progress that is being made and of confidence in an eventual happy outcome which will inure to the world’s benefit. * x % % Tomorrow Congress resumes its sessions, entering upon the long term which will end no one knows when, but the politicians hope before the congressional elections come along in November. And this suggestion brings up a tender subject to several hundred men in the House and to many in one-third of the Senate. There are exceptions because some of the solons are sure of renomina- tion and election, while others are certain of re-election—if renominated. The first bridge for them to cross will be renomination. There are loose planks and shaky foundations in some of those bridges. In more than one_there are signs of a wash-out, with the trestle-work already gone. * k% % The republican and democratic na- tional committees are taking ad- vantage of the smoke-screen raised | WASHINGTON, D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, DECEMBER 4, 1921 by the arms conference to do a lot of preliminary work in anticipation of the coming to grips of the two parties in the ensuing session and the political campaign. You don't hear much about them in the news- papers, but they are busy nevertheless. To the republicans the future pre- sents but one proposition: they must carry the House next November or face a terrific handicap for the ensu- ing two years until the approach of the presidential campaign. Before the democrats stands the alluring possibility of giving this body-blow to the opposition and thereafter to gather impetus for the possible knock-out. There are lively times ahead, or all signs fail. . * k% % Pretty soon, now, begin to look out for talk about democratic candidates for the presidency in 1924. There will be no such speculation about the republican candidate. President Hard- ing will be renominated as a matter of course. But in the democratic party it is different. In the recent change in the democratic national committee chaismanship, in which Cordell Hull was elevated to that post, the ground work was lald for reorganizing of democratic lines looking forward to the nomination. 1t is a clear fleld and a fair fight. William G. McAdoo is regarded the outstanding figure against whom all other aspirants for the nomination must contend. His friends are at this moment working for him. In demo- cratic political circles the outlook is regarded as “the fleld against McAdoo.” But he will not get the nomination without a fight. It will be not alone a contest against him, it s said by the politicians, but also a struggle between two schools of thought in the democratic party. (Copyright, 1921, by The Washington Star.) DRY ENFORCEMENT COST BELOW APPROPRIATION Cost to the government for enforce- ment of the prohibition amendment and the narcotic laws for October ag- gregated $514,664.26, according to fig- ures from the office of Prohibition Commissioner Haynes. This amount, the bureau pointed out, is $110,453.74 less than the monthly pro rata in the appropriation of $7,500,000, which was placed at $625,000. The total expendi- tures for July, August, September the statement showed, were $1949,012.82, which includes $43,563.25, the amount first deducted last January from the appropriation on account of the retirement fund. The present reserve accumulated out of the pro rata amounts of the appro- $585,029.35, and October, priation the bureau said. ‘Withdrawals of non-beverage liquor for October, 1921, the statement said, were half as much as those for the corresponding period last year. Rec- ords in the accounts unit show the non-beverage taxes for October, 1921, to be $4,721,502.86, as compared with $9,668,702.46 for October, 1920, a de- crease of $4,947.199.60. The months of July, August, Sep- tember and October, 1921, showed a decrease of $16,673,462.28, compared with those months in 1920, the state- ment said. “In other words,” it con- tinued, *checks placed upon alcohol, etc., which was div into chan- nels of the bootleg traffic, caused a rad!:etlon in withdrawals of 650 per cent.” . CONFERENCE BY FRANCESCO NITTI, - Former Premier of Italy. NY forecast as to the results of the Washington confer- ence would be not only idle, but impossible. I do not even think it advisable to indicate the chronological order in which the various problems un- der discussion will be submitted to the conference, or to attempt a guess at their solution. I have taken an active part in so many international reunions, myself presided over so many, that I have‘full knowledge of the diffi- culties to be overcome. It is indispensable for the United States, besides being its sincere wish and hope, that the Washing- ton conference should prove a suc- cess. By the treaty of Versailles and by the whole system of trea- ties resulting therefrom, Wilson, though completely in good faith, contributed powerfully toward the disorganization of Europe and the present crisis in the United States. And now the great American democracy, which disposes of im- mense resources, feels not only the need, but the necessity of a big international success. The Wash- ington conference must prove truly and wholly subservient to the cause of peace. No real peace treaties were signed at Paris, but only treaties, as Clemenceau - himself bluntly said, which enabled the conquerors to continue the war and to carry it into the enemy’'s country. We shall have to discuss peace and not future wars at Washington. We must also find some means of ex- changing our views and ideas on the great problems of liberty, democracy and justice and on the principles of nationality and self- decision without blushing too un- comfortably when we mention them. * x % % I do not propose to suggest the solution of the various problems under discugsion, but may I put down a few questions? 1. The treaty of Versailles and the treaties of Saint-Germain-en- Laye, Trianon, Sevres and Veuilly with Germany, Austria, Hungary, Turkey and Bulgaria were the negation, pure and simple, of those very principles which had been proclaimed during the war by the entente, and are in glaring con- trast with the fourteen points which President Wilsor:. made the slogan of the American people en- tering the war. The United States has not sanctioned those treaties. Nevertheless, it continues to as- sume and accept a certain respon- sibility, even though in an atténu- ated degree, by allowing its repre- sentatives to sit on the board of international commissions and in giving its approval to this or that joint decision on world affairs. ‘What is the situation actually re- sulting from this state of things? And by what means is it proposed to give it a logical solution? 2. The treaties, without the slightest necessity, inflicted a form of moral isolation through several states or newly-founded states on thirty. millions of Germans, Prus- sians and Magyars. Before 1914 Europe had only one Alsace-Lor- raine, an unextinguishable flame of justifiable hatred and rancor, and only one Austria-Hungary, the cause of irrepressible and chronic and have ’ LLOYD GEORGE—The Man and His Times VI—The Peace Conference— Germany. HE problem which presented itself before the conference of Paris when it assembled in January, 1919, was unprecedented in history. Never before had there been a war in which so many nations and so large a pro- portion of mankind had been engaged, and which left behind it problems so complex and world- embracing. The first difficulty was that of dealing with the mass of business which came up for decision. There were about thirty belligerents on the allied side, there were four on the enemy side, there was Russia in the hands of the bolsheviks, and there were the neutrals.. The whole of Europe was in confusion. Austria-Hungary had disappeared and four mew states had taken her place. Rail- ways were breaking down. Armies were demobil- izing. [Economic barriers were springing up everywhere. Central Europe was on the verge of starvation and the Hoover organization was begin- ning to struggle desperately to distribute supplies. How was a lasting settelement to be brought out of this chaos? * ok %k X When theconference assembled all the minor powers claimed to take part as equals in the de- liberations. M. Clemenceau, as president, squashed the idea at once. As he said, when the world was crumbling in ruins what mattered was decisions, not talk, and the decisions must be taken by a small effective body, and that body must consist of the leaders of great powers which had done most to win the war. But even so, the task was appalling. Every power and every nationality claimed to be heard by the council of ten—con- sisting of two representatives of America, France, the British empire, Italy and Japan—and their claim clearly could not be denied. So weeks were spent, and necessarily spent, in listening to the arguments of the various states and nationalities .a to the frontiers and securities and compensa- tion they should be given when the peace terms came to be laid down. In the midst of this process, both Lloyd George and President Wilson had to go home. Lloyd George had to preside at a series of cabinets which decided the program of reconstructive legisiation to be put through in Great Britain. President Wilson had to go back to comply with certain pro- visions of the American Constitution. . They both returned in March. The process of hearing the arguments of the peoples whose fate )wu to be decided was still going on, and the draft- ing of the final peace treaty had not begun. Great publicity was being given to the deliberations of the couneil of ten—not so much from official aé- counts, which were staid and unilluminating, but because most delegations were bent on getting press support and communicated every bit-of news each could get favorable to its own case to friendly newspaper. Bitter controversies had begun to arise between parties in public, and statesmen were complaining that negotiation was becoming impossible because garbled and one-sided accounts of proceedings were becoming public and creating insuperable difficulties for them with public opin- fon in their own countries. The peace conference was in danger of becoming a tower of Babel. * % X X Lloyd George's practical mind grasped the sit- uation at once. He saw that unless some body made itself responsible for taking decisions the conference would fail. His first step, therefore, was to propose that the drafting of the peace treaty should be undertaken by M. Clemenceau, President Wilson, Signor Orlando and himself— the heads of the four leading powers, and each, as head of his own government, in a position to make responsible decisions quickly. He further proposed that this body should meet in a private house, without the medley of secretaries and diplomats which thronged the meetings of the council of ten, and deliberate in private, announc- ing its conclusions as soon as they were reached. The others agreed, and so came into being the famous council of four, which met every morning and afternoon in President Wilson's study and framed the treaty of peace. Lloyd George’s second step was to retire for a long week end to Fontainebleau with a few ad- visers and friends. He saw that if the council of four was to get on rapidly with its work it must have some plan of the peace settlement as a whole in its mind. President Wilson was still preoccu- pled with the work of the committee of the league of nations, and knew little of Europe. -M. Clemen- ceau, thinking mainly of the future of France, was putting forward solutions which-were.incompatible with the lasting peace of Europe, as with all.the other allies. Signor Orlando was concentrated on the problem of the Adriatic. It was clearly “up to” Lloyd George to give a lead. So in the hotel at Fontainebleau, in a room whose windows looked across to the steps of the palace where Napeoleon, on his abdication, had taken leave of his Old Guard, Lloya George drew up a general plan of the peace. * %k % *x After many hours of deliberations, the results were embodied in a document which he afterward circulated to his colleagues. In it Lloyd George made an earnest plea for moderation and the long view. What mattered in his judgment was 8 set- tlement which would last, because it contained no provocation to a fresh war. Almost every previous war had grown out of an earlier peace in which the victor, intoxicated by the exaltation of the moment, had ignored reason and justice. Germany and her ‘allies must be sternly treated. Justice required it, and stern treatment of the . aggressor was necessary as a deterrent to nations thinking of falling to the militarist lure. But there most be nothing in the treaty which would drive Germany or her colleagues either into bol- shevism as an immediate road of escape, or into preparing for an eventful fresh war to right the wrong. It would be fatal to dismember Germany or hand German majorities over to other races, such as the Poles... The guiding principle of the peace should be that peoples should be allotted to their motherlands, and that this human considera- tion should have precedence over considerations of strategy and economics. And a secondary principle should be that reparation obligations should not extend beyond the generation that made the war. Lloyd George then went on to deal with the league of nations. In his judgment it was essen- tial, if the league was to be a success, that the great powers should show their confidence in it by entering into an agreement which would pre- vent a new competition in armament between them. It was idle to impose disarmament on Ger- many if the allies were to start arming against one another, and he, therefore, proposed that the allies should embody in the peace some general arrangement about their own armament which would show that they had eschewed mutual rivalry. * %k %k % This memorandum received the general ap- proval of President Wilson, but it provoked a caustic rejoinder from Clemenceau, Wwho trasted the security and advantage which Britain had gained by the destruction of the German navy with the position of France. Security, indeed, was the thing which occupied the first position in the whole mind of France. Twice ir fifty years had Germany ravaged France, and these wars were but the last of a series stretchirig back far into history. How was France, with a population of 39,000,000 as dgainst Ger- many’s 60,000,000, to be secure for the future? One party in France wanted the annexation to France of the whole of Germany up to the Rhine —another wanted the sgparation of the Rhine prov- inces from Germany under International guaran- tee. The military leaders declafed emphatically that France could only be defended on the Rhine, and that that river must be the strategic, if not the political, frontier of France. Lloyd George, in accord with Wilscn, was absolutely against the annexation or partition of Germany in any shape or form. He saw that it inevitably meant both another war, in which Germany would endeavor to recover her -lost population, and disaster for France, because when Germany did attempt to re- cover her unity ‘the opinion of the world would Justify cher in the attempt. But he feit deeply for. France, and ‘he, therefore, proposed that the allies should -take the responsibility of guaran- con-~ agitations. From the point of view of the Germans and of the Magyars, there are now at least six or seven Alsace-Lorraines—the Saar, eastern Prussia, Dantzig, Up- per Silesia, etc. The vast German and Magyar territories, arbitrarily assigned to Poland, to Czechoslo- vakia, to Jugoslavia, to Rumania, are effervescing with the red fer- ment of innumerable future wars. There was formerly one Austria- Hungary alone, consisting of many peoples and of different races, while there are now states, such as Poland, in which the national element represents almost the minority, and there are now at least three or four other Austrias in Europe. What are the ways and means by which we may avoid the renewal of war, thus saving Europe from certain destruction, and how can we improve the pres- ent unsatisfactory situation? * k% * Yne present situation is. based on a series of premises which it is expedient to examine separately. 1. The entente powers remain united for a period of at least thirty years, subjecting Germany and the other vanquished peoples to a regime of servitude. 2. Articles V and X of the cove- nant of the league of nations for- mally declare that each state be- longing to the league guarantees the territorial integrity of all the other states; no change or modi- fication is permissible without the unanimous consent of the great powers, and as the vanquished are still excluded from the league of nations, the latter is nothing but a holy alliapce of the conquerors, ready to sanction even the most ridiculous and absurd improvisa- tions, such as Poland, while it gives it approval to all that has been done against Germany, Aus- tria, Hungary and all the other vanquished peoples. Of course, it is not possible to say what terms the central empires, had they proved victorious, would have im- posed upon their enemies. 3. While, in obedience to the peace treaties, the fear vanquished countries of Europe, not including Turkey (which can now no longer be regarded as a European coun- try), are only allowed to maintain under arms less than 180,000 men, the conquerors still have big armies and navies. * Kk kX Now, these three premises have absolutely fallen through and proved of no practical value. The war is over, and the entente pow- ers cannot possibly continue on the collective trail, like a pack of hounds. Each of them strikes out in the direction of his own par- ticular interest, following an indi- vidual scent. As to the United States, it has completely with- drawn from the league of nations, which will shortly lose all vestige of dignity and prestige unless Articles V and X are modified. The military situation, necessitat- ing an enormous outlay, is the principal cause of the financial disbalance in which the con- querors themselves are actually placed. If all the premises on which the present situation is based are groundless, which is the new road toward reconstruction? (Continued on Third Page) BY WILL P. KENNEDY. ONGRESS comes dack tomor- row—on trial. The members have been back home—into practically every state in the Union—and they are coming back with the one fact forcibly impressed¢ upon them that the people are not satisfled, whether justly or unjustly, with the work of the extra session. Ot course, the Senate comes in for the major share of the blame, and no one knows this any better than those senators who are coming up for re- election and who appreciate that something must be dome to satisfy the voters. The incoming session has its work well mapped out. The Senate must make speed in passing the railroad funding and the foreign debt funding legislation and the tariff bill in order that Industry may be stabilized as far as possible. The outstanding work before the House is to draft and pass the government supply bills, the first under the new federal budget system, and to act definitely upon the pro- posal for a bonus to former service men. It is generally recognized that the decision on the bonus question jwill have a very strong influence on the next election. House Leader Mondell plans that the unfinished business before the House on the Lehlbach bill for re- classification of government employes shall be disposed of as soon as pos- sible. * %k % The unfinished matters of business before Congress that are of the most importance, in the opinion of leaders, are the funding measures. Both are tremendously important—one from the standpoint of the domestic and inter- nal situation, and the other from the standpoint of our relations with the world and internal relations as it offects matters of taxation and revenue. No legislation that has been sug- zested would do more tdward help- ing out the situation generally than the passage of the railroad funding bill in approximately the form in which it passed the House. It would relieve the railroads from the possi- bility of being called upon immedi- ately for sums they owe the govern- ment for epuipment and betterments during federal control. At the same time it would enable the government to realize on rallroad securities it obtained in the Wilson administra- tion amd those that might be taken {in the funding of railroad obligations |to the government. It would tend to put the railroads in a still better condition to reduce frelght rates. It would relieve the Treasury to the extent that railroad securities were absorbed by the in- vesting public. * X * X% The foreign debt refunding bill is of primary importance, because every day of delay in arriving at an agree- ment with our foreign debtors as to the terms of payment of the sums they owe us is likely to complicate the situation because of understand- ing had in the meantime between these nations. It is highly important that our ne- gotlations with the nations of Europe owing us large sums shall not be de- layed beyond the time when these na- tions are arranging among them- selves for the settlement of their ob- ligations to each other. The difficul- ties of our situation increase with delay. Settlement of these matters is high- ly important from the standpoint of national revenue and outlay. We are now carrying and paying out of cur- rent revenues a load of approximate- ly $600,000,000 per annum of interest charges on sums due us by foreign governments. We ought to know as soon possible how soon Europe can begin to assume a portion at least of this load we are now carrying on her account. Hence, the importance of the early passage by the Senate of the bill pro- viding for appointment of a commis- sion to formulate the basis of settle- ment of the business growing out of lending $13,000,000,000 to the foreign nations. * %k % % It is very highly important that the general tariff bill shall be placed on the statute books at the earliest pos- sible moment. The House passed this . bill on July 21. The Senate has al- ready had hearings on some features of this legislation, and it is to be hoped, republican leaders say, that the Senate will be able to dispose of that measure in the reasonably near future. It is true that there are some who, in view of the uncertainties as to for- eign production cost and the disar- rangement of foreign currencies, are inclined to the opinion that early enactment of a general tariff bill is {not wise. Such opinion has no sound lblll! in the logic of the situation, the dominant majority of the repub- licans in Congress protest. All real- ize that there are difficulties sur- !rounding the wriling of tariff laws at a time like this, but it is empha- sized that those difficulties will con- tinue for some time. That the writ- ing of a general tariff law that shall be reasonably permanent in all of its provisions is impossible, but the very situation renders it all the more im- portant that the best possible settle- ment of the questions of tariff rates be made at the earliest possible mo- ment. It is altogether likely that some changes in the tariff bill drawn at this time would be necessary within a comparatively short time as production costs, measured in ex- change values, changed, but that could be readily accomplished, and in the meantime the manufacturing industries of the country could pro- ceed with knowledge of the rates and conditions under which they would be icllled upon to meet foreign competi- tion. * K k¥ The House is prepared, with decks fairly well cleaned, to dispose of the approfriation bills as fast as they ! come from the committee. There has been serious consideration of the practicability of co-ordinating all of the appropriation bills into one mas- ter bill, which would show at a glance the cost of govermment. It is pretty well agreed that expedi- tious procedure will not allow this ! now, although it is probable that the appropriations committee will work toward such a master appropriation bill as soon as it is feasible. ‘The House appropriations commit- tee is ready to take up the depart- mental estimates and proceed with diligence, Chairman Madden says. ‘This is the first time that these esti- mates have come in under the fed- eral budget system, and it is highly probable that President Harding will appear before the House and empha- 2 Congress Returning to Its Tasks Knowing the Public Is Critical size the views of the executive with regard to the initiation of this sys- tem. In preparation for handling these appropriation bills under the new budget system, the committee has been reorganized departmentaliy, so that all appropriations for any one service will be massed in one bill and not scattered through several bills, as heretofore. This has meant a tre- mendous amount of work during the recess for the clerks of the appropria- tion committee. In order that hear- ings may be held simultaneously, while clerks are not interrupted in their work, the appropriations com- mittee has been given three addi- tional offices on the floor below the present rooms, including the room now occupied by the post office com- mittee, which is considered the most } beautifully decorated committee room on the House side—the first work of the great artist, Brumidi. “The most important work of the House will be its appropriation pro- gram,” said House Leader Mondell. | “For the first time we are to have | estimates presented after careful con- Illrlernllon by the bureau of the bud- |get. The House will approach con- sideration of these estimates with a disposition to adhere to all the econo- mies which the estimates as present- ed. may suggest and with a disposi- tion to scrutinize these estimates with a view as to whether or no still further economies can be accom- plished.” \ s s e o House Leader Mondell admitted that “the bonus legislation has got to be considered.” This is recognized as a very serious problem and the lead- jers in both the House and Senate are reluctant to express their views at this time. Regarding the reclassification measure, which is of particular in portance to all government employ Rep. Mondell says: “Among the im- portant pieces of legislation that the House will consider at an early date is the reclassification bill, the purpose now being to pass a bill that will be considered in connection with the estimates to be prepared by the de- partments next summer and fall, for the fiscal year 1924.” In justice to Congress, now charged {by the country with not having done good work during the extra session, it should be stated that while Con- gress may have failed—particularly | the Senate—to pass certain definite legislation for which it was called into extraordinary session by Presi- dent Harding—yet it was the mo: hardworking Congress in man especially on the House side. * ¥ ¥ % People from all over the country, dropping in for a few minutes or an hour or two to get first-hand infor- mation on legislation, get an entirely wrong view of how Congress does business. They see a very few men in the legislative chamber engaged in some immaterial colloquy, and 'chlrge Congress with wasting time. Well-informed people know that the hardest work of Congress is done in committee. A recapitulation and comparison of | the work done in the first session of lme last three Congresses shows that the House was extraordinarily busy It was in actual session 139 days, as against 144 in 1919 and 114 in 1917. A total of 8,775 bills and resolutions were introduced. A total of 108 pub- lic laws were passed, as against 93 in 1919 and 91 in 1917. There was a (Continued on Third Page.) teeing her against aggression, because it would give her the security she desired, and because it would make for the peace and stability of Europe. The negotiations were long and difficult. Clemenceau was very unyielding and he was more moderate than most of those behind him. He suggested to Wilson a fifteen-year occupation of the Rhineland as a partial solution. Wilson ac- cepted this. Lloyd George was very doubtful, as it seemed to leave the fundamental question in doubt, but, as the other two were agreed, he a cepted it in the modified form embodied in the treaty. Sill France was not satisfied, and it was not until the allied occupation of the Rhineland provinces, as security for the enforcement of the treaty, had been combined with an Anglo-Ameri- can treaty of guarantee, that an agreement could be reached. * % The second great difficulty concerned repara- tion. The ravaged allied peoples were demanding ‘with unanimous voice that Germany, whose gov- ernment had provoked the war and whose country was undamaged, should make full reparation for the damage she had done. But statesmen and experts, when they came to examine this ques- tion, saw that Germany could not possibly pay anything like what public opinion required. There ‘was also a dispute as to the meaning of the words in which, under the negotiations for armistice, Germany undertook to pay compensation for all damage done to the alli peoples through her dggression by land, air and sea. Clemenceau was for a maximum indemnity, but was more con- cerned that France should have a priority. The rest of the allies resisted this because they knew that Germany’s capacity, if still unknown, was certainly limitéd, and that a priority for one ally inevitably meant that she got everything and the rest got nothing. President Wilson was in favor of requiring from Germany what his financial ex- perts thought it was her reasonable capacity to pay. Lloyd George was for demanding from Ger- many the maximum which any expert opinion thought she could pay. He put that figure him- self at between five and six billion pounds. But his real conviction throughout was that it was impossible to arrive at any final decision at that time. Allied public opinion was still very ex- cited. Nobody could tell what the conditions would be.after the war, or what Germany’s real capacity ‘would be. He thought the only solution was to make Germany undertake to pay a maximum fig- . ure, and leave an expert body, the reparation com- mission, to scale it down as circumstances re- quired and the reality of the post-war situation became clear. * %k * % A compromise was finally reached which really satisfied nobody, and which, as we shall see, was reopéned even before the treaty was signed. s One of Lloyd George's stiffest fights at the conference was on the disarmament of Germany. M. Clemenceau and Marshal Foch wanted to re- duce Germany's army to 200,000, to be raised an- nually by conscription. Lloyd George refused to agree. He pointed out that to permit Germany to do this would be to give her 2,000,000 young men in ten years. Lloyd George's determination to impose the voluntary system on Germany was based upon a far-sighted view. He believed that once the habit of conscription was broken in Germany, Austria. Hungary and Bulgaria, no democratic government would reimpose it unless there was serious for- eign danger or provocation. He further believed that if the central powers had nothing but small voluntary armies the alarm in the neighboring countries would gradually die away, and public opinion, especially under financial pressure, would gradually insist on a general reduction of‘arma- ment. Wilson agreed with Lloyd George. Foch and Clemenceau then insisted on reducing the German army to 100,000 because a long-term vol- untary army could be so highly trained as to be rapidly expansible in event of war. Lloyd George thought the figure too small, but agreed to the compromise, and conscription was abolished from the enemy states. * k X X And so, gradually, the treaty was completed. On May 7, 1919, the first draft was presented to the Germans in the dining hall of the Hotel Trianon, at Versailles, the home of the supreme council during the war. Tt was a dramatic scene, far more dramatic than the spectacular signature of the treaty in the hall of mirrors a few weeks later. , It was the first time that the allies and the Germans had met face to face, and the ten- sion in the air as Brockendorff Rantzau entered the room and faced the grim line of the allied statesmen, and later when he sat to read his pro- test of Germany's innocence in the great war, was as palpable as fog. The German reply to the draft made a consid- erable impression upon Lloyd George. He feilt that while each item of the treaty was justifiable in itself the cumulative effect was very heavy, and perhaps was greater than any honest German government could undertake to fulfill. After con- sultation with his cabinet, therefore, he proposed to his colleagues certain modifications. The most important of these concerned the duration of the occupation, reparation and the Polish-German frontier. On the matter of the occupation he could make no headway. In the case of reparation, he thought that a serious at- tempt should be made to arrive at an agreed set- tlement. It was out of the question to do so at the moment. Lloyd George, therefore, proposed that Germany should be givén a period in which she should be allowed to examine the devastated By Philip Kerr (His Secretary, 1917-1921) districts for herself and then make a proposal of her own for substituting a lump sum arrange- ment for the complicated provisions of the treaty. This was accepted. * K Kk ¥ There was more difficulty about the Polish question. From the start Lloyd George had been uneasy about Poland. He was staggered at the magnitude of her claims. As he said to M. Padé- rewski on one occasion. “Poland has the most difficult task in Europe. She has no natural fré- tiers. She has Russia on one side and Germany on the other. One-third at least of her population is non-Polish. She has no trained statesmen or administrators. It is essential, if she is to sur- vive, that she should pursue a friendly and peace- _ ful policy toward all her neighbors, and limit her frontiers to those areas wherein she has a racial majority.” He had accepted the proposal of & Polish corridor to the sea because there was a clear Polish majority all the way. But he had refused to incorporate Danzig, with its great Ger- man majority, in Poland, for he believed that it would make a Polish-German feud inevitable, whereas if Danzig were separated from Germany. but left autonomous, its overwhelming interest as the natural port of Poland would rapidly bind its fortunes and its sympathies to that country. * ¥ * % Lloyd George now proposed that Upper Silesia should not be transferred to Poland by the trea but that there should be a plebiscite to determine its future. He had come to be very doubtful whether the population really wanted to go to Poland; he was supremely anxious to avoid an irreconcilable Polo-German feud, and he felt that in a doubtful case of this kind no settlement would be accepted as final that was not based upon the expressed views of the inhabitants themselves. Both Wilson and Clemenceau were against him, but in the end he prevailed, and the subsequent plebiscite has proved that his insight was sub- stantially correct. The final decisions of the allies were conveyed to the German delegation In a document setting forth the allied view of the peace settlement, and the German government was given five days in which to signify their decision to sign the amend- ed draft! These were days of great suspense. ‘The allies were prepared, but not at all eager, to march to Berlin to enforce their terms, and when the telegram of acceptance arrived, while the coun- cil of fodr were discussing one of the other treaties, it promptly broke up in rellef, and all Parls gave itself over to rejoicing. ‘The foundations of the new Europe had been definitely laid. (Copyright, 1921, by the MecClure Newspaper Syndicate.) WEXT SUNDAY: The Feace Conference—italy, Russia and the Far Bast.