Evening Star Newspaper, June 6, 1926, Page 45

EDITORIAL SECTION EDITORIAL PAGE NATIONAL PROBLEMS SPECIAL FEATUP‘E__S Society News | Pari 2—14 Pages TWO.THIRDS RULE BEGAN | AS PLOTTO BEAT CALHOUN Van Buren Gained Power and Presi-| dency, Then Lost Both hrough Its Operation. BY J. L. SHERARD EARLY adoption le by vention 1832 th s become issue I threatens to precipi- ©t in the 1928 conven- k in 1924 the opera 100 ves of 1 the Dei two-thirds peal has party pol: nomination of either M 8mith, the leading candidates. threw the empty honor to John Davis as a compromise candidate. ders. it appears, are sharp 1y divided in opinion as to the wisdom of vepealing the rule, and the preliminary skirmi: for vantage are beg ning to cast their long shadows a the 1928 presi- dential contest, the lines are being tightly drawn in an effort to repeal a rule which was founded in expediency and which h. sen many times to devil party candidates and to endanger party harmony W Started by The Democratic convention held at Baltimore in 1832 which the rule was adopted, was dominated by An drew Jack nominated without op position f i Jackson was staunch Unionist. He represented the wing of the party that demanded a strong central gov- ernment and the preservation of na- tional unity and solidarity. Opposed to him was John C. houn, Vice President under John Quincy Adams and also under Jackson's first admin- istration. These two leaders of the political thought of the day. representing con- filcting ideas of government that had grown out_of the old Confederation and that persisted under other leaders to their final settlement by the sword the 60s, split the a& to which power : y cendancy in government, the Federal authority or the individual States. The proximate cause of the revolt of Calhoun and those who held his views grew out of the tariff acts of 1824 and 1828. which marked a sharp advance in the system of protection of home industries and manufactures. e South, relying upon the un- skilled labor of slaves. was engaged in agricultural pursuits to the ex- clusion of almost everything else. It had no manufactures. It therefore objected most strenuously to a Sys- tem that helped to enrich Northern manufacurers at its expense. Started Nullification Move. Opposition to the high tariff fos- tered the movement for nullification, culminating in the adoption of the ordinance by South Carolina in -No- vember, 1832, forbidding the paymen of the customs dutles under the tariff Jaw and setting at deflance the au- thority of the Federal Government itself vigorous action brought the State back into line. But before Lhis, in April, 1830, at a gath- Jackson's aring of leading Democrats at Wash- | to celebrate the birthday of Thomas Jeffer: the regular toasts had been so arranged by sympa- thizers as to suggest and emphasize nullification, and it was then that President Jackson took occasion to rebuke the whole proceeding by giv- tng a voluntary toast, “The Federal Unton: It must be preserved.” Vice Prestdent Calhoun retorted with an- other to “Liberty, dearer than Union.” These mutual deflances were the entering wedge of the breach that tore the two men apart and turned them into bitter, unrelenting enemies. Jackson was no half-way fighter. He alwavs meant what he d and ®#aid what he meant, and moreover he had the courage to resigt to the limit of force any movement he considered & menace to the integrity of the Fed- eral Union. “Kitchen Cabinet” Powerful. Befors the two great leaders en- gaged in their final struggle for the mastery of an idea they had been friends and political allles. But after the Jefferson banquet, which had pro- vided an occasion for an open clash, Calhoun, who had a will as stub- bornly unvielding as that of Jack- #on, began collecting mate! for a deliberate attack on the TPresident. Martin Van Buren, then Secretary of State. and some private friends of the President were the real power Behind the throne, their secret cabal being known as the “kitchen cabinet.” The rising influence of Van Buren as an administration favorite was erowding out the unbending Calhoun, whe, smarting under the loss of pres- tige and eager to gain control as leader of his party. made his prom- 1s¢ attack on the President in h, 1831. It was followed by the :‘r ing up of the cabinet. Van Bubfih. to whose crafty machinations Callipun 1aid the bad feeling that had arfséh between himself and the Preghdent, resigned, and the other mdnbers of the cabinet followed suit. i January, 1832, two months be- fithe convention of the party at the nomination of Van ington in the Senate for confirmation. vote tvas so arranged by parti- as to cause a tie (23 to 23), otive being to afford Calhoun gpportunity to take a dig at his y by voting off the tie. Van had already gone to his post ty at London, a circumstance th4t added all the more to his hu- It was an inexcusable ar. The net effect was to help sather than to hurt Van Buren and o ‘weaken Calhoun’s hold on public coffidence. il First Convention Held. ¢ vear 1832 was the first time anflipolitical party had c(hosen ity eagdidates by party conventicns such in vogue todry. It marked an adfance in popular wovernment over thd pld method of sslection by caucus ominations or recommendations ate Legislatures. Calhoun was in line for the Vice Presidency, ked by the solld strength of the emists of the South. He hoped to succeed “Old Hickory” as Chief Exe- outive at the end of the old warrior's pd term, and had it not been for the break between them it is 4in that Calhoun would have real- hhis great ambition. Democrats assembied at Balti- tn March. 18 The Calhoun was strong enough, it was by the opposition, to force his ation as running mate of Jack- . To prevent this, Jackson and his the suave and foxy Vun sm‘ them, hit upon the requiriug § two-thirds vote .{w-flgamm s after the | t | candidates—and often 4t is justified— eam-roller style. Calhoun ped from the seats of the and \'an Buren exalied to his in was det mighty place. Elected Four Years Later. Four vears Rater Van Buren fell heir | » the leadership of the retiring chief | and was nominated and elected Presi- dent. e wase given a unanimou: nomination for a second term in 1840 but went down to defeat under the landslide that swept into office Wil- |liam Henry Harrison of Tippecanoe fame. In 1844 Van Buren, who was | really one of the most astute and re- | sourceful politicians his or any other dav. again sought the nomina- | tion. ‘The Southern delegates, how- sver. did not like his views | annexation of Texas and su | preventing his choice by re-adopting the two-thirds rule of former conven- tions. Thus Van Buren csine te grief by the very makeshift which had been adopted, 12 years before, for his special benefit and for the undoing of Calhoun. . Prior to the Civil War the delegates from the Southern States, though forming a constantly diminishing pro- portion of the national conventions, still had ample strength to dictate party policy and to prevent the nomi- nation of candidates unacceptable to the South. The two-thirds rule was kept dlive for that very purpose. They used their power, its minority advan- tage intrenched in the rule, with skiliful stoftegy and forced the nomi- nation of a Southern man or at least of one—sometimes _contemptuously called a “doughface” in the anti- slavery States of the North—who was subservient to the wishes of the Southern leaders on the burning is- sues of slavery and State rights. Repeal to Be Difficult. The Democratic party appears to have been consistently” conservative in following tradition and precedent It will not he easy, therefore. to repeal | the rule. There are two reasons of £reat weight in common political ex- perience that stand in the way. In the first place if a successful candi- date dominates a convention and wins with little or no opposition. as was the case in the last two of Brvan's nominations and in Wilson's second nomination, thers is no immediate demand or need for a change and the delegates will not act because no one cares one way or the other: in the | {second place. ‘'when a convention is | split and deadlocked by a number of | minority candidates, it is well nigh impossible in such circumstances to abrogate the rule because of the fear that the leading candidate may thus | be given an advantage or a chance to win which the combined minorities could usually prevent by the opera- tion of the two-thirds rule. The hope 1s always entertained by the minority true that by standing firm and holding together the leading candidate may ultimately be forced out of the run- ning and the nomination thrown to some of the lesser lights. A deadlock is not only an endurance test, but it | |is an almost dead-sure preventive of repeal of the obnoxious rule. The two-thirds rule kept Champ | Clark out of the nomination in 191 and so probably out of the presidency. The sore spots of the Balitmore con- vention have not fully healed. Clark, whose vote in the convention passed well beyond the majority line, went down to his grave a disappointed man, feeling that through the operation of an undemocratic rule he had been cheated out of the highest honor that may come to an American citizen. The theory of mafority rule is at the foundation of popular government. From a merely abstract point of view most Democrats agree that the two- | | thirds rule is unfair and ought to be { abolished, but the fact that its abro- gation, if ever accomplished, must in evitably be bound up with the polit- ical fortunes of candidates them- selves, at a time when they are en- gaged in the heat of battle, consti- tutes the chief obatacle in the way of International Labor Sheds New Light on BY WILLIAM MARTIN, Editor, Journal de Geneve, Geneva. Tabor conditions are so different in America and in Europe that the ex periences of one continent can hardly be taken as a basis for development in the other. American industry de- veloped Guring the nineteenth cen- tury in a country in which labor was scarce, and hence dear, but in which raw materials were plentiful and there was ample outlet. The result was that American workers were able to obtain relatively high wages, which assured a high standard of living and made it easy for them to unite in the defense of their interest. They have thus never felt the need of State in- | tervention on their behalf. The evo: | lution of European industry followed Labor has al | quite different lines. | ways been plentiful and cheap. The economic conditions, however, were unfavorable, as the majority of the European countries have not got the raw materials which they require, and the nature of the European market, which 1s subdivided by natlonal frontiers and intercepted by customs, has made mass production impossible. The social conditions were favorable not to the workers but to the employ- ers. The workers, in conatant dread of being replaced by the surplus labor javallable in the country, have been | unable to defend their interests, and ! thelr standard of living has declined { in proportion as the big industries de- | veloped. Reform Movement Sets In. In the middle of the nineteenth cen- tury the miserable living conditions of the workers roused a certain num- ber of individuals to lc".lflz\. ‘E:Ié‘lnd only to incomplete results, use of {ho resistance offered by the em- ployers, who had a surplus labor sup- ply at their disposal. International agreements appeared necessary 1t in- dustry was to adopt a generous so- clal policy. In 1878 the Swiss federal government convened at international conference for the legal protection of workers. Three conferencesgp were helé before the war, the first in Berlin in 1890 and the next two at Bern in 1906 and 1913. Private organizations were established to supplement on an international basis the state action. Ultimately labor bent all its efforts toward the internationalization of social problems and remedies. As a yesult of this triple effort on the part ‘ owners and work- Labor Gegant- he Swndy WASHINGTON, The Most Darigerous Word in This World BY SIR PHILIP GIBBS. HE word “liberty” is the most dangerous in our language. It has caused not only rivers df tears, but rivers of bloud. It has broken up civilizations. dynas- ties and Kingdoms. Tt has let loose innumer able devils of cruelty. It has overthrown religions and broken many codes of honor and old loyalties, for in the quest of liberty men have gone mad and done desperate and bloody things beyond the feracity of wild beasts. It is today in our very homes, and in this nation of ours (Great Britain) the most dan- gerous, the most abysed word, and the cause of many of our social troubles. It is for liber- ty's sake that many wives leave many hus- bands and many husbands leave many wives, breaking their vows, forgetting old loyalties, smashing theiwr home life. It is for the sake of that young girls flout their worried quarrel with their anxious fathers, that people abandon the 3 'ks of the conventional code which safeguarded the morals of their predeces- sors. It is in the sacred name of “liberty” that political agitators and youthful Communists ad- vocate a complete overthrow of our system of civilization, even by way of violence and blood shed. * K ok ok All over the world today, and in this coun try of ours. youth is restless, intellectually re bellious, dissatisfied with the conditions of life because it desires the fulfillment of some vague dream of liberty which will give it the right and the power to do as it jolly well likes. “O liberty, what games have been played i thy name!" That was the cry of a woman going to her death by the guillotine when the French revo- lution was drenching her people in blood, and when the tyranny of Robespierre was enor- mously worse than the weak oppression of the later Bourbons. Before the revolution in the salons of Paris the intellectuals had talked a great deal, by the light of candles in paneled rooms, about the divine light of liberty. They had proclaimed Jean Jacques Rousseau to be the new prophet because in his “Soclal Contact” he asseried his falth in the “natural man" liberated from all tyrannies of dogma and authority. When the mob of Paris carrfed this theory into practice the Intellectuals were the first to be hanged to the lamp-posts, and the terrible cry of “A la lantern rang out below those gilded salons where pretty ladies had prattled =0 brightlv—in the sacred name of liberty, S e ok e All through history this word has been the D. C, SUNDAY cause of mob risings, religious warfare and political strife of the fiercest kind. The desire for liberty is a passion in the human heart, stronger than hunger and unafraid of death. The_history of Ireland is one long struggle for liberty. Even now De Valera and his re- Dublicans are not satisfled with the liberty of that country, and desire more blood, more mufr- ders, more tears of women, to attain its perfect fulfillment. In Russia, for hundreds of years, men plot- ted secretly, women rvisked their lives and bodies, suffered floggings, torture, execution and a living death itself so that Russia might be liberated from its chains. And when at last their revolution swept away the monarchy and all its tyrannies a man named Lenin, with a little gang of ruth- less friends, set up a new form of government which, to say the least of it, was not, nor is not, liberty. ‘There is no free speech in Russia. no free press, no freedom of the individual to trade, or live, or even think as he likes. He is under a new law, harder than the old, more intoler- ant, terribly cruel if any one dares to defy it. L This eternal search for liberty is like the unending search for buman happinass. It is a will-o'-the-wisp, always eluding us. We never get to the journey’s end. There is no such thing as liberty for the individual soul. A natfon has a right to a cer- tain measure of liberty, which, I think, on the whole, we have gained. But in the end each one of us must realize, sadly, that as long as life lasts we cannot lib erate ourselves from lawg, restraints, taboos, social prohibitions, spiritual checks within our own consciousness which must be obeyed, un- less we become outlaws among our fellows and traitors to our own code. There 18 no such thing as liberty. It is most unfortunate, but none of us can do as we like! All along the road of life, from the cradle to the grave, there are signposts and danger signals. “Verboten.” as they say in Germany. othing doing.” = * X ¥ X It is all most annoying. Sometimes highly exasperating. Often if we obey those sign- posts we miss a very jolly by-path in life, or £ive up an hour of good fun, perhaps even sac- rifice the happiness for which our soul most vearns. But long experfence has taught us that If we disobey the warnings and claim our liberty the price is higher than the profit. There is no liberty, for there must be law, and all law is a restraint of liberty. The youth MORNING, JUNE Shat 6, 1926. of today, so restless and so rebellious some- times, is up against the inherited experience of the ages—anG of that middle age for which it has such scorn—when it demands the liberty to live and love as it likes, to deny obedlence, to ridicule duty, to laugh at convention. ‘The code of honor, the rules of the game of life. are denials of liberty. To play the game properly we have to deny ourselves—which 1s terribly irksome—lest we should hurt others, in an unfair, unsportsmanlike way. Some of those husbands and wives who leave each other in the name of liberty by way of the divorce court have not always played the game by each other. They have not played fair. In seeking liberty they have perhaps smashed a wretched woman's life or wrecked an honest man's home, so that liberty is pols- oned fruit when it comes, and a new tyranny, in which their conscience has no freedom, but a secret torture. Loyalty is ofien opposed to liberty, because to be loyal we have to sacrifice our desires, our passions, our desperate temptations. Duty is opposed to liberty, because it means obedi- ence to other people’s will, to drudgery, to boredom. We have to turn a deaf ear when pleasure calls so temptingly, when beauty lures us, when there {6 good fun outside the window. * ok ok K We may have no religious faith to say “thou shalt” and “shalt not.” It is easier, though hard still, to obey the law of self-denfal if we belleve in Divine as well as human pro- hibitions. But 1 suppose most of us believe in kind- ness rather than in cruelty, in tolerance rather thar in intolerance, in some decent code of honor which is hased on courtesy and fair play, and pity for the weak. If we do belleve in those things, there is no such thing as abso- lute liberty, because to be kind instead of cruel is the law of self-denial. This cry for liberty, therefore, is & mock- ing voice. Not even on a desert island with one man and one woman can there be absolute Iberty for either of them. Those two must compromise. vield up self-desire, submit some- thing to the other. The best one can hope from liberty is free- dom to think fearlessly, to be secure in our | work and hoine, to have access to the world of | knowledge and of beauty, to have a fair share | in making or shaping the social code in which we live, and to be free from interference by | evil powers of governments, police or public | opinton, claiming authority over our souls and | bodies beyond the limits of justice and fair play. Even that is hard to get. T am all for liberty. But I realize its limi- tations, and the danger of that word, which in the mouths of fanatics, libertiness and rebels has caused much agony, crime and disillusion. (Copyright. 1026.) p EXPERTS OF VARIOUS NATIONS Parley Opening Here Next Tuesday Seeks Uniform Protection of Navigable Waters by Governmerits. Injurious Effect Upon Fish Proves Very Costly. BY HARDEN COLFAX. Plans are in order to keep the price of codfish within the reach of he most humble purse and to assure to the beach bather that he will emerge from the surf at least as clean as when he entered the water. Perhaps the men immediately con- cerned might not characterize their inspiration in these terms, but never- theless these are some of the ideas which underlie an international meet- ing which will start in Washington next Tuesday with the title of Pre. liminary Conference of Experts of A aritime Nations on Oil Pollution of | Navigable Waters The $80,000.000 annual fish bill of the American people. plus the | amounts which other nations pay for such food, stand In a falr way to be increased unless means are devised of preventing fishing grounds from be- ing pushed further and furtheraway. And it is no exaggeration to state that some beaches have become so Party at Geneva European Problems The object of the International Labor Organization is not, as some people belleve, to standardize labor conditions in the different countries. It is simply to establish an interna- tional minimum. Labor conventions cannot in any case lower the workers’ standard of living in any country. The effect of international legislation can only be to raise that standard. The Washington conference in No- vember, 1919, was the first manifesta tion of the activities of the Interna- tional Labor Organization. At this conference two very important geries of decisions were passed. In the first place, Germany and Austria were im- mediately admitted as members of the International Labor Organization. In the second place, the Washington conference adopted a series of con- ventions. the most important and the best known of which was the conven- tion concerning the 48-hour week. Results Somewhat Disappointing. Notwithstanding, it must be con- fessed that, efficacious as it has been, the legislative work accomplished by the International Labor Orgenization has been less considerable than the peace oconference and the working classes in the different countries had expected and hoped. The reason for this comperative failure is not far to seek. The economic and social clauses of the treaty of peace were based upon the conviction that the war was going to be followed by a period of extraor- dinary prosperity. Bolshevism had | reached the climax of its early suc- | e ss. The nations of Europe were afrald of the effects of its propaganda. Huge concessions to the working classes did not appear too high a price to pay for the maintenance of social order and domestic peace. In the Spring of 1921, however, the sit- uation was omplo‘t;ly reversed. The hypothe- sls upon which the International Labor Organization had been founded proved false. It would hardly be right, however, to speak of failure. As soon as in- dustry revives and labor becomes scarce the conditions obtaining in 1919 will be re-established, and inter- national labor legislation will pursue its course. The first symptoms of this change are already visible. (Copyright. 1926.) —_— After taking over 48 local railway the governmsnt of Mimflt»dm | pollution | creasing discharge of oil l ., 1 poliutted with oil that bhathers have come from the water fit subjects for a dry cleaning plant. Oil pollution of coastal waters, ex- tending to some degree to territorial waters when driven in by wind and tide, is a matter of real concern in every maritime nation. It is costing the United States hundreds of thou- sands of dollars every year in depre- clated property and fire hazard, not to mention the effect upon fish, and it is costing the people in the region effected something in health, too, be- cause of the deterrent influence upon sports which add to health. Inland streams have their own problem. what with in- from ga- rages and other factors, but that is another story. Oll pollution, so far as it is a grave problem, is caused mainly by oll-burning ships and ofl- carrying vessels. In the span of a very few years the commerce of the world has changed until now more then half the tonnage is transported by ofl-burning vessels. Experts estl- mate that although tankers consti- tuts only a third of the ofl-burning ships, they are responsible for more than half of the ofl pollution. Improved regulation, by law and by shipowners, who are inspired by economy as well as propriety, has reduced the pollution of navigable waters so that it is not as great this vear as two years ago despite an ever-increasing number of vesscls which consume oil as fuel. But it remains sufficiently serious to justify international consultation as to what to do about it. o Most of the pollution by ofl comes from bilge water or ballast water. A law enacted in 1924 in the United States prevents discharge of such wastes in territorial waters—within three miles of the coast—while most forelgn nations have similar laws. The trouble is that even though dis- charged far at sea, the oil floats along the surface, if light, or creeps along tha bottom, if heavy, until it brings up against the shoreline. The fish get away from there and stay away; the bather gets a nice tarry rim around his neck and sometimes en- twined in his hair, and a high inflam- mable deposit is incrusted on piers and docks, and other disagreeable things come to pass. Under congressional authority half a dozen departments and bureaus have been. in".h- investigation rious studies and . It re- ported to the Secretary of State in March. As a result this Government. feels it knows something definite about ofl pollution, its extent, costs, dangers, causes, effects and possible remedies. Hence, the call to 12 for- eign governments to send representa- tives to a preliminary conference, opening next week. " Although preliminary in this internstional conference y will recommend rather definite steps looking at least toward uniformity of action by the various governments. ‘And it may go further, for the Bu- reau of sm;m“h: been .unlnt and experimenting various types T water—resuls arates the ofl from er—resul ing in a saving which might nearly pay for the installation of such a ma. chine on ofl-burning ships. nature, More Germans Emigrate. Although German emigration abroad is not so high as in 1823, and the American quota is hardly filled, it is distinctly higher than before the war. In 1924 there were 32,956 Germans returned abroad. Most of the The u not does seem to situstion, from EM the DISARMING MEN OF ANIMOSITY | TO CONFER ON OIL POLLUTION| CALLED GREATEST PEACE MOVE Merely Taking Away Guns Will Not End Wars, Says General O. Ryan, Regarding Geneva Conference. | JOHN F. O'RYA Many good people have heen mis- led by the relation of armament to war and have even gone so far as to say ‘“‘scrap the armaments and you automatically end war, for how then could nations fight?" ‘The truth {s that armament con- sists of inanimate things, quite harm- less in themselves until made to func- tion by man. The man behind the gun 18 the true source of the war evil. He, with his passions, preju- dices and ambitions. is the problem. Pacify man, and his armament will fall into disuse. Reduce his arma- ment_efther by agreement or and fail to pacify him, and he will break loose and fight when he wills to_fight. But it may be asked, “Is it not a desirable thing, while attempting to solve the underlylng problems, to bring about & reduction of armaments upon some equitable basis?’ Let us assume the answer to be yes, and con- sider some of the difficulties. Must See Whole Problem. It would not be equitable or prac- ticable, for example, to reduce exist- ing land forces on a basis of a com- mon percentage of reduction, al- though that might seem offhand to a reasonable proposal. Land forces must be considered in relation to naval forces. Governments which depend mainly upon naval prepared- ness for defense might welcome re- duction of land forces. particularly ‘when such reduction would reduce the power. But that would not be the attitude of a power weak in naval forces but strong in land forces. Then, again, a government with colonies to main must ordinarily consider the peace time garrisons of such colonies, unavailable for home service or expeditionary purposes in BY FRITZ SCHOTTHOEFER, Forelgn Editor, Frankfurter Zeitung. Frankfort. America’s part in international co- operation is, in my opinfon, the most important problem of the present time. Since my arrival, I have no- ticed that & great many Americans are not yet satisfled with the part that the United States is taking in international affairs. It is my opin- ion that this part is not so small as it may appear if you look only on the officlal conferences or formal ne- gotiations of any kind during the re- cent years. But even without official participation America is exercising continually a great influence in the whole world, and particularly in the evolution of Europe. Ame! does not always_interfere, but she is always present. You know that in astron 1t is possible to de- termine the ition of a yet un- known planet merely by fts attrao- tion and repulsion for other planets. That is the case with the United States, They are certainly one of the biggest centers of gravitation in this world. Whatever statesmen and peoples do in Europe or Asia, they certainly look with one eye—I hope it will always be the right eve—at the American continent. They feel there ! 1s samething which cannot be neg- lected, which must be most serious- ly taken into account. What will America think about this or that, and what will she do? 3 I may be allowed to state here gometimes it is rather impossible to foresse which attitude will be taken on this side of the Atlantie. And not Infrequently we have met Former Commander. 27th Division, A. E. F.| force, | { [ the event of war. Thus one govern-| | ment with an army of 400,000 men capable of immediate concentration may in effect be maintaining a| greater armament threat against po- tential enemies than a government with an army of 600.000 men with fts gomponents scattered in colonial serv- ce. But success in war is no longer to be forecast in terms of men and arme- ment alone, or of organization and leadership. * War today involves the employment of the population. Rela- tive efficlency in the production of war munitions may determine ultt | mate success. ! Comparison With U. S. | The United States with its 100.000.- | 000 of population, its unlimited natural | resources and its unrivaled industrial capacity for armament and munitions production, and with its skeleton army, is infinitely more formidable a: & war an ist thap som countries which maintain large stand- POLAND SEEN IMPERILED AS NATION BY PILSUDSKI Weakening of Peace Treaty and Attack on Boundaries BY FRANK H. SIMONDS. HILE quite naturally Amer- ican and even world atten- tion has been fixed upon the more dramatic and per- sonal aspects of the Pil- sudski eplsode there s patently an international side, which must sooner or later command attention. For Po- land Pilsudski is a complete disaster. What the Polish nation needs is a great administrator, a super-financial expert with the courage and the au thority to bring order out of a cha which fs the inevitable consequence of youth, inexperience and misfortune. What it has got in Pilsudski is some- thing between Garibaldi and Napo- leon III, with the weak qualities of both Pilsudski comes because the men of reasonable ideas and ordinary common sense have been unable to fight against {1l luck at home and abroad. Two years ago Poland by a desperate effort stabilized her currency and bal- anced her budget. At the same time she placed her political fortunes in the hands of W. Grabsk, a quiet, taciturn, well balanced man with no strong po- litfeal affiliations and with something ke a genius for administration. Stabflization always brings hard times and unemployment, with an in- creased cost of living. On top of that Poland had two crop failures, ‘which were disastrous, as the country 18 primarily agricultural and depends upon the export of foodstuffs for much of its income. But it had to buy food abroad. Hard on the two crop failures came a tariff war with Germany, an inevitable consequence of territorial disputes. The tariff war was terrifically expensive for Ger- { many, but it was fatal for Poland be- | cause it deprived the great Silesian coal mines of their German market Foreign Policy Reverses. Together with these domestic m fortunes came the two foreign disas ters of Locarno and Geneva, with the recent Russo-German treaty as a third. Locarno did give the Poles a certain measure of protection as Ger- many agreed not to remake her east- ern frontier by force, but it clearly established German purpose to abolish the Danzig Corridor and it set up a distinction between Eastern and Western frontiers as created at Ver- sallles. Germany accepted the loss of Alsace-Lorraine as final. but she not only established a way to reopen the FEastern question diplomatically, she clearly had British support for her Ppurpose. Geneva was a second disaster, be. cause not only did Poland there fail to get a permanent seat on the council of the league, but it was made fairly clear that she was unlikely to obtain it later. Her representatives suffered a very great loss of prestige and the home front was shaken. Even at Geneva whispers of an_upheaval in Warsaw were heard as Polish failure bacame manifest. Finally the recent Russo-German treaty not alone brought together in clear assoclation the two nations which look upon Po- }land with great hostility and have un- ! disguised purposes to regain lands as- signed to Poland at Paris and Riga, but it disclosed anew the faflure of Polish statesmanship, which had been unable to get Western guarantees or any more solid insurance against Rus- sia than a Rumanian alliance. Of course Pilsudski can do nothing to improve the situation financially, politically or diplomatically. He is the idol of the private soldiers, appar- ently, but he is far from being a great general or even a reasonable states- man. His famous rush into Russia a few vears ago took him as far as Kiev, but ‘brought the Soviet army to the gates of Warsaw, where the invaders French generalship £ ability of Stkorski and Haller, Polish generals, who are not with Pllsudski today. 5 Position Is Different. Pilsudski has no gift for adminis- tration, no ean sense. ag- | sober sense of the country is against arma. ment’ might be added to by consid- erations of topography, climats, past performances, present policies and treaty alliances. T therefors doubt whether any formula can be developed at this time to govern the reduction of armament | among the governments of the world. | As the League and World Court demonstrate their dependability substitute reason and law for war, and confidence in their permanency and effectiveness increases, arma- | ments will correspondingly decrease. The taxpayers of all countries will de- mand to know of what use is their maintenance. Financial aenemia will settle the armament question quite automatically if the circumstances Justify it. (Copyright. 1926.) German Editor Says That All Europe = | Keeps Watch Constantly on America | with a silence which could be inter pr:ted ml ml{gr senses. . In saying this, it is not my inten- tion to give a lesson t Amlr&. We are convinced that she has serfous reasons for everything that she does. hrough the braim is the leet thing is ‘which could be Americans. America knows what she wants. That is a great advantage to her. But it {s also an advantage for us. We have the certitude that she will come into action only when she has earnestly examined the situation, and that then she will do something of real and practical value. In this place I can give only my personal opinion. I know that per- (cctllx W:ll, I am German, but I would not venture to speak on behalf of the German people. v to the men who have been by the German nation to dlwmh nlAm.:l recent e ica, in the de- velopment of European affairs. With- out the American financial interven- tion in the reparation question, Eu- rope would not yet have succeeded in overcoming the dangerous crisis, in which we lived since the end of the war. The settlement of the repara- tion question opened the way to Lo. carno, which may lead us to complete pacification. And peace in Europe means peace throughout the world. (Copsright. 1926.) i o Members of the British Private Afr- him. His position from the start must be compromise because forelgn ocapi- tal will obviously have nothing to do with him or with Poland under his control. But Poland must have for- eign capital to develop and in her present straits she must have out side aid. Only the enemies of Poland will re- Joice at the present disaster. which may in the end lead directly to a new to | partition, and*in any event must post- | pone the actual reunification of the country indefinitely. Poland had a certain number of years of grace while Germany and Russla were both for different reasons incapable of attack- ing her again. For Germany this period is bound to end with the com- pletion of the period of occupation by allled armies—that is, nine years hence. But a little of Pilsudski and Poland will loss her chance. There is, however, a far more im- portant and international aspect to the present Polish episode. France Has made of Poland a close ally. Her policy has been based upon the as- sumption that in case of a new Ger- man attack Poland would be able to play the role which Russia played in 1914, and that as Russian invasion of East Prussia drew off army corps from the West before the Battle of the Marne and just made the French so Polish invasion part. But Poland has been a lability as well a8 an asset, for the British have not only steadily refused to under- take any responsibility for Poland, but have conmsistently indicated that they regard Poland as unduly exten- sive and were willing to placate Ger- many by the retrocession of Polish lands both in the Danzig Corridor and in Upper Sflesia. Nevertheless, Poland has had a strong army and France has maintained her Polish policy. It has become steadily clearer, how- ever, that as long as France backed Poland and maintained the saw that a new war with France ‘would almost certainly mean.a new war with Britain also, partly because they were pretty thoroughly disillu- sioned as to the loyalty of the Reichs- land population itself. In the same sense the Germans were willing, as the Locarno pact showed, to guaran- tee French security. But there is not an adult German ready to accept the loss of Danzig and the Corridor as permanent or willing to resign the German claim to Upper Silesia. While for two years German relations have in- credibly, the Pelish question still remained an ebstacie te any real Mqui- o | MaNY, too, as & Possible From datfon. France, weighing all things, has continued to believe the assist ance of Polish divisions was more cer- tain than any German guarantee. Changed in Paris View. The recent decline in Polish pros- pects, however, has had its effect upon Paris, and now the Pilsudski affair comes at the moment when the French {are perhaps least willing to run risks Poland under Pilsudski becomes an obvious liability. There are 10 chances that France will have to go to war | for Poland to one that Poland will | come to the aid of France. Pilsudski may mean war, he may mean peace, but he certainly does mean insecurity and turmoil. And Poland under Pil sudski and after Pilsudskl is hardly likely to be as valuable an ally as it might have been had the revolution not come. Algeady French influence in the center and east of Europe has been on the wane. If Czechoslovakia still in the main follows the French orienta- tion, Jugoslavia has passed over to the Italian camp and Rumania has gone almost as far. The whole sys tem of alliances and assoclations which were created by _post-war French diplomacy and reached their apex under Poincare has disinte- grated, partly because of local condi tions, but very considerably because of the decline of French power itself as a consequence of the financial troubles. France has still a considerable army land a degree of military prestige re sulting from the war, but her finan cial plight is such that all her allles appreciate the fact that she could render them little aid in case of trouble, for the main aid hoped for was financial, not military. Add the enormous demands made upon the French army and treasury by the Moroccan and Syrian fighting and the situation becomes clear. Effect on French Policy. Nothing is more likely, then, than that the Pilsudski affair will prove the final episode in the disintegration of the French system of alliances and the death sentence to the Franco- Polish alliance itself. Moreover, such a change will have for its first conse- quence a new forward step in Franco- German_ adjustment. If gur- renders her previous purpose to mount guard on the Vistula and defend her eastern frontier by the Polish threat to the eastern marches of Germany, 5 lid barrier to Franco- | German appeasement disappears. I do not mean to suggest that Franco-German friendship is a pres- pect for the present generation. Tt will take a lot of time and much fer- getting, bevond the capacity of the French and German peoples who lived the war. But there will remain mot one eolid and tangible cause for dis- pute and conflict. For more than §0 Vears, ever since Germany took Al- face-Lorraine, France has been the real obstacle to German expansion because in any dispute with any other great power, Britain or Russia, French hostility was assured. Alwave able to defeat France alone, Germany to reach France alone, ce, while unreconciled, as always peaceful in her polici N Germany is certainly 1rnr;n:1§mpl::\'; s a great power. She is dete fi) \\l; back her lost position. If sha found herself encircled by French dl: plomacy and unable to expand in anv direction, to restore her eastern Ben; tier or descend the Danube; if in every direction the French influence walled her in, then in the end she ‘would be bound to accept a war with France as a detall in her resurgence. Securlty Aim of France. But France has no other purpose on | the Vistula or the middle Danube, at | Prague, aw or Vienna than to assure her own security. She is mot Seeking territory, not carrying out imperialistic aims, but always striving for as many allies as possible if and when Germany attacks. The greater her own sense of security, the less The | she will care for these eastern allles. d the weaker they becomse the = ter the danger for her of @sso clating her fortunes with them, And her own financlal collapse malcss it impossible that she should contimue to give them loans. Slowly but surely French eyes are | opening to a mew danger. On the | southeast an Italy is rising which | adopts toward France language which astonishingly bitter. Italy has | ar pirations, She seeks colonies and openly aims at Mediterranean | supremacy. Not a few Italians look to French North Africa as the true field for Italian expansion, and plan to repeat in Tunis ;u;‘d Algeria the tri mphs of ancient Rome. 5 Av“m" Italy alone France is rea sonably safe, because she has a better army and far greater wealth. She has also, because of her colonies, a much larger population, although there are more Italians in Ttaly than Frenchmen in France. Again, France can safely count on British support. since Britain has no desire to see Italy dominate the Mediterranean. PBut a German-Italian alliance would have very great peril for France, and such an alliance might easily come, despite recent bickerings between Rome and Berlin, if Franco-German relations continued bad. Bar to New Alliance. Germany will not easily make a new Italian alliance, because no single post-war sentiment is stronger in Ger- many_than resentment oves m‘- regarded as Italian desertion ifi . The question of the Upper Adige also rankles unmistakably. Indeed, the recent Italian action there may well be set down to anger over the failure of Ttalian efforts to bring-about a Ger- man alliance which might menace France. Germany, too, desires col onies, and is thus a rival of Italy for any mandates which may ‘become available, while she naturally aims at restoring her position in the Danublan area. In many directions German and Itallan aspirations there is no similar collision e and German material her B S T tions with Britain and Rfi E 1sh and American finance, us haw ing to choose between & satisfaoctory adjustment with France and a gamble with Italy, her ultimate decision may be forecast with reasonable acouracy. The collapse of Poland, the coming of Pilsudski, the general chaos which is likely to result, give France mot only an excuse but a warrant for re- vising her policy. The grandiose edifice of Poincare diplomagy has gone by the board. France is poor, peaceful and done with any foreign adventure for a long time to come. emain. in S et o & e is It-