A POLITICAL VERSAILLES

...international order...

...If unity in design and in execution is essential to success in active warfare, it is no less essential to good politics...

...THE present method is profoundly unsatisfactory...

...The case of Poland, too, is even more critical...

...Successive reverses, combined with the unfruitful results of un-coordinated offensives, at last compelled the Allies to accept the inevitable and to place their whole military resources under pne controlling mind...

...Indeed, many, of the problems with which we are face to face today are actually insoluble unless the conditions which prevailed before the war are radically chanced...

...The attitude of the three Entente Governments—and for this purpose we believe we may add the Government of Washington—towards the new Adriatic agreement is a most promising sign, for it shows that while these governments are satisfied that such a movement as the Italo-Slav reconciliation is based upon sound principle and contributes to the general purpose of the Entente, they are prepared to accept the assistance of unofficial diplomacy...

...Indeed, we may point out here'that tha Allied Governments have shown themselves ready to welcome with alacrity any positive policy which, bears upon the fact of it evidence alike of the care which has been taken in its preparation and of the personal authority of its authors...

...In the case of the Ukraine, for instance, during the past year the Governments of London and Paris have pursued different lines and, while Paris burnt her fingers over her Ukraine loan, London is perhaps now beginning to realize the embarrassment of having half-a-dozen divergent lines of official or semi-official diplomacy in Russia, and elsewhere...

...IF SUCH discussion were inaugurated at a political Versailles we believe that they would lead the Governments concerned straight to the conclusion that behind and above all the outstanding military, economic and territorial problems, which hang like gigantic storm-clouds over the landscape of the war, there is the even vaster question of the international framework in which tl._ world may live hereafter...

...The result is that in the intervals between these hurried consultations, divergencies of opinion easily arise between one Government and another and may develop into a dissension which would place serious difficulties in the way of common action...

...The extreme protectionism which has characterized the colonial policy of certain European Powers, is not only economically unfruitful but internationally unjust, and if the world is to be freed from the evil effects of its operation the whole basis upon which European Powers have administered African territories in the past must be radically altered...

...It consists in hurried meetings between the heads of the British, French and Italian Governments, usually called together in moments of military crisis when the necessary leisure and proper temper for serious political discussion are wanting, and when, therefore, the largest decisions are made with the least political preparation...

...We sball have to wait for some time yet before measuring the full advantages of the single command...

...In using this illustration we do not suggest the restoration of German colonies, but we do insist that if and when war ends in the.triumph of our principles, colonial territory, especially in Africa, should be held on such a tenure by tha occupying power as to forbid its exploitation for purely selfish national purposes...

...own well-considered plan of an African settlement, and, since such a settlement is inseparable from the whole economic policy of the Entente nations, there ought to be summoned without delay a new economic conference, including representatives of the United States, at which the whole problem should be reviewed in the light of changed conditions and better knowledge so that the precise and most effective use of the economic weapon may be properly defined...

...Method is Unsatisfactory...

...There will be nothing but discord and confusion over the whole African problem, for instance, at the Peace Conference unless the Allies devise their Paytrioteers SENATOR HIRAM W. JOHNSON, in discussing what he called "patrioteers," said: "A patrioteer is a politician usually discredited, who seeks in time of war to cover every political scare by wrapping himself in the American flag and by vocal vociferation of a pretended patriotism...

...and, while we are heartily glad to recognize that it has ripened with unexpected rapidity and is now almost assured of a proper solution, other questions still lag far behind...

...IT IS inconceivable that we can have any fruitful policy in Russia unless it is the result of mature deliberation in a consultative body which represents the political unity of the Alliance...

...This is the supreme issue on which it is desirable that the Governments of the Entente should open discussion in order that they may explore the ground at their leisure and lay out the best avenue of approach towards a new...

...inclination was wanting to reconstruct the problem of the Adriatic on the only permanent basis on which it can rest, namely, that of an understanding between the Italians and the Southern Slavs...

...relation between the Colonial empires and the supply of raw materials to the industrial nations of the temperate zones, for instance, cannot be measured simply in terms of the German ill-treatment of the native races, and the statesman who takes a long view will realize that to shut Germany out of Africa without giving her reasonable means for satisfying her economic requirements would be the surest way to provoke a new conflict...

...We do not minimize all that is being done, both in London and in Paris—both unofficially and semi-offieially r—to evolve a general policy, expressed in the specific terms of territorial and economic conditions, out of the resounding declarations made from time to time by the spokesmen of the Allies...

...endeavor to have his political past forgotten...

...Obstacles Are Not Great...

...and we may say in passing that General Foch entered upon his gigantic duties at a moment when the situation had been seriously prejudiced, partly by the faulty military policy—or policies—pursued in those unhappy days when the Allies fought as single detached uniits...

...Indeed, many of the problems with which we are face to face today are actually insoluble unless the conditions which prevailed before the war are radically changed...

...ereignty as in the case of the military council at Versailles: but, unless the political chiefs of the Allied nations enter upon their task of creating an unassailable political unity as their body armour for the peace conference, firmly realizing that the old days of undisputed national sovereignty in foreign affairs are gone forever, they may find their task too hard for them...

...The article is as follows: The Single Front as a military doctrine was •nly accepted after many hard lessons...

...It is not our purpose to reopen the debate upon the single command in its military sense, but rather to invite the Governments of the Entente to apply to politics'Wttat they have now found essential in the military sphere...

...Policy in Russia...

...The creation of this supreme political council of tha Alliance does not entail anything like the same immediate and visible surrender of national sov...

...But we must point out that the very alacrity of their welcome to this movement, for instance, shows that they are glad to be rid of the embarrassment of the old secret understanding and that either they had no time or that tha IF such discussion were inaugurated at a political Versailles we believe that they would lead the Governments concerned straight to the conclusion that behind and above all the outstanding military, economic and territorial problems, which hang like gigantic storm-clouds over the landscape of the war, there is the even vaster question of the international framework in which the world may live hereafter...

...Severe pressure is now being brought to bear upon the Polish problem which would bind the country firmly to the chariot wheels of Mittel-Europa and, if the Allies merely pursue a policy of waiting for something to turn up, they will lose the good-will of Poland and with it perhaps all chance of re-establishing Eastern Europe on foundations of liberty and justice...

...The Adriatic question, however, is only one of many outstanding problems...

...Without such frank and cordial cooperation there will be discrepancies and divergencies in policy which may end in fatal conflict...

...A Political Versailles Establishment Of Central Body To Determine Political Policy Of Entente Allies Is Advocated IN AN article entitled "A Political Versailles," tha magazine "The New Europe," advocates the establishment of a central body which shall determine the political policy to be pursued by all of the Entente Allies in their dealings with the Central Powers around the peace table...

...I have little less contempt for the patrioteer than I have for the profiteer...

...See International Framework...

...But if they have understood and digested the cogent argument presented in these pages by our distinguished French collaborator, Professor Seignobos, they will realize that the statesman's mission in the 20th century is to make our sense of European citizenship a reality, and thus provide a spacious arena in which the nations may cooperate in peace and progress...

...T.HE attempt to find a suitable framework for this new conception will lead to the formulation, as a practical political expedient, of a League of Nations...

...A glance over the map will reveal many other territorial problems on which the Entente must ultimately speak with one clear voice...

...Fortunately the obstacles to be overcome before a political Rapallo may lead to a political Versailles are not so great as those which lay in the path of the precedent military form by which ultimately General Foch became commander-in-chief of the Allied armies in France...

...But in order to realize this unity it is not necessary to supersede the sovreign political power of each individual Government, but rather to provide a common clearing house and council chamber for their political ideas...

...We take this instance, partly because we are thoroughly familiar with every detail and every step in the prolonged negotiations which have led to so happy a result, and partly because being a fait accompli we cannot be accused of embarrassing any Government by using it as an illustration...

...Unlike those executive functions of the supreme Commander-in-Chief, which cannot be faithfully discharged except by a single untrammelled mind acting rapidly on well founded principles, the political task of the Allies is to find the highest common measure of their different policies and on the basis of a general agreement founded thereon to build up the whole structure of an acceptable European policy...