Newspapers / The Daily Advance (Elizabeth … / May 24, 1924, edition 1 / Page 2
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The Promise Of Peace By FRANK H. SIMONDS Copyright, 1U2I by McClure Newspaper Syndicate Washington, May 21.?Now that, the surprise over the French election returns has passed away It Is both: possible and perhaps useful to exam-; Ine this amazing phenomenon at close ranee. It cannot, however, he studied by Itself, for it was unniis-i takably the result of tilings which In part took place outride of I'm nr. notably the arrival of u I.ohor Gov ernment In fireat Itrilaiii and the ap pearanee of a Dawes report in Purls. Five and u half y.urs ago the World War having come to its end rather abruptly, men and weno n in many countries were discussing the future in terms of the past, which had been well nle.li intolerable. Mr. Wilson's famous phrase about "mak ing the world safe for democracy" was on niuny millions of tongues and people of most nations were hoping and believing that the peace which was to be made would he a peace which would register the triumph of democratic ideas and open tin* way to a world dominate d by liberal con ceptions. The thing did not turn out as peo ple hoped and believed. Instead ail the great democracies of the west Including our own. w< re swept by a wave of reaction. The parliament elected in Britain, Imniediati ly after the Armistice In December, lftls. that Chosen in France after the mak ing of the Treaty of Versailles in 1919 and Anally the Congress and the President chosen in tin- I'nlted States In 1920 represented conser vative and, so far as Kurope was concerned, reactionary principles. It is patent that events in Ktissia materially contributed to the charac ter of the governments chosen in western nations and even more to I the policies pursued by western de mocracies for the first years of peace. The men who dominated In- France and in Great Britain were men vho had little real sympathy or n,.i pa tience with the Ideas Mr. Wilson had championed and the Russian peril gave point to their apprehensions. Aside from Itussla the first na tions to "go" democratic or perhaps more exactly radical were Germany and Italy. How far the German change was real, how far a dcllber ate effort to deceive the conqueror, and invite easier terms is a matter for debate. Certainly the reality fell short of the appearance. At the out set only Italy seemed to have gone the whole distance and to have in vited Socialism in a form which had direct Inspiration from Moscow. Iteactlon Follows lUullcnllsm Then, by an odd coincidence, at least, the countries which had gone radical began to- turn conservative. We saw the coming of Musolinl with ,hls tacismo, seizing power by some thing closely approximating a revi? lutlon but a revolution made by the right, by the conservatives and fin ally legalized by the still recent Ital ian election. Then we sow the drift to right In Germany moving steadily and impressively until it culminated In the recent election, which was a transformation the extent of which remains difficult to measure but the direction of which was and Is pat ent. Meantlmes In England Lloyd George, mainly supported by Tories ruled for four years. Little by little he lost the support of the Liberals, that of Labor was lost from the start. In the end he became solely the crea ture not merely of the Tories, but of Tory principles, although In his own heart he was always hoping for a chance to form n middle, moderate party drawing from Liberal and Tory. In the end this aspiration wrecked him. Failing abroad he was overthrown at home by the more conservative wing of the Tory party which rejoiced In the significant name of "Die-hard." Then power passed to Bonar Law, who had been the titular leader of the old Tory party. from him it devolved upon Stanley Baldwin, also a "die-hard" while the Foreign Office and Foreign policy passed to the control of Vis count Curzon, of the same Tory tra dition. Thus, beginning with the "Kliakl Election" of December 1918 and lasting right down lo the general election of last autumn, a period of five years, reaction dominated In Oreat Britain and, following the Bonar Law election lato In 1922, Its control has been absolute. The situation In France was meas ureably different. Clemenceau was a radical, but In the last analysis he was Clemenceau and he dominated by virtue of the fact that he was Clemenceau, When he retired, after the Treaty of Versailles, he was de nied the Presidency becnuse he had refused to follow the advise of Foch and Polncare In making the treaty of peace; (hat Is, to put It simply, he had listened to Lloyd George and Woodrow Wilson rather than to frenchmen of the Polncare and Foch opinion. Why llrtami Fell . But the French Parliament, chos en In 1919, was a reactionary par t Uament comparable In the main to . that chosen In England In the Kliakl ?lection, some months earlier. It was parliament committed to maintaining for France the fruits of the victory. such fruits as remained after the Treaty of Versailles It began with a Miilerand Cabinet, but Mlllerand shortly after became Preeldent of the Hepubllc. Then came a Leygues Cabinet which was but a makeshift, then came Brland. Now Ilrland Is by political habit a conservative radical. He started as " socialist of the extreme type, as ^430?! president i has MeA marching to th4 rirfht all -time he h*a been climbing to Walker Co. "?*77 lb. Fjmd, What .1 top- all Ihlngs considered ' f. moderate, vastly more mod ,l"' c,'?"ib< r of Deputies which for a time sustained him far m*? 'rate than IN.lncare 'who prisently overturned him. Ilrland fell because the French p ope as a whole and the Freuch Chamber in particular felt that .lo><| George was steadily depriving 1-ranee ?f th(. frul(li (>f ,,t.r aia'insT her' ',I."-V',"K u Germau game against her. It became tli?> settled Mmt o??y p'l "" rr,nr" Chanitwr ll r ? T r"ul<1 <?'">?* vriH> Lloyd George. So finally 1'oincare was called and his rule endured as "f" r r" l'rOVC<! ?'''?? ?> cope with Uoyd George and less than a year f, ii i ' C""K'.to Power Lloyd George f ? largely iiecause of the skillful iiiunoeuvering of Polncare. The r-ili "s " K?'id f?r ll" w", ld be cause a* long as Lloyd George re mained in Downing Street all chance of I ranco-riritish friendship was at I'll end. But when I'oincare came " V. r,l,:;ns. encouraged by British and I- rcnrli quarrelling*. had refused lo continue reparations payments ! tho occupation of the ItuI, " hud become inevitable. Tit" occupation of the Ruhr, liow Permanently alienated lirltain from France, while I'oincare r " r ?,n"istpr- K'-m-h hox Iw?re promptly took on I, character that French hostility to Lloyd George had long p"'1- But H was impossible that ance should dismiss Polncare or whlinVIl,ll,ri C?nll'Ct was KoinK th.T n i.f .? conviction continued tnat British statesmanship was en gaged in depriving France* of her le* Bitimajo rights under the Treaty of I 2 'I France, speaking gen , ? occupation of the I'olncar" committed to Mac Donald's Itlsc to Power however, British power passed to Itamsay MacDonald a new situation arose. Britain had dell * V. 1 Kon'' liberal, radical or whichever you may please to call it. any way it had broken with the I war and the war polcy, It had chosen Bis?"?, i Prem,er and this pac flst was 111 turn committed to a pol cy of pacification. On the other hand he disclosed the fact that he was animated by no hostility to ? rance. that he was honest, stralght heen"i'n Vn sln,p,p- B<'fore he had been in office many weeks he had a Tar lnPJT9 1>arls a,ld was popu lar In I. ranee as Lloyd George had not been since tile end of the war Meantime all France was sufferlnc unmistakably from the fact that the world, speaking generally had come to regard P?)ncare as a militarist" and !? ranee as a reactionary country given over to a policy of revenge and ini .'i 4? t0 dc8,roy Germany us ^lg the Treaty of Versailles as a weapon and the occupation of the I Ruhr as an opportunity. Polncare bi came as a world figure more slnis ?i, B,su,arck. himself. of .l ? ?^!S Was ln,"xact to the point ?/ 'J'e ffotesque, but never-the-less I* ranee suffered for It and felt it Moreover Poincare showed himself made y r.?W and obstinate and "if* *rav? blunders on domestic policy which were only atoned for by iJr . t ,hat ln ,ho fleld of foreign alTaiis he still expressed the will of J; ra"c<>. albeit with a degree of pro vocation which gave seeming confir hin m foreign estimate of ,1. Moreover, and the fact Is of =. 'Sf. ?,KU"'cance, France was steadily becoming more and more flemeut. P<,"C<>' """ for a ,et" wh'iVhWD. i,h? Dawos Commission, for which Polncare was mainly respons ible, which In tho end wrecked the Lorralner. As long as the case seemed to Frenchmen to be one of a wo'rh "wm'"; Krpnch claim against Fran!*! ftM? sought to deprive r ranee of her rights, of security and reparation, which appeared to be willing to let Germany go scot-free, and France fall into defenseless; bankruptcy, France, all parties, or. enough of the members of each par-! ty. stood by Poincare. But the Dawes report for the first time gave the French financial claims and French reparation rights a satisfactory International founda tion on the economic side. It de clared that Germany could pay large ly and provided ways and means for the payment. The debate over the ability of Germany was ended., French claims vindicated not in a political court but In a conference of economic experts, l'oincare had said Germany could pay', he had held his ground in the face of all the argu menUL-lliat Germany was bankrupt! iand reparations a figment of the Im agination. Hut when the Dawes Committee had vindicated the Poln care claim, then the real usefulness of Poincare had terminated. Why Polnrure Fell At last the moment had arrived when the French could dispense with the strong man. necessary to defend their rights; but whose strength, unfortunately aroused Hritish and even American criticism and roused German reaction to the war pitch.! Poincare could not get along with | Britain, or more exactly Britain could not get on with Poincare, but here In the Dawes report was a basis! of co-operation between the two! countries, with a satisfactory prom ise of the substantial payment by, Germany of the necessary repara-! tions. What simpler then than to drop Poincare as Clemenceau had, In fart been dropped? Bear in mind that the mass of Frenchmen during the period of the | break between Great Britain and! France had made up their minds' that France must in the end work ; with Britain or get nothing. Bear in mind also that a surprising num ber of Frenchmen had come to the conclusion that at hast a basis of economic co-operation between France and Germany was essential to France?as to Germany?and it must Income evident with what ap-1 prehension Frenchmen looked at the | prejudice aud even worse against , Poincare in both Britain and Ger-1 many. France had turned to Poincare in j 1322 as she had turned to Clemen ceau in 1917, not because of any popularity?neither man enjoyed popularity In the ordinary sense of the word, save as Clemenceau won it with the war and for a moment? but because in each case these seemed the necessary men. But in oi[s ?u ujeoujoj p.uldojp aqs pua .?qi had denied Clemenceau the presi dency because the necessity had passed and the asset had become a liability. 1 The Frenchman would say, 1 be lieve, that Clemenceau had won the war and therefore deserved well of the republic despite of his later fail lures. He would In the same way : say that Poincare, by overturning I Lloyd George and by occupying the Kuhr, had saved France's rights both to reparation and to security. But lie would say also, that since Poin Icare had come to appear as militar istic, whatever that might be, that since he had become a symbol of trouble, an apparent barrier to Eur opean peace, and since, in any event his task was done, it was time to choose other men to negotiate with both Britain and Germany. Now. if l'rauce had been at heart militaristic, as has been so often al leged, she would not have turned away from Poincare at this moment. On the surface it was as wild an ex periment as the British choice of MacD maid a few short mouths be fore. But in reality both countries ( ,'ontinucd on Page Throe) FLEERS CHECKERBERRY CHEWING OUM IHJ | Astounding I Reductions ? | Bed Room And Dining Room Suites a 10% <? 40% ? ? w Off on the finer suites of both Bed ? Room and Dining Room Furniture for 10 DAYS ONLY i M.G.Morrisette&Co in ? ? THE MAIN STREET FURNITURE STORE. ELIZABETH CITY, NORTII CAROLINA rsi I ? ?? ?H?? ?SB???[? SHSBIsl E? ?? ?S? 51 ISUliriirSl'BlIillilfSirSiril 1511=11511=11=1 r=ir=ir=ir=ir=ir=ir=it=ir=ir=i Where Purity Ice Is Made Thin is the plant on the Vfpkivillf Koad where the ice made from pure well water is manufactured. Purity ice may 1m* melted and used for drink ing purposes as it is clean, pure and healthful. Try PURITY ICE once and you will he satisfied. Watch for one of these YELLOW WAGONS. PHONE 72 OK 103. Wright's Purity Ice & Fuel Co, Courageous, Efficient ?Honest The rocord of MILES W. FEREBEE in the North (Carolina Senate and as City Councilman is proof of his integri ty, honesty and efficiency as a public official. VOTE FOR Miles W. Ferebee FOR SHERIFF ALKRAMA Today I ? J ? I EDMUND COBB ? II ? i in II ? "Devil Gorge" i ? ? Also Harold Miller in ? "WAY OF A MAN." ? ? a ? Better Delivery Service We have put on an automooll?> delivery truck and can as sure you that In the future your garments will be delivered to you In the bent po*slble#condltlon In all Kinds of weather; they will be protected from the rain as well as the dunt and dirt. Olve us a trial and be convinced. Our slogan will oe: "Rain or Shine We Deliver on Time." PlfONB 280. Cooper Cleaning Works THE OLD HOME TOWN BY STANLEY
The Daily Advance (Elizabeth City, N.C.)
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May 24, 1924, edition 1
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