RE-SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE.

Dunstan Times, Issue 3141, 30 October 1922, Page 8

RE-SETTLEMENT OF EUROPE.

HOW AMERICA CAN HELP. Governor James M. Cox, of Ohio, the Democratic candidate for the United States Presidency at the. last election, made a strong plea, for American participation in the resettlement of Europe in the course of a speech delivered hefore the American Society in London after lunch at the Savoy Hotel at the beginning of September. He spoke of the reparations question, and said things were helped by the voice of Ameriea, which had 1 been heard after being shackled and fettered by a policy of seeming international unconcern'. European confusion had been contributed to in considerable degree by America's policy of vacillation, and economists now owned tnat there would be no permanent, just, equitable, or stable restoration of things in Europe until 1 America made herself part o-f the general equation. Governor Cox said he wanted to thank old Loudon town for the evidences of hospitality she had given to In in. He wished to speak his appreciation qi the fine devotion to high journalistir" ethics which members of the fnsljsb. Press-editor and reportershad held to, and by the same token he wanted the representatives of the American newspapers also to have evidence of his appreciation. Thev were assembled under the auspices 'of an American society, and he assumed was no/impropriety in discussing the a,ftairs of the world particularly from the American point of view. Conditions in I ranee, in his judgment, were worse than the status of the franc would iu- ■ ufh + i e V* ?" °P tin 'ist, however, •; d he thought things would work out a nght provided the statesmen and the populations of this generation met it , V 'V''-i llaml V th the ean * ! fidel>t\ and vigilance that statesmen and pop.,lations had shown in the ]S The salvation of France was the sanity if its peasant public opinion. The saVi tjon of Italy, he believed, consisted', the oeyelopment of her hvdro-electrio labilities. Austria, was the Sot to the eastern frontier, and two days travel saw onlv three automobiles, and they were close to Vienna The „ ogfc hopcfu] thi . n V 2™J; east European country is the prosenee 0 n governmental genius in pel on Penis T C ' ■?, ? ov^u - Minister-Mr Slm" L- X- tho 6llgar « row " in Czechs uenosL nf V y i V T Covered Targe epos ts of oil and there will be no exnorfctnxoT, that. In short, therein U ?-^ m anything leTv ng Czecho-SJovakia that Austria needs nioio leassuring than this—that the Wpean people recognise the import! over the I l"? mt ? tho *««* ** ZT , i ■ l°9 hii] \. embargoes that have ties that passed across the frontiers. And now we come to Gcrmanv. awl find a marked difference of opinion Y ujST"!!* O editions P there ion inect Americans, and- von hnvn tZtr^' 't • i.s ,>vi,, m „i • Wl " t( " v<>ll German v m, ' , V ,r ° 5,,0m,1s i,,1(1 th »* Wwro 1 "? ?'«" of «". wonoiiuc collapse. It . be liorne ,„ mind that from tho "oui the Armistice was signed until '"»»'. approximately. Germany has o e "gaged in the sale of marks. The" ha-ve been purchased in large measure bv American and English investors Germany has collected Iron, that mW<se three and a.half billion dollars, "'is supplies one of the reasons for hTiinn PPa, f <>n i t i. ,,, ' <K, r rit ' V - b «t those 3* Hio of dollars have been absorbed b5 the unfavorable balance in trade ■- f the sale of marks has now, i ' j Probability, come to an end as a mat cr oi investment, speculation, or what 10 • hold "o brief for Gcrmanv, but, «j."t to speak these words in 'behalf '.'l her existing Government— there are "i. my judgment, n„ two men more conscientious in then- tasks in any of the Chancelleries of the world than President Ebert and Chancellor Wirth in. Germany. I am convinced that thev desire tho perpetuity 0 f democratic institutions, and they look with the samo disfavor upon the return of the royalists m Germany as we do in America and as 1 assume, you do in England' Whatever evidence there has been of , e J man Prosperity is' coming to an. rot ns speak frankly about the partthat America ought to play. You here are (-loser to the centre of the disorderand you realise what -rood could follow irom American participation in the isca. and economic affairs of a, sorefvLrouhleci European world. There 'is a good deal of reassurance in the news ol to-day.that the crisis in the reparations question ha., for the moment, at least, passed. We an' happy to observe the introduction of an entirely new element in the reparation conferences fhe voice of America was heard there yesterday, and the London papers in news columns and editorial expression, discuss it in terms of uneigned enthusiasm. The voice that, has been shackled and fettered by a policy of seeming international unconcern gave utterance vesterdav. and' things were helped by it. The faith'of those who believe in' international cooperation, who do not look with pride iqion a policy of sordid unselfishness, has been justified; and. unless I mistake not, even the sceptic in America to-day realises that f'ncle Sun can go beyond Cape Cod without drowning himself.

No hermit nation of any time has ever made any contribution to the progress of the world. Wo are the child of Europe, and in proportion as we have gathered in the harvest of the seed sown long ago by our fathers let us now make some contribution in common gratitude in the form of the golden grain of human kindness. You bear it said occasionally in America that things are so bad over here that we are well out of them, and that it is better that we are removed from a complicated situation. He who gives force to that sort of creed fails to note. two things. First, that your confusion has been contributed to in considerable degree by our policy of vacillation, and. secondly, that economists all own that you will not have a permanent, just, equitable, or stable restoration of things in Europe until America makes herself part of the general equation. I indicated the other day the belief thai (be deadlock. ;is it existed then, could only be solved by America, applying the master key. I hope you will understand that this is not born of any overweening enthusiasm in behalf of our own country. Without discussing the merits of the situation. France will not aceepl an English decision : the French Government, perchance, may have hesitated to deal frankly with its own public opinion as to just what the plane of readjustmen ought to be. She obviously will accept no figure from Germany that might approximate to that in the hack <i| her mind, because il might imply surrender to Germany. The whole thing is deadlock. An unprejudiced 1 view is required, and it is my jdgment that the decision of America would be acquiesced in by France and Germany and all the interested nations in this present situation. In America there was expressed impatience in what seemed to be a French tendency towards militarism.

He believed there has been that feeling here, but he wanted to carry them back to the peace table in order to remind them of the circumstances. France asked that she might be permitted to occupy the left bank of the Rhino as a matter of protection. She accepted a counter-proposal that the United States and Britain would join in the guaranteeing of the protection she had in mind. "America has not kept faith," he said. "She has not made good on that proposition, and until she does, or until she associates herself in some manner agreeable to the public opinion in the United States with the only going, concern on earth organised for the purpose of preserving peace, it is extremely bad grace on the part of America to discuss with France the question of land disarmament." The Chairman expressed the thanks of the company to Governor Cox for his address, and said they hoped that when he went homo he would continue his campaign along the same lines.