Oct. 17.
For once a war conference, post and propter—how many of them there have been no living man could say off-hand—has resulted in something and that, it would appear, a very great thing. The Security Pact has been hered to by all the nations as-'sembled at Locarno, whose emollieut influences, so poetically dwelt upon by Mr. Austen Chamberlain, have been thus fully justified; and Germany will enter the League of Nations before the end of the year. "The question of the eastern arbitra tion treaties remains to be settled, but Reuter's correspondent speaks hopefully of this issue, though others may possibly be less sanguine. But so much has been gained that it would be tod cruel if there were any breakdown on the outstanding whose fissiparous condition the state of Europe might well be compared. At the outset of the Locarno conference Mr. Austen }Chamberlain said that no one had come "to impose conditions for make demands;" and at its foonclusion ihe says that success has been achieved by "the cooperation of all and their determination to solve difficulties.
Consequently the difficulties ha vanished like darkness. Nobody could claim a triumph." Why, should not China's military men meet in the same spirit?
Although the text of the Pact not be available for acme days, the general purport is sufficiently understood. Its origin may be said to go back as {far as the Franch occupation of the Ruhr, which created a condition of things that ultimately, came to be felt intolerable on roth sides, With the acceptance jof the Dawes plan of reparations, leading to evacuation of the Ruhr, a way was opened to putting international relationships on a footing of more mutual confidence and Yess continual pin-pricking, In February] ast. the German Government made ite offer of a Pact of {Seourity, in terms whose evident sincerity caused 2 deep impres-\ston generally. Negotiations were begun and continued active-all through the spring and summer and culminated in the Locarno Conference. An essen' dal part of the Pact was Germany's entry into the League of Nations, to which indeed the agreement was meant to give practical effect and on which it turned. Amd this raised the difficulty of Article 16, of which 90 much has been heard in the telegrams, and under which belligerent troops marching against an aggressor nation must be allowed free passage through the intervening territory, lof a neutral. Germany, by the terms of the Treaty of Versailles, \is a disarmed nation and her position, a¢ such, might be one of considerable peril in ablowing free passage to the army of a1 cther nation. Her objections were thus well summed up in the "Fortnightly Review" last She (Germany) holds that " she cannot in her disarmed condition join in the sanctions against an' agressor nation without laying her-elf open to the danger of being] drawn into a conflict between other nations in which Germany, unable to defend herself, might become the scene of a devastating war. The British view is that Germany need not be afraid of such a situation arising, because no general in the world would launch an army across Germany if the German Government could not guarantee the lines of communication. Thus if Russia were to attack Poland, the question of French army marching across Germany to the assistance of the Poles and the Russians—treating Germany as a hostile country in consequence would not arise, But this reasoning does not satisfy German public opinion, which is obsessed with the danger of the durchmarsch, or the right of transit across her territory, which Germany, according to Article 16, would be obliged to grant.
Herein we find the explanation of the strong Nationalist objection to the Pact and the sensational rumours of a plot to as-Sassinate all the German. delegates at Locarno. It is difficult for Englishmen, who have practically never known invasion, to understand the feeling. But' buried memories of days when their countries were a cockpit are a strong ingredient in the instincts of all Continental peoples and the key' to much that is otherwise obscure in their policy. How the difficulty was solved we do not yet know, but it la to the credit of President Hindenburg that he could rise superior to the Nationalist misgivings. Probably it was pointed jour to Germany that, once si was in the League of Nations,'
Article 16, which, be the neutral nation who it may, strikes one utterly utopian and unworkable At the utmost, no belligerent ought to be able to claim passage without the united proval of the League, of the eastern treaties, which form another bone, the difficulty is, briefly, this: that Germany and Pol are engaged in a wrangle over, the mutual expulsion of each; jother's subjects and that Franoey, as an ally of Poland's, insists; on being a guarantor of the treaty to be concluded in the matter. Which means that, if she thought that Poland was not/ getting fair treatment, she would, assert the right to insist on G many's giving it to her. The of this difficulty is, of course, France's policy of building up strong Central European Power, or group of Powers, to off set Germany's recovery of strength. This policy, if not now rendered unnecessary in French Jeyes, should at least be comsiderly modified by Germany's entry into the League of Nations.
The value of the Locarno canference lies not so much in the prospect of the League of Nations being strengthened by Germany's entrance as by the new relationship with the Western Powers of Europe into which tt will bring her. If every motion in the world were a member of [the Lergue, it would be none the tess a visionary bond, Hable the heat of a real crisis to fluff four Wke a piece of burnt tow. But the fact that Germany will sit in its council as an equal with other Powers, is bound to bring a new atmosphere into Buropean politics, and, let us Hhope, an atmosphere of mutual confidence and—_cordiality. Throughout the negotiations since February, it has been marked, Germany for the first time since the Armistice has "adopted the tone of one of the great Powers dealing on terms? of equality with other Powers" Jand to whom "the former Alties must change their language in talking if they want her to work with them as one of the family of nations." We are far enough now from the war to realize thet such a change was bound te come; and we ought to be far enough from the war to wish, without sacrificing our conviction to its rights and wrongs, that she may so work as one of the European family. For neither disarmament, repression, nor even security pacts will obtain peace for Europe, unless there comes new spirit and mutual goodwill.
PEKING, Oct. 8—That tis an ill-wind that blows nobody any good is a proverb the truth of which appears already to have been demonstrated in the case of Dr. Harvey J. Howard, who came bask to Peking yesterday after having been in the hands of Manchurian bandits for over two months. The United Press offered him a handsome sum, stated to be G. $400, for an exclusive personal account of his experiences and Dr. Howard has wc-
[Iand some 97,000,000 worth of opiam in Shanghai for public consumption. According bine, After being land Nantao Bund, it was rem: telegrams have been sent Tupan Yang Vu-ting urging him t? larrext the ringleaders. Protests hav® Jalso been sent to Marshal Tom? Chi-jui, the Chief Executive.
Han eu raeeinen ott
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.