Evening Star Newspaper, November 29, 1925, Page 53

EDITORIAL PAGE SPE NATIONAL PROBLEMS CIAL FEATURES | Part 2—24 Pages WASHINGTON HIGHWAY PROGRAM IN U. S. Gig Uniformly Markec N OUSTS SMALL PROMOTER mtic Road System, Numbered and 1, to Take Place of the Present Jumble. IAM ULLMAN, mobile Editor of The Star. BY WIL An eventy-five thousand miles of high vellow indicates caution—Stop, Look and Reflect. The standard railroad crossing sign will be round, 24 inches in diameter, ways. and not 1 cent for promotion! | nd will bear the well understood rail- That reads like the flamboyant ad- | 1oad cross with the letters “R. R in evertisements desizned to entice thely ..k in the upper quadrants on the unwary public into a “first-class, ivon- | vellow background. At points of suf- lad. rockribbed” investment; vet it|ficient danger to require a complete fs essentially true, or at le true f siop the sign will be octagonal in enough to warrant such a sweeping | shape, inches across, and will bear statement. For the promoter in this | he word “Stop” in large letters. At ase is none other than Uncle Sam narrow bridges, steep hills and every oneseventy-five-thousandth her points where the degree of part of the project bears his stamp [ganger is sufficient to call for the ex- of approval. The public is not asked | arcise of a considerable degree of cau- 1o contribute dir but. on the « ctly hand, to this project is invited to share in the benefits accruing there- from toads that will span the ¢ rent many times, lengthwise and chosswise taversinz every State and touching every important center within each State, simply designated and uniform Iy marked, providing thousands of miles of continuous, safe travel with out the slightest possibility of dire tional complications or entanglements, this is the prospect that the touring motorist of the near future faces. What's mere. these )00 miles of hizhways will be of that degree of im provement as to entice even the most timid car owner into following the ine trail Gigantie Road System. After two vears of combined effort on the part of the United States Bu- reau of Public Roads and the State commissions, co-operating as rd to untangle the jumbled network roads left by the hap. hazard, incoherent, disjointed activi- ties of a large number of private trails orzanizations, the Department of Agri- eulture has announced a_gigantic sys- tem of “United States” highw Never hefore has such a project been nndertaken hefore has similar ~ffort heen made to simplify and popu highway A joint he never larize motor travel ¢ In the last 15 vears some 250 so- died hizhway associations were or nized in various parts of the United ates. Thev projected a quarter mil wn miles of road and collected from property owners, realty promoters and “hooster” organizations several mil lions of dollars. an infinitesimal frac- tion of which, according to authorita tive records illy was spent in highway construction. Fvery such organization had an office, reams of propaganda literature and. of course. a paid secretary. who had a personai interest in perpetuating and advertis ing. at least by name, his particular Thelr chief activity ing memberships at $3 o1 and breaking into 1he nsisted in anticipating cted by the State hignway sions and the Federal Bureau of Pul- lic Roads. These they included in their systems and when completed held them up to their members as the achievement of the Blah-blah Memo rial Highway Association. solicit a head print. pro commis hesides more publ Headed for Up to this point Denouncements. these “builders” of paper hizhways met with little oppo sition either from _touring motorists ir governmental azencies. But when they began crowding every mile of their designated routes with vari colored and multi-shaped markers and signs they were head tor a sudden denouncement The highways of the United States today are elog tivities of private ent examples ot the ac trails organizations. The harmless tourist in his fivver doesn’t know whether he is zoinz of coming, whether he is a hundred miles {rom nowhere or on the rizht road 1o a good chicken dinner and a nizht's lodzing. He i< at sea on a dusty road, eproviding he hax an abiding faith in “the intezrity of road signs such as now interrupt our beautiful landscape. If he were 1o fake stock in every 1 that hits his retina he would be In a_habel of confusion, for they all speak a different language. There are 10.-mile stretches of hizhway that hear as many as eight different names, and in one State a mile of road is marked v seven different designations—seven izhway associations claiming this mile as part of their system. This swerlappinz of routes and the conse- auent multiplication of conflicting and contradictory sizns are the outstand- ing contribution of the paper highway \ssociations to motor touring. Numbered Highways. At last the the State leral Government and hizhway departments have joined forces to rid the country of the riff-raff of hizhway promotion and set up a system of numbered “United States Highways," standard i as 1o markers and signs tate hishway officials, feeling the need of uniform designation and mark- ing of roads, called upon the Secre. tary of Agriculture about two vears a%o to appoint a joint board of State and Federal road experts to unravel the hizhway mess. Since then they have classified, juggled and linked up| a system of 75,000 miles in length. vir- | tually obliterating all previous systems and thus sounding the death-knell of e private trafls organizations. More than a hundred roads of v but tion mond-shaped yvellow sign will desc the character of the dunger fn black not a complete stop, a dia- ibe letters and symbols. At points of lesser or occasional danger the 24-inchsquare yellow sign will be used and the necessity for cau tion will be explained in black lett « single word, such as “School, <pita “hurch,” ete. The motorist who loves to tour. hut abhors the multifarious restrictions placed upon the motor wanderer as he travels from State to State, perhaps wonders if his right to life, liberty and the pursult of the gasoline trail isn't being further curbed. He protests there are signs a-plenty and regula tions sufficient to fill an encyclopedia. He would prefer that this business of ulating and advising motor traffc reduced to a minimum. It has be the automotive age, but at last some- thing tantamount thereto is the crux, the quintessence and the sine qua non of this United States highways sys. tem. Nowadays the motor traveler is confronted by a million directions, in- formation and caution signs with al most as many variations in size, color and design. Thelr effectiveness is lost in the maze of their variety. The motorist learns to make better time by ignoring them. He is just as likely, however, to ignore a warning of danger as he is 1 marker which is several miles from the truth E The work of the Federal and State highway boards simplifies the whole scheme of road marking. It reduces the number of signs and standardizes them as to design, color, size and sig nificance. o that he who epeeds may ily Interpreted. do so knowlng full well the conse- quences. One sign, uniform through- out the United States—the shield tells the motorist where he is: rec tangular sizns tell him the location of crecks, rivers, lakes and such like, distances (o nearby places and when the speed limit is changed. Bizht other signs—all yellow —warn him of danser. IU's a simple system, easily interpreted, and should prove helprul ind effective. In the <eries of eight caution and danger sicns, the degree of danger is znified by the shape as well as the wording or marking of the signs. A round sign will be used only at rail road crossings: an octagonal sign will te used only at points where a4 com plete demanded by extreme ahead: a diamond shaped sizn will indicate always the driver of + motor vehicle, even though he be color blind and unable to read, that there is some road condition ahead which calls for the exercise of cau tion. A square sign invarfably will indicate the need for u lesser degree of caution. Yellow is the col caution Whenever the sees vellow he will know some degree of danger ahead ns will give him suidance. There scheme unless ish enough to sizns, stop danzer of danger or there is White information and no red in the the motorist is fool ignore the yellow si s. nate Old Sig This system will bhe installed every Federal aid highway in every State, and the States themselves, with the aid of the Federal Government, will set about erecting the United States highways markers and elim- inating the hodge-podge of other road signs, for which the consclentious motor tourist ghould be duly thankful. Many of the roads included in the cstem of 75,000 miles are not im- on never been done In these 25 years of | | EDITORIAL SECTION he Sunday St D. C, SUNDAY MORNING, NOVEMBEL MY RELIGION: WHAT IT MEANS TO ME R 29, 1925. ARTICLE V BY REBECCA WEST Author of “The Judge” and “The Return of the Soldier. ROVIDED that there is affec- tion in a family, the father and mother confirm when they are old the miracle they performed when they were voung. Then they loved and gave their chil- dren life; now they die, and make that gift absolute by taking away the fear of death from their children; for after one has watched a dying person with the clairvoyant eye of affection the idea of death as a triumph of decay passes for ever. One perceives that he is not ceasing to exist, but passing into another universe, The transition may be excruclating 1y painful; quite possibly he takes with him no memory of this life, and there is no reason to suppose that the other universe is more careful of its inhabitants than this. But it is, at any rate, A universe of greater beau- Ly than this. Of that one is made aware by gn intuition which tells us constantly ‘throughout life that there are certain actions we preform and emotions we feel which, though they may not be injurious or repellant and may, indeed, be pleasurable and harm- less, are limited to this universe. * kX *x One know: dominate in one's life one will perish with this universe. A drunkard; a man who spends his whole life in playing some game like tennis or chess; a county hostess who spends her whole life in trivial social activi- ties—all these die when they die. But | there are other actions and emotions |of greater nobility and intensity | which print through this universe and | these do happens not only in this life | make an impression on that other uni- verse; and just so far as such actions and emotions predominate in one’s life one does not die in death. Any one who warmly loves any one else: any who createst good art or sound thought; any one who achieves courage and generosity; any one whé does any work well; what such as one which passes which continues These certaintles of mine cannot be proved by any logical process, but 1 do not find that in the least disturb- ing. for it is not necessary that they but in another life should be. Tam sure enough of them. The only use of any logical proof would be to convince other people of their reality, and that T do not want to do: for T am certain that every- body has the same chance of receiv ing these intuitions that T have. In- deed, were T the only person or one of a restricted number of persons who could receive them, then this would be such an unjust cosmos that T would lose all interest in it and seek annihilation by confining myseif to the actions and emotio which perish with this world. Since this T should he afraid to convince anyvbody else of the reality of my in- tuitions, for as the human animal is above all things indolent, he would probably accept my proof as assur ance that life has a meaning and would refrain from seeking for his own revelation, which alone can give him that assurance in a form suited is so. MOtorist, o the individual needs of his soul. * ok ok o I do not believe that membership of any Christian church would height- en my consciousness of these intui- tions or help me to act on them. I therefore, that just so | far as such actions and emotions pre- | | | + REBECCA WEST. occasionally go to church. T go some. times to non-conformist vices, he cause it seems to me that in the preachers yvou hear therc and in the congre, ions that listen to them vou get as fine a preoccupation with prob- lems of conduct and duty as have | probably ever been shown by any peo. ple since the world began. These peo. ple ceftainly do not believe in hell [ doubt if more than a few belleve In any system of rewards for the virtuous in the after life. But they are passionately anxious to be seriously good just for the sake of being good they are anxious, for no other reason than altruism, to find out exactl what their duty to their fellow men is and how they can hest perform it 1 go also to Roman Catholic | churches at times, for the sake of the ritual. That seems to me to be of great value. because it draws a pic ture of spirit facts which human | language still difficult to ex | press adequately or in a form equally comprehensible by all kinds of people When one sees a beautiful church full of worshipers kneeling in attitudes of adoration in front of an altar whe a cardinal, in rohes the very color power and majesty, a of s himself before a cross on which there hangs a naked man who was poor and de- ed and rejected, one gets a com- plete expression of a certain group ritual ideas that can struggle into words only one aspect at a time. What is written on the tomb of Hafiz ‘Oh. heart, he a slave to the King ‘of the World and be a King,” writes like 1 flash of lightning the spiritual truth | in constant warfare. In such a harsh and unsettled world he might well doubt if the law of the universe were | not hate, and the meaning of life bit- | terness. Christ came to comfort him against these adversities. He proved to him that poverty and suffering could be borne so sweetly that they exalted a man above the proudest and richest king; He struck back some of | the world's swords by preaching the bheauty of peace; He assured man that ove was a in the universe by coming to render him these services though He knew He must pay for it with His life power * o ok o 3ut certaln forms Christianity to take to satisfy the needs of the man of that age are unsuited to the | man of this age. There is, for in- stance, the doctrine of the Virgin | birth. The ordinary pre-Christian man was not accustomed to the idea of moral power unsupported by force. It would have been impossible to convince him that a simply because his behavior was premely beautiful. Therefore, Chris | had to be recommended to him by the ascription of a miraculous origin. Now that we have had Christ's les- son set before us this is quite un- necessary. Ecclesiastics who talk about the Virgin birth are as absurd as persons would be who, having been visited by the wisest man man in the world, stopped repeating his wisdom to an audience longing to hear it and man was divine 1 their house by a bus or a tram. The doctrine of the atonement is, to me, s irrelevant. That a father should invent the laws of a game knowing that they must be broken, force people to play it, sentence the players to punishment for breaking them. and accept the agony of his son as a sub stitute for the punishment, was credi- ble enough to people who believed that hate might be the ultimate law of life. | To us who have been given the Chris- tian idea of love and mercy as an e: | sential part of divinity, it is not credible. * K ok ok Man was in a me to comfort or is it necessary place. Christ e Why had be in a dark we and cannot know | for haif-grown brains obviously wuld not grasp the whole truth about the universe. But we do ourselves a misghief if we retain an explanation | which is neither true nor uséful. | dav | him. man do not our that if one is to live with dignity one But even swhen Christianity is must bend one’s will to a purpose | Stripped of doctrines that were cre- other than one’s own wellbeing. But | ated to serve a special purpose, but the ritual of the church says it hetter; and it savs more. ok Nevertheless, T feel that Christian- ity must be regarded not as a final evelation, but as a phase of revela tion. The creative spirit informing the world, which you may call God if ltke, produced Christ to satis spiritual needs of man as he was the centuries that resulted in tablishment of modern Europe. He was then, for the most part, very poor; whether he was poor or rich he was racked by diseases he could not understand inorganized economie system and lack of knowledge sub- ected him to famines, and an unre. solvad political system involved him serve nome now, there is no reason |to suppose that it ix the final revela- | tion of the Divine to humanity. There might quite possibly come another word that would be to us as absolute |a solvent of our | as Christianity was to the difficulties | of the early Christfans. I find con- | irmation of that hope in the feeling | of sacredness that I intuitively receive about all efforts to extend the sphere | of personal liberty people do what they like we a ing ourselves a chance to listen to the Divine when it speaks. The spirit of tolerance represents the merciful hand of Christ thrust through the ages, saving the next Christ from crucifixion. (Covyprisht. 14 When we let e glv- Veteran Prohibition Advocate Urges Necessity of Amending Volstead Act proved, but the basic idea of the plan is that these roads shall be pushed, as rapldly as possible, to the nece: sary stage of improvement that will glve the United States within a few vears the most complete and compre- hensive system of good roads ever un dertaken by any country and seoner than the farmers of the Federal aid road plan had anticipated. Every im portant center ix included in the system, every large city. This whole scheme of uniform traf State capitul and every | fic signs, slgnals and symbols is but another step toward greater safety | on iehways, inaugurated last year by th® <gtional conference on street and highway safety. It means that hereafter highway signs will have | some significance. The driver will ll\‘n(!\\' that they have been set up after careful analysis by competent 1dges of the conditions of the road. |"To violate them will be extreme fool | hardiness ing lenzths have heen selected the Wwhile, on the other hand. main arteries of the system. Some|t0.observe them will insure ‘safe and & ke e certain travel, averse the zreater part of the con.|CSTIN SWOEE L X tinent. but each bears a distinguish. | AS an popLection fotupmotor ing number throughout its entire |18t against counterfeit traffic signs, length. At uniform distances along | ch a8 are to be found now on most each route standard markers—the Ewa e« e Iileeal for atmer. shield of the United States on a white background. bordered in black. with the name of the e. the initials “U. 8. and the route number in black will he set up as guides to travelers hy._motor. £ With the numbers sélected, private and public map makers have before them a glgantic mapmaking job. showing the United States highws and their respective numbers. Ar with sucii @ map, the 1926 mc 3 int will bave litd= difficulty in follow g the route selected for his next geason’s trip. For example, & motor- 1=t In Jacksonville. Fla., planning on @ tour iv Seattle, Wash., will find, by consAfing the map, that the trip may be e=ade via certain numbered routes Uniform Signs. Not only will the highways be num- bered throughout their length, but they also will be dotted by uniform signs indicating points of geographi- oat intereat, distances to places along the line of travel, distances to places to the right or to the left, speed limit and the imminence of cross-roads. In addition, a system of uniform caution signs—eight in number—will he installed on all the designated high- ways. These will have a vellow bacl zround with black lettering and bos der, substituting vellow for red as the ese signs are simple iny design, eagily remembered and in- {41igitle even to a driver who may pot read the language. The flash of danger signal. {chant, a manufacturer or any one else interested in catching the eye of the traveler 1o imitate these signs as to color, size_or shape for advertising purposes. In other words, the motor- ist may be sure that the rectangular, octagonal, diamond-shaped, round or whether fornia. Extended Beyond Borders. they are in Maine or Cali: It conceivable that this system may be extended to the border prov- inces in Canada and to portions of Mexico, so that the American tour- ist leaving the United States by motor may encounter much the same plan.of road marking. As yet the officials of the United States and Canada have not come together on this question, although, it is understoed, both are willing to do so. The United States highways sup- plant all existing highway nomen- clature and'the standardized markers will take the place of the million or more signs which contribute their share of confusion and misinforma tion. The map will be wiped clean of a lot of rubbish and in its stead the new highway map will tell the touring motorist how to reach his destination, where he is going, when to stop and when to proceed with caution. Thls, indeed, is a need In motor touring long past due. - = square signs on the United States highways will read exactly as the tourist may expect them to read, | | | BY THE REV. SAM SMALL. Veteran Temperance Lecturer and Evangelist. AM not satisfied with mational probibition “as is It is not the prohibition that I have publicly contended for dur- ing 35 years, from 1885 to 1920, It is not the prohibition that 1 have shed my body’s blood for on eight occasions during those years. The present status of prohibition under the eighteenth amendment and the Volstead act, after over five vears of so-called national enforcement, is a bitter disappointment of the faith that led to their enactment. Fresh from attendance upon the biennial national convention of the Antl-Saloon League of America, and from hearing the expressed views of Anti-Saloon leaders, governors and ex-governors of States, Senators and Representatives in the Congress, active officlals of the ¥ederal prohibi- tion unit. bishops of churches. judges and prosecuting attorney: editors of great newspapers and women of re form organizations. I am deeply im pressed by the continuity of the ques- tion, *“Will prohibition prohibit?” What is the Problem? The problem as presented now by the prohibition leaders is how to ob. lterate the traffic in and use of alco- holic, intoxicating liquors, “root and branch” as they put it, from the daily business and habits of the American people? All of the advocates of that policy frankly admit that it is one of the Iargest contracts ever undertaken by a self-determining Natlon through the agencies of civil government. They hold that the presence of the pro- hibition amendment in the Constitu- tion of the republic, affirmed as prop- erly there by the Supreme Court of the Nation, is conclusive evidence that a majority of the people wish that prohibition policy exploited to its fultest limits. 3 But the holding of this latest “crisis conventron” in Chicago this month, in advance of the convening of Con. gress iu December, was to advertise how far the enforcement of the pro. hibition law has fafled, up to date, to secure desired effect, to locate re. ponsibility for the failbre and then to propose agreed upon remedies for the unsatisfactory condition. Too Early and Too Expansive. Conferences between those concern- ed in the convention's objectives re. vealed that some of them are coming {o realize that probably national prohi- bition was before the to enforce brought into law and action people were fully prepared it. One of the out nding |leaders of the cause on the floors of | the Congress said much to this writer at the convention and explain |4 the reasons that have hrought him { | to_that conclusion “The prohibition policy was winning |its way by State adoptions In all sec tions of the Union. Thirty-two by constitutional mendments | legislative action, had provided | State-wide prohibition before i elghteenth amendment was submitted to the States. Onme other State, Ken tucky, adopted the State-wide policy while the amendment was yet pending and unratified. But there were 15 States, among them those of the largest populations, that had not adopted the policy and some of them had but recently re- jected it by large popular majorities Hence the belief still prevails with many prohibitionists tha national policy was applied too soon. The answer of the more ardent prohi. bitionists is to point to the ratification of the amendment hy the legislatures of 45 of the 48 States within the short period of 13 months. Also, that among the ratifying States were the largest in population -such as New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio and Tilinois Only’ New Jersey, Connecticut and Rhode Island fafled to ratify, and New Jersey has since done so. It is upon that record that radical prohi- bitionists stand and, with the difficulty of amending the Federal Constitution back of them, declare with every sense of certainty that the amend- ment will not be repealed within any calculable time. Z A Too Intensive Policy. I have found some most sincere believers in the prohibition policy who yet think the steps taken by the antl- saloon people in framing the amend- ment and in legislating to enforce it were beyond the original objective for which the league was formed and sup- ported, The name “Anti-Saloon League” was clearly indicative of the work it was organized to accomplish. That was to suppress the legalized, licensed dram shop. It was generally de- nounced as the source of drink evils and the generator of crime, poverty and a host of soclal evils. It was con- stantly in the public eve and its prod- ucts constantly in the courts, the prisons and the poorhouse. For over a hundred vears of our national history legislative skill and social wisdom had been taxed to find safe and tolerable restrictions that » the blanket | ! could he imposed on those institution: and without sattsfaction. Promoting, multiplying and magnetizing saloons became the joint enterprise of liquor profiteers and liquor politicians. They jeered at every sentiment of national sobriety and bludgeoned every de- mand for social safety and decenc To save their existence and busines: they fought the anti-saloon prop. sition with every weapon and bitter- ness, and eventually forced thé liglous and temperance people to fight for drastic national prohibition. Instances of Liquor Folly. The earliest proposals to amend the Federal Constitution and establish a national prohibition policy—such as those by Blair, Plumb, Ballon and others, in the seventies and eighties— dealt almost exclusively with ardent | spirits, with distilled liquors, native nd foreign, and would not have ffected fermented heverages of ordi- nary type. The movements of that day aimed at “hard liquors.” Indeed, they were then disposed to agree with the earlier view of Thomas Jefferson that mild brews would be a panacea against fiery liquors. But the friends of the liquor trade fought those propo- sitions with as much vehement bitter- ness as they now do the Volstead act itself. 1t should be remembered that when Representative Richmond ~Pearson Hobson presented his famous prohi- bition amendment in 1914, he was hilariously ridiculed inside and outside of Congress, by publicists and by press, for restricting prohibition to the “sale” phases of the liquor traffic. The wording of his proposed amend- ment was: “The sale, manufacture for sale, transportation for sale, importation for sale of intoxicating liquors for beverage purposes in the United States and all territory subject to the Jjurisdiction thereof, and exportation thereof, are forever prohibited.” Such eminent opponents as Repre- sentatives Mann, Underwood, Henry, Gallivan, Carlin and a score of others derided the repetitions “for sale” in the resolution and declared there could be no genuine, prohibition upon those terms; that it really would set up a “free liquor” regime, because it would leave every one free to distill and brew his own liquors and that under this Hobson plan there would be universal drunkenness without regulations or restraints. In reply to the savage attacks made upon his proposition Representative Hobson replied that he and those whom' he represented did not believe re- | the Federal Government shonld be | empowered to go further than to con- trol and prohibit “the commercial fea- Ptures of the liquor traffic.” “The peo- | ple have the right,” he said, “to de- termine what manner of manufactur- ers and commerce they will permit within the Nation, but there are anclent and unalienable nature rights which they may not deny and pro- hibit." When he was challenged to name | those indefensible rights, Hobson said “The object of forbidding the sale lis to avoid even a suspicion of any desire to impose sumptuary legislation upon the American people or to in- jvade the rights of the individual and the home.” + On the floor of the House of Repre- sentatives he again declared: “I want my colleagues under- |stand from the start, and, so far as we can have them, the American peo- ple, that there is no desire. no intent 1on the part of this resolution to in- | vade either the individual rights or {inherent liberties of the citizen, or to | climb over the wall that civilization— particularly the Anglo-Saxon civiliza- | tion—has built around the home." Because {t was pronounced ‘‘a free whisky measure” the Hobson resolu- tion failed to carry in Congress. It was the tenor of the criticisms launch- ed against it that forced the prohi- bitionists to frame the Sheppard-Webb amendment in the comprehensive terms it now carrfes in the Constitu. tion. to The Predicted Results. Those are the facts of history which explain why the Anti-Saloon League changed its plan of campaign from a crusade against the saloon to a drive against every phase of legalized beverage liquor commerce. This writer, as one of the headline speakers of the amendment campaign, made thousands of speeches in churches and to other assemblies, re- peating everywhere the assurances contained in the quotations from Hob- son. All of us strenuously combated the charge that we sought to deny the individual citizen his right to have and drink what he pleased; we only denied that any man had an inalien- able right to run a barroom and con- duct & commercial manufactory of drunkards. Such was our main argu- ments and with it we won millions of voters to support the proposition of decommercializing the drink traffic. On the other hand. the opponents of mational prohibition predicted that (Continued on Fourth Page.) had | wrangled whether he had traveled to | difficulties about life | |Simonds Says more attention or invite more i investigation in the near fu- ture than that which con- | cerns the League of Nations. Not a | few friends of the league have seen in the Locarno agreements a tremendous gain for the league which will be emphasized when Germany joins. On the other hand, there is another school which concelves, not unnaturally, that while rendering clear amd pre ‘ise the role of the league, the pacts e in reality subtracted much from what had been originally drcamed for Genev In re the lity it seems truth lies somewhere belween extremes, The leag has been o pos sible instrument for the service of in ternational relations, which hus he tofore been, in the main, unavailible because conditions made it impossible to turn to it. It has been used only in the rare cases where there was general agreement, and in the other cases where there was agreement among the nations which had col lectively the force to impose their de cision. What the league has steadily lacked | has been the authority to enfor { decision of its own, reached at Geneya | unless that decision had previously | been reached elsewhere. It could not | to me tha settle Vilna, it could not settle Memel, it did not even venture to inte ir | Fiume. 1t did ostensihly settle Upper | Stlesta because the allies, possessing | the power, backed the decision and the Germans, lacking power, submit ted without consenting. First Handicap of League. ! The first handicap of the league has lain in the fact that it represented | the combination of nations which had | won a war and looked to the league | to preserve the results advantageous | to themselves. Peace and the per. | manent possession by the victors of the fruits of victory became synony Nations which had lost the | war and been compelled to accept | terms which seemed to them intclera | ble, and even immoral, were asked 1o | abandon all hope of revision and agree | that such hopes were themselves «vli. Thus, the league from the outset was deprived of moral influence over i mous. !the half of Europe which had been | beaten, which had lost in war and paid for the loss at Paris. But it was just as much deprived of author [itv_and influence when the French and British quarreled. If it took the British view it could not enforce it in view of superi French strength if it took the French view, as it did in Upper Silesa, it lost prestige and | tollowing in Britain. It was, and for that matter remains, axifomatic that the league cannot act effectively or without grave peril to itself in any case where the inter of a great power are affected or where there is a collision between the inter- | ests of two such powers. At the mo- | ment of Corfu, Italy quite bluntly served notice upon Geneva that if it undertook to act directly, Italy would {retire. " 1t was impossible for the | league to intervene in the Egyptian sisis of last Winter, in the Moroccan yrian affairs of the present hour, | because England or France would, a< 4 result, either flout the leasue lignore its benests Greco-Bulgar Clash. jor s { at the league may function in the issue of peace or war there must [ he a situation such as existed in the | recent Greco-Bulgarian mix-up. all the great Then | powers, allied and neu {tral, and even German, were equally | anxious to see war averted. There j was a concert of Eugope. a common agreement, and the leagie spoke the will of Enrope, which was heeded, not because it was the voice of Genev but because Geneva spoke for a Eu rope which was resolved We in America have had more or less steadily before us the assump- tlon that the league would itself pro- mote peace and would have within itself the power and the prestige to speak in crises to make its volce heard and its will felt. We have been, therefore, puzzled because in the two considerable wars that have taken place since the league was created, namely. the Greco.Turkish and the Russo-Polish, the leagye has been impotent. There are® even Americans who inquire why in the case of Syria or Morocco it does not ac The reason is that the league can not act, suve when there is n real agreement in advance. It is the in | strument of & united Europe, pow erless in the presence of divisions he tween the great powers. 1t | control policies, influence national | activities, circumscribe national am- bitions. If there were in Europe the spirit which existed in Europe in 1914 the league could do nothing hecause | there would be no way to enforce its decisions. Council of Ambassadors. Conversely, If the spirit of Europe had been in 1914 what it was for a moment in 1912-13, when the council of ambassadors of the great powers met_in London under the presidency of Sir Edward Grey, and resolved the issues raised by the Halkan Wars without conflict, because all the great powers desired to avoid con- flict, then this same council of am bassadors could have done all that the league can now do or ever could do. The first requirement of a league of matlons, or any similar body, is authority. But in the nature of things this authority can only come to it if and when the great powers are prepared to delegate the own authority. If with Germany in the league there arises tomorrow a dis- pute, let us say, between Albania and Jugoslavia, and war Is threatened, the league can act with authority and effectiveness, provided only France, Britain, Germany and ltaly “re agreed that peace is to be desired and that all in the interests of peace will delegate the league to act as the representative of their collective force. But if France and Britain, for rea- sons affecting their own interests. support Jugoslavia, and Germany and Italy support Albania, , the league can do nothing, because it has no effective support. The division be- tween great powers is carried into its midst and instantly paralyzes action. Perception of this fact, too, would encourage rather than deter the ag gressor in this imaginary episode. Yet, obviously Locarno has a bear- ing because it is precisely this possi bility of agreement between great powers which Locarno suggests most powerfully. As a result of the agree ments it is conceivable that there is for a time at least to be, politically speaking and 1n the freld of foreign | : Parley at ‘ ) { | BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. | O single consequence of Io- carno is bound to attract SEES LEAGUE’S FUNCTION AS BIG POWERS AGENT the Needed Was Given It at the Geneva Impulse Lacarno. affairs, uropean concert. The mo ment (¢ enters on an ance of fact the ceases 1o represe smbinat victors founded on conception of preserving peace for the world and the fruits of victory for the conquer ors and becomes an associa tions, which, if t still more recently 4 voluntary things. reces came acceptance All the contracts which are passe between these mutions and const the Locarno pacts turned over to Geneva, which becom keeper of the uchives. It becomes m course —it becomes t wdminist 10 it are ascribed funetions under nents. Nevertheless, it can do nothing, despite the agreements, save as it is backed either by the force of all or by « nation of those who have force enough » impose their will upon the minority Because France und German sire peace and believe that the ing territorfal situation is tolerab they have agreed to accept that cond tlon as permanent. and have sent thei agreements on this to Geneva Having thus renou ion of fighting and transformed t Was i condition created by war into a con to make the league the hody to re solve future difference: whole point and Germany this agent has imposed its is upon the nations Peace Is Expected. The peace betweer and Germany Is made at Locarno, it is made with no league assistance, it is made by the foreign ministers of the interested nati These have found a wav 10 use the league in their ments do not hes the league in terms t is to do cer tain things tion of the league which Mr. Wilson new international center in the world he saw the league as supplanting the uthority of the several states; he saw it as a superstate which would he ible by ¥ to impose its will upon idual nations and he believed that to moral authority the d be added physical strer the author of the rt there £ e power ¢ as a ould not funetion. It it never has been cessfully save on the it had behind which in Lonc else had resolved to something which these nations de sired or use the league to prevent something_which they opposed. Anc able work st (he force of natio somewhe, let the league do Locarno finally gives form to t league, provides it with exactly the impulse which it needs All Powers Represented After Locarno. h German the characte the alliance whic th war. Not alone neutral ne but all the considerable centra wers are represented place, so far as France are concerned, it the league loses forever f an extension of won In the second ind Germany the guarantor to France ar s many of the decisions « eat of Versailles which re Alsace Lorraine to I Or « it_represents the ¢ will pact in w Germany has accey 1919 in 192 The league, then al_position which e hirth. Wher ner own accord, it is na longer an al legiance or a preservation after of a war-time alliance. There are allles or central powers. Germ s & member will have her part at once. So far as the in its interior organization ie con cerned, it becomes at last representa escapes from the cursed it f has Germany enters ce, her league tive of Europe. To be sure, Russia is still outside anfl so far it suffers corresponding limitations, but if it has not yet gained Russia, it has at last acquired Germany Its field of activity is then bread ened. Geneva grows as a center of international affairs. More prim ministers and forelgn ministers will probably attend the sessions. But the sessions will in themselves be n more than perfunctory open sessions which follow agreement in secret con ference and behind closed doors. And the secret sessions will not take place in Geneva or between those who de rive thelr importance from the! tion with the league New Diplomacy. see that after six has actually happened is that any struggle between what we | used to call old-fashioned diplomacy and new, any effort to substitute a League of Nations for the old form of international intercourse has brok en down completely. The ambas sadors and ministers have recovered their own. There has not been cre ed at Geneva a new body of world leaders wha derive thelr authority from the league. No, nothing of the sort. French policy. directed from Quai 4'Or remains independent of Geneva; does British, conwolled [ | Amerfcans must | vears what { so { from Downing street; xo will German made in Wilhelmstrasse. It is § mann, Chamberlain, Briand who make agreements, which, being made, they toss over to the league for purposes of recording and for purposes of ad- nfinistration. The league ix not blazing tae wny luropean adjustment. Al of its { proposals, of which the protocol was the most ambitious, have gone into the waste paper basket But the Ku | ropean nations, arriving through their own diplomatic machinery at a basis of agreement, making use of the league to perform the humble, 1if valuable office of applying the prin ciples agreed upon. Europe has made peace outside of the league, but it has chosen to relate the peace it has made to the league, to use it, while it has in no case consented to follow it. Mr Wilson conceived of a league, founded upon the covenant, represent. ing the public opinion of the world, serving its decisions upon obedient cabinets and subservient premiers. He conceived of the league as a center of authority which grew out of itself |and resided within itself. So did his American followers, so did many Eu- ropeans. The conception survives and is expressed frequently in admiring comment upon some league action. Nevegtheless if vou will go back in vour memory through all that (Continued on Fourth P » to