The Waikato Times. With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, May 22, 1928. HERR STRESEMANN.

Waikato Times, Volume 103, Issue 17408, 22 May 1928, Page 6

The Waikato Times. With which is Incorporated The Waikato Argus. TUESDAY, May 22, 1928. HERR STRESEMANN.

The general sympathy which is shown with Herr Stresemann in his serious illness is an indication that Europe is returning to sanity. Herr Stresemann is declared to be the leading statesman in Germany and one of the foremost men in Europe. He is entitled to much of the credit for Locarno, and has done more than perhaps any one man to bring Germany back to co-operatiowith the other nations. On the whole it must be admitted that Germany’s political record since the war is somewhat wonderful. For thirty years every function of the Government had been in the hands of aristocrats of one party or another —military chiefs, large landowners, princes, junkers, and Government officials. Most of these men are still alive; they have all been put on one side and government has been conducted by middle-class men of no previous reputation. The aristocratic section has made one or two attempts to recapture power, but have met with no success. Yet during this period Germany has seen the Ruhr invaded, the value of the mark destroyed, the Dawes settlement, which contains no limit of time, and they .have failed in the effort to get France to withdraw the army of occupation. All these things must have caused much disappointment to Germans, but in spite ol' them the Government has maintained itself in power. The victors lacked the statesmanship requisite to enable them to offer encouragement to the Republic, and if it had been overthrown and monarchy established they would have been much blamed. Fortunately for them the Republic has held its own, and the passage of time will strengthen its position. It is reported that there is a personal friendship between Sir Austen Chamberlain and Herr Stresemann, and such a feeling would do something to explain the smooth working of diplomacy. Sir Austen Chamberlain is universally respected, and in the long run that counts more in foreign negotiations than the most brilliant brains. There is good reason to hope that the friendship will continue and that Herr Stresemann will speedily recover. There are delicate questions that will arise within the next few years, respecting the evacuation of troops and the fixing of a. limit to the payments under the Dawes report, and if they are handled by other men the results may not be equally successful. It is a matter of prime importance that Germany should co-operate with the other nations of Europe. The best hope of peace is that the nations should act together and should recognise the reign of law in international matters. There is nothing new in this; it was recognised during the Napoleonic war, when the fear of France compelled the nations to act together. The finest minds among the statesmen of the Nineteenth Century all strove to establish the Concert of Europe. It broke down at the time of the war in 1914, and the great crime of Germany was that her action was in direct contravention of the Concert of Europe. It was an attempt to enforce her will on her neighbours,' and, if successful, on the whole world. The urgency of the crisis led to a revival of the idea of the Concert of Europe, and President Wilson, who was a student of European history of the Nineteenth Century, proposed the League of Nations, which is an effort to put the Concert of Europe on a more permanent basis. President Wilson’s idea was that the League should he world-wide, and there arc of course many nations outside of Europe who are members. Nevertheless, the defection of the United Shales has had the effect of making the League an organ of Europe. The United States has promoted an association, the Pan American Congress, which embraces all the various countries of North and South America, and this will undoubtedly prove to be a benefit, although the great preponderance of the United States renders it somewhat onesided. While we read daily of aviation and its achievements in bringing the people of the world into closer contact, and learn also of the wonders of wireless and of the closer communication whidi it establishes, the politicians remain unrepentant. The United States will have nothing to do with the League of Nations; she limits the number of those she will admit to her shores, and she maintains a tariff to keep out foreign goods. In the last respect she is followed by very many oilier nations who entertain the delusion that they can sell ’without buying. It is Hie nature of war to stimulate the passion of nationalism, which is usually a matter for regret. It lias, of course, its good side, hut in the main it lays stress on Hie distinctive quality of the race or nation; on the tilings in which it differs from other people, rather than on Hie matters that tend to unio/i or co-operation. No doubt the fervour of our nationalism will abate in time; the sympathy felt for Herr Stresemann shows that we have made some advance in that direction. in Hie meantime it is doing a good deal of mischief by hampering international trade and also by leading to the maintenance 'of large standing armies, it is the duty of all good citizens lo work for a more reasonable attitude. There are still many problems to he settled, and they can he

dealt with if reason is allowed to prevail. If each nation must stand on the extreme limit of its rights and refuse to recognise the rights of any other nation, we must inevitably end in another war, large or small.