new_york_tribune_poland_barrier_in_the_east_12october_1919.pdf

Germany Again Turns Toward the East

Poland, the Barrier in the East

Allies Must Stand Guard on Vis¬

Peace Terms as Dictated at

tula to Enforce Their De¬

Versailles After Regain-

mands or Give Up Poland

ing Strength

to Beaten Foe

By Frank H. Simonds

WITHIN the last week *we

have passed th£ first an¬

niversary of the date

on which Germany, by

her application for peace, based

on the fourteen points of Mr.

Wilson, actually recognized the

fact of defeat. In less than a

month we shall pass the first mile¬

stone since the armistice definitely

established the surrender of Ger¬

many under conditions as completely

disadvantageous as those France

accepted after the fall of Napoleon.

It is possible, then, to make a brief

estimate of the developments of a

¦year, with a certain advantage of

perspective hitherto impossible.

A year ago it was the belief in

America, at least, conceivably in

certain quarters in Great Britain,

that peace could be made on such

terms as to open the "way for mu¬

tual understandings among the na¬

tions which had fought through the

war. Frequently in American jour¬

nals, at least occasionally in Brit¬

ish, one encountered the phrases,

"peace of understanding," "recon¬

ciliation," "a healing peace." Can

it be said honestly or candidly that

there is even the same shadowy

prospect of reconciliation now, so

far as Germany is concerned, that

existed a year ago? It seems to

me not.

Germany Ha9 Emerged

From Shadow of Crises

Yet in that same period Germany

has passed through several crises

and emerged from the shadow of

various perils, contrary to the ex¬

pectation of many. We are rea-

sonably certain now that Germany

will not fall to Bolshevism, become

a centre of anarchy comparable with

that existing in Russia. Nor is it

less plain that Germany is totally

.nlikely to dissolve into those com-

onent parts which were fused into

ational unity by Bismarck nearly

alf a century ago.

All of which means that after de-

~"e*n, after temporary eclipse, a

-"¦owerful Germany must emerge

-f«*>m contemporary clouds. Ger¬

many has not been destroyed, she

has not committed suicide, she re-

ruins a nation of more than sixty

millions of people, in the heart of

Europe, with a genius for organiza¬

tion and a determination to live

which must be reckoned with in a

future not too distant. Precisely

as France after her disasters of

1870 and her hideous domestic

'ragedy of the Commune in 1871

rallied and remade herself, Germany

seem3 now certain to restore her

old strength.

Ti\A Germany that we shall pres¬

ently have to deal with, then, will be

in population, aside from Russia, the

greatest single nation of the Conti¬

nent. She will ha%*e at least twenty

million more people than France;

she will be, if she decides to fol¬

low old policies and ambitions:

cuit« as dangerous as she was in the

past, because, if she has somewhat

declined in size, Russia, her old rival

and enemy, has disappeared as 8

potential foe.

Now, the great question the work

has at once to ask, since German re¬

habilitation is approximately cer¬

tain, is obvious: Will this restore«:

Germany accept the peace made a'

Versailles in good faith.will sh<

consent to live under its terms? O;

will she observe it only while she ii

constrained and endeavor to und«

its provisions the moment the foro

behind those provisions is relaxed

In sum, can the Treaty of Versaille;

become the basis of a reconciiiatioi

between the German people an«

the - recent foes, as the Treaty o

the Treaty of Versailles is a peace

of force is justifiable. It is a peace

containing conditions which pre¬

clude conciliation, understanding, a

French troops to maintain it and 1

would abolish all hope of any per-

manent return to international

amity.

Poland Not Granted

Full Rights by Treaty

By contrast the Polish arrange¬

ment was not only an act of justice

but a grudging and incomplete act.

Poland did not receive all the lands

stolen from her by Prussia in the

several partitions. She did not re-

ceive Danzig, to which her claim

was far stronger than the Jugo¬

slav claim to Fiume, which has up¬

set the whole equilibrium of the

world. If some thousands of Ger¬

mans were placed under her rule,

not less than 3.500.000 were given to

Czecho-Slovakia without any debate.

Moreover, the Germans in many in¬

stances w*ere the descendants of col¬

onists sent into Polish lands by the

Prussian conquerors. To protest at

giving the Sarre Basin to France

and at the same time argue against

giving Posen or West Prussia to

Poland is to fly in the face of all

logic and all consistency.

Yet'the truth was not less plain,

was openly expressed by Americans

in Paris.finds its echo in many

American journals now.that it was

unwise to return Polish lands to

Poland, because it insured future

war, permanent German hostility,

But on the same basis any return of

stolen property can be criticised and

all application of the right of self-

determination becomes dangerous,

and even inadvisable. To do justice

to Poland was to create a permanent

source of German resentment, but

was it therefore wrong to do jus¬

tice? It is in the Polish detail that

the so-called liberal argument, Crit¬

icism, limps most awkwardly.

The reason is patent. American

liberalism derives its inspiration anc

most of its ideas from British lib¬

eralism. But British liberalism ii

far more practical. To commi'

Britain to a policy of maintaining

the integrity of Poland against per

manent German menace seemed r

wholly undesirable venture in manj

quarters, some of which had cpenlj

advocated British neutrality when

Belgium was invaded and the de-

struction of France was .threatened.

As a matter of policy the criticism

is incomprehensible; as matter of

ethics it is hardly defensible.

Yet everything which has hap-

.pened in recent months indicates

that Germany, bowing to the West¬

ern decisions, holds herself rigidly

against the Eastern terms. She is

doing everything to make the plebi¬

scite in upper Silesia a farce, she

is holding on in Danzig and even in

the Baltic.provinces. Every expres¬

sion which comes from Germany in¬

dicates that the common thought of

all Germans is to revise the Eastern

settlement, at the earliest moment, to

destroy the Polish kingdom, to do it

even at the risk of another world

war.

But the Polish question is not sim-

nl- and single. France has under¬

taken her ancient role of protector

of the Poles. The Polish army is of¬

ficered by Frenchmen; it has derived

its spirit from the French. For

Frai se, for French safety in Eu-

r« pe, it is an important circumstance

that Germany should have on the

east a powerful neighbor, ready to

join with France if the German

should set out on his old pathways

again. A Polish state of 30,000,000

inhabitants solidy allied with France

is a very real insurance against

German aggression.

But at this point French and Brit¬

ish policies divide. The British rec¬

ognize the necessity of standing with

France in any German assault upon

the west. The eastern frontiers of

Belgium and France are the eastern

frontiers of Britain. But if Britain

is ready to stand with Prance and

for France at the Rhine, she finds

herself less willing to stand with

France and Po!an«i on the lower

Vistula or the upper Oder. ¡-"he sees

with real anxiety and open protest

the development of a French Con¬

tinental policy which aims at pro¬

tecting those states, particularly that

Polish state called into existence by

the Treaty of Versailles, but forevet

dependent upon outside aid for ex«

istence.

Eastern Problems

Cause a Division

American liberals, taking colof

from British, are echoing their

note with increasing insistence. They

are accusing France of militaristic

and imperialistic policies. But why?

Mainly because France is seeking

to guarantee the integrity of Poland,

of a Polish 6tate created under the

application of the v-ry principl« en-

restoration of amicable remuons be¬

tween the German people and the

rest of the world. It is a treaty

which demanded and demands con¬

tinuing force on the part of the con¬

querors of Germany to preserve it

intact. Up to this point I think

there is general agreement on all

sides, on the part of critics and de¬

fenders of the document alike. Both

recognize that Germany, the Ger¬

man people, can not and will not ac¬

cept the terms, that the dream of a

year ago of a peace of reconciliation

has been shattered.

France Expects Foe

To Revolt Against Terms

But from this point of agreement

the opinion of various fractions of

the world travels in divergent direc¬

tions. It is asserted by some that

the German people will never ac¬

cept the loss of Alsace-Lorraine

which was not only inevitable bul

was accepted by the German gov

ernment as a condition antecedenl

to any armistice. It is asserted b]

many others, with even greater em

phasis, that the Sarre Basin pro

visions will result in a new Franco

German antipathy, will create i

new Alsace-Lorraine. Finally, it i

into a fatal revival of the age-long

hostility between the Slav and the

Teuton. The old Polish issue,

silenced only while the three states

which had partitioned Poland re¬

mained friendly, was reopened, with

deadly consequences when the war

had actually been lost.

America Kept Odds

Against the Teutons

But for the Russian revolution

this coalition of France, Britain and

Russia, aided by Italy, would have

defeated Germany. When Russia

fell, America took the place vacated

by the Slav and restored the fatal

odds against the Teuton. It was then

established patently that Germany

could not hope, even at the most

favorable moment, to conquer the

Slav, the Latin and the Anglo-Saxon.

Now, the war over, German policy

must some time begin to . pick up

the loose threads. It will find

itself in the presence of certain

facts. Doubtless German sentiment

will for a long time protest against

the loss of Alsace-Lorraine, but any

attempt to reconquer these prov¬

inces would not alone insure imme¬

diate war with France, but also with

Great Britain and even, conceivably,

with the United States.

The reason is plain. British policy

was hopelessly muddled in 1871

when Germany was permitted to

crush France and mutilate her, with¬

out British protest. The consequence

was to bring Germany within strik¬

ing distance of the Channel, to give

her precisely the military situation

which made the opening campaign

of 1914 possible. Never has Great

Britain consented that a Continental

power should menace her from Bel¬

gium, but possession of Alsace-Lor¬

raine made the invasion of Belgium

possible, and it has cost the British

nearly a million lives to restore the

old condition of safety.

If Germany undertakes to come

west again, nothing seems more cer¬

tain than that she will have to face

Britain as well as France. Nor can

she, if she does not invade Belgium,

hope to defeat France, a doubtful

military venture now, given the re-,

turn of Alsace-Lorraine to France,

since the Franco-German frontier is

now restricted to the narrow gap be-

tween the Rhine and the Moselle.

An effort to reopen the question of

Alsace-Lorraine, then, would be to

reestablish an Anglo-French combi-

nation, invite a new blockade, risk

all the old perils of 1914--18. Fur¬

ther, if the American Senate accepts

the Anglo-French-American treaty

of insurance, there would be an

American opposition to reckon with

also. In so far as Alsace-Lorraine

is concerned, therefore, I cannot be¬

lieve that the new German policy

will imitate the old.

Nor is it even as likely that the

Germans will renew their challenge

to Britain. Their fleet is gone, their

commercial navy has been taken

over by their victorious enemies.

They have neither colonies nor naval

stations. To begin commercial exist¬

ence again they must give bonds

to the British for good behavior.

Nor can I see any basis for Ger¬

man hope that what they did not ac¬

complish in the last war, when they

had many advantages, now lost, could

be won in any later struggle. France

after the wars of Louis XIV and

Napoleon was compelled to accept

British supremacy on the seas. That

Germany must make the same sacri¬

fice seems to me equally plain.

Sarre Basin Decision

Opposed by Liberals

As to the Sarre Basin, here we

touch upon one of the contested ques-

tions. So-called Liberals in the

United States and England proclaim

that this part of the peace treaty is

a fatal defect, insuring future wars.

But it seems to me this is a gross ex¬

aggeration. Certainly forcible an¬

nexation, disguised or open, of the

inhabitants of this district would be

in direct conflict with one of the

fourteen points and would be to re-

peat the action of Germany with re¬

spect to Alsace-Lorraine. But the

circumstances are totally different.

The Germans wantonly destroyed

the French coal mines; they delib-

erately sought to paralyze French

industry. Moreover, they, in their

turn, forcibly annexed nearly half of

this territory, which had long been

French, and contentedly such, when

Napoleon fell.».

But the Sarre Basin is not a con¬

siderable area; it is little more than

12 per cent of the area of Alsace-

Lorraine; it has no such history a3

bound Metz and Strasbourg to

France. Moreover, French annexation

is predicated upon a favorable plebi¬

scite fifteen years hence, and if the

vote went against France, if in the

mean time French and German re¬

lations had improved, as«I feel sure

they may, the whole difficulty might

be compromised. To attack France

as a great power, however productive

of disputes in the future, the Sarre

Basin does not seem to me certain or

even likely to become the basis for

a war between Germany and France,

since the stake itself is out of all

proportion to the risks of war, and

the possibilities of a peaceful and

satisfactory adjustment are by no

means non-existent.

There remains the whole set of

problems growing out of the disputes

between the Slavs and the Teutons

and expressed to-day in the new

phase of the Polish question. It is

here that it s«iems to me the possi¬

bility of German compliance with

the Treaty of Versailles breaks

*lown. It is not difficult to imagine

that the completeness of German de¬

feat and the absence of all basis for

hopeful resumption of an Anglo-Ger¬

man contest for sea supremacy will

in due course lead the Germans to re¬

sign both their old ambitions and

their ancient colonies, as did the

French a century ago.

Nor is it less easy to believe that,

given the inextricable intermingling

of British and French interests,

which makes British defence of

France and of Belgium essential to

British security, Germany will ac¬

cept the restoration of Alsace-Lor¬

raine to France and seek through

peaceful rather than warlike means

to arrive at 3ome settlement of the

Sarre Basin issue, an issue expli¬

cable not as a circumstance of any

¡French imperialistic sentiment, but

as a detail in the reparation justly

demanded of the Germans for their

crimes in Northern France.

Germany Will Hope

To Retain Silesia

By contrast, who can believe that

Germany will accept the provisions

of the Treaty of Versailles which

divide East Prussia from Pomer-

ania, exclude Danzig from German

boundaries and by giving the Poles

Posen make Berlin almost a fron-

tier town? And it will be the more

intolerable, this new situation, if

the inhabitants of upper Silesia, as

seems sure, vote to become Poles,

depriving the Germans of one of

the most valuable mineral districts

in Europe or the world.

Perceiving this fact, the liberal

elements in Great Britain early as¬

sailed the Polish programme of the

Paris Conference. It had been

agreed that Poland should have Dan¬

zig and a wide corridor on either

hank of the Vistula, including the

Danzig-Warsaw railway. The thing

was almost signed, sealed and de¬

livered when British protest pro¬

duced a sudden reversal by Lloyd

George, the corridor was narrowed,

Danzig was assigned to the league

of nations, while even after the

treaty had been drafted and served

upon Germany its terms regarding

upper Silesia were modified.

The reason was simple. Every

sensible Englishman knew that Ger¬

many would never consent to a con¬

dition which cut her country in two,

drove a wedge betw*een East Prus¬

sia and the main bulk of German

lands, put some hundreds of thou¬

sands of Germans (a minority, be it

undei'stood) under Polish rule and

un lid tiie work of Frederick the

Great and his successors in the East.

And every sensible Englishman also

understood that if this arrangement

were imposed upon Germany it

would require British äs weil as

argued that the provisions of th.«

treaty reestablishing Poland and de

priving Germany of West Prussia

Posen and probably portions of Si

lesia and East Prussia make an;

but enforced German submissio:

impossible. While these three con

ditions are most frequently hear

in American and British comments

the French and Continental près

generally sees Germany bound i

the end to revolt from a situatio:

created by the forcible seizure o

all of her colonies, all but a smai

fraction, by the British.

Now, in this welter of opinion

seems to me it is possible to arriv

at certain reasonable conclusion

Germany lost the last war becaut

she allowed herself to become ii

volved in three great rivalries. 1

taking Alsace-Lorraine from Fran«

in 1870 she sinned against the ligl

and against a proud and determine

nation ; it was always certain th

no real reconciliation was possib

while this wrong was unrighted;

was always inevitable that, whi

France would never precipitate

war to regain her provinces, Ge

many would always have to reck«

with French hostility if she ev

became involved in any other a

fair.

In the same way Germany open

challenged Britain on the sea; s

not merely became a commerc

rival, using the seas with her ni¬

chant fleet in the fashion her do:

inant sea power has always perm

ted, but she at one time underto

to build a fleet to challenge t

British and made planB openly

destroy the British Empire and :

place British by German hegemo

in Africa and in Asia.

Finally, she was drawn, larg<

through her alliance with Austr

thusiastically affirmed by the liber-

als of the world one year ap;«>. Vet

it was these same liberals who, in

defiance of their principles, eucceed-

j ed in persuading Lloyd George to

use his influence to have the neck of

i the new Poland narrowed so that

there could be no question that Ger¬

many could encompass it with her

lingers. Poland was the plain prod-

uct of their principles, but t« laj

they renounce the conclusion, which

followed inevitably upon their pre

mises.

That we shall have war one da*«

over Poland seems to me certain,

cannot conceive of any

nation.and Germany will }>«-¦ p »wer-

ful.consenting to the condition!

created in the Vistula Valley. That

France would be involved as the

protector of Poland, Britain as

fatally involved in the maintenance

of France, the United States if we

become the guarantor of tj e Treaty

of Versailles and a party to the

leag-ue of nations, is .-it least likely.

But what is the alternative -to turn

back to German tyranny 4,000,000

Prussian Poles, to recant our d< clara-

tion in favor of ;< I rmination in

general and our peaceful pledge in

the matter of the Poles? In my

judgment a reconciliation, a peace

of undei standing, a healii *

possible between Germany and her

old foes, between Germa!.y and

France, even on the has..-- of '.

possession of A L rra ne a-d

the Sarre. provided France and

Great Britain will forsake the Poles

as both did a century .¦e;o at the

Congress of Vienna.

But this is just the sort of bar-

pain which made the Congress of

Vienna notorious and preserved the

Balkan disease until it poisoned the

whole system of Europe. That ¡1 i

possible, that it is v.-

inevi¬

table if the United Sti

cut of Europe and turn* its

upon the small nations for whose

existence it is in no small degree re«

sponsible, must be patent. This is

the direction British p ?y is tak¬

ing. This is the policy that is being

more and more forcibly urged upon

France by the Briti is the

policy which is more

"Petrograd, the City of Living Dead"

AN OFFICER of high rank in the

former Russian army, who had

been compelled to serve under

the Bolsheviki, commnnicates, on his

recent escape to England, the following

account of conditions in Pstrograd to

"The London Times."

"Less than four weeks ago I was in

Petrograd, bound to the pitilfBS ma¬

chiner of Bolshevism, and, although

nominally a free citizen in a free re¬

public, yet in fact a slave in every way

worse oft* than the bondman of Rome.

To-day, a stranger in a strange land,

I feel at last what it is like to breathe

the air of freedom.

"So little is known of what la hap-

pening in Bolshevik Russia to-day

that it may he useful and timely if

I jot down a few of my impressions.

Perhaps it is difficult after so many

months of suffering, even to pretend

to ho impartial. To my mind it is in-

conceivable for any sane man.what-

! ever his «talion in life.to escape

from the remorseless iron hand of

Bolshevism without a deep hatred for

Leninism. Nevertheless, I will only

write of what, I have myself seen in

Petrograd, and will attempt to givo a

faithful objective picture of condi¬

tion».one cannot write lif«$~in the

dead city to-day.

"I left Petrograd et midnight «,n

July 10, but I am not at liberty to dis- [

close my means of departure. To get

away from Soviet Russia is almost im-

possible, and I do not wish to close

an avenue of escape that may mean

liberty for some other person daring

enough to take risks and fortunate

enough to overcome them. Although

I left on the 10th, I actually have news

of Petrograd up to midnight on the

18th, when a trusted friend sent me

a letter which found its way over the

frontier.

"It Is a City of

trams run very irregularly till 6 o'clock,

but are more than. sufficient to meet;

the demand, since the fare now is 1%

rubles for any distance. The old trnm-

way lines have Ion«-* a-*:o become a mem-

ory. For one thing there are a few who

have strength or energy enough to

struggle for anything, and the predom¬

inant feeling in the minds of the in-

habitants is to conserve

These policewomen always patrol in

couples. They carry leaded rifles ar.<i

are very strict and well disciplined,

"All shops r.ro shut. Until quite

recently a certain amount of latitude

was .«-hewn to the cooperatives, but

even these have now shared the ia-ta

of other distributers, and the onny

place whore anything can be obtained

is from the Soviet stores. So

thorough have the Soviets been in

this respect that they have even sue-

ceeded in exterminating the 'bagman,'

the privateers in foodstuffs, who took

incredible risks in order to be able to

supply people with extra ration foods.

"In the past the population was di¬

vided into categories, the 30-caHed

bourgeoisie, who were in the fourth

category, being on starvation rations

which had to be eked out by purchases

from the bagmen. To-day the cate¬

gories have been done away with.

Thero is only one ration and it is

served out to men, women and chil¬

dren alike. Food cards are neceis3ary

and these are only given to those who

do some work; and as all work is un¬

der the control and for the benefit of

the Soviets it follows that everybody

in Petrograd to-day is compelled to do

something or other to aid the Soviets.

"The day's ration in Petrograd in

.July consisted of the following: Ons

plate of soup, consisting of hot water,

with a little fish in it; one-«":,.-!

a pound of bread. The cost of this

me;il, which has to last all day, is

Ç3.00, The food can be eaten in the

Communal dining rooms, which are

to be found all over the city, or it can

bo taken home, it is very seldom,

however, that anybody takes food

home. There is such a scarcity of

fuel in Petrograd, that it would i e

almost impossible to rewarm the food,

and half the satisfaction in eating,

in the warmt/i obtained from the soup.

Only One Meal a Day

Is Usual iiation

"In the morning a drink of «lome

sort Í3 made by stewing wild berries.

For a long time r.ow we have had no

tea, coffee, or cocoa, and even the

Ersatz foods were long ago consumed.

Those who aro very careful occa

ally leave over a tiny morsel of bread,

so as to eat it in the morning ¡\r- 1 thus

have a breakfast, but the majorit*

just eat the one meal. Meat ia quite

unknown, and sugar has also entirely

disappeared.

"You will realize from my descrip¬

tion of Petrograd as it really is to¬

day. starving, half <l«-ad, overworked,

thoroughly cowed- that it is quite im¬

possible for the inhabitants to rise

against the Bolshevik!, the more so as

h iatti 7 h v t y w ; rs Ci

cally all arms hidden V.- the bcur-

:- oi ie.

German Influence Felt

Despite Parig Treaty

"The pi pie )f Petrograd manage to

keep mor or less in \ *. h cur¬

rent eve;-*-:, new; trickling thr« igh

7 rtai .:.. TI >viets r -t;::rd

h g verntr.ent's ann

ment f a withdrawal as a flight from

the Eo ists, and are very proud of

their s -r ¦'. '<i< A ¡.7 of the Ent .*.-.'

"I had pretty goo^! sources of in¬

formation in Petrograd, and there is

no: th-: all -ht« : doubl that to-day,

as always, Lénine and the Soviet ex¬

ecutive chiefs geit rally are firmly

convinced of the necessity of world¬

wide revolution. While they are wise

t let the Germans train the

.: troops, they still regard propa-

n ..- th first line of artuck. and

it is ti rather than arm ;

which will enable them to* triumph

over the present soeia! system. It is

loubtful, »y the way. whether

the German elements have ever ¡en

..-.:- 1' trograd than they are

to-day. There are special German

Soviet i forme 1 from the prisoners of

war,' and, as may be expected, they

occupy privileged positions. It is not

generally known what work they are

doing, but it is believed that they are

in the closest touch with Germany."

in*? favor in many .*

ters. In thi: there ¡si

re find-

new;

civilization has

corpse of Poland *'ri mai

sions since the Firsl

and many wars have a*.

p ätp : 1 by a mutm I pari

;n a plundering of P

ishing fad that i

the Polish question

Par;:-«, following Napoleon's fall, wa

the basis for ultimate adjustmen

between the French and their neigh

bors?

People Won't Accept

strength as

much as possible.

"The streets ^ro indescribably dirty.

For a long time there has be?n no at¬

tempt at cleaning, tho scavenging of

the city being left to the sun, rain,

and wind. Nauseous pools and rub¬

bish heaps are to be found at every

corner, while in not a few streets

grass is to be seen growing not only

on the pavements, but in the middle

of the street.

Women as Policemen

Are Guarding Streets

"Occasionally a Soviet cart dragged

along by cadaverous horses jolts along.

These carts, as indeed all vehicular

traffic, are stopped periodically by the

town police, or rnther militia. Two-

thirds of this police forco nro made

up of women wearing long blue conts

and dresses with a badge on tho right

arm showing the letters 'G. M.,' that is

(¡orodskaia Milizia (municipal militia).

Treaty of Versatile*

The answer is, it seems to me, a

emphatic and inescapable negativ«

The German people cannot be c>

.pected to accept the Treaty oí Vei

However, the thing wl

worth emphasizing was tl fact

after a year it had b*

that there could be no further lu *

that Germany would accept the term

of the Treaty of Vei ive UK

der continuing pressure: that she wa

bound in the end to seek by force t

r«mend these term'*, not in the Wes

but in the East; that in the Wes

the victorious nations v « re now coi

fronted with the choice betwee

mounting guard on the Vistula an

preserving the leapue of nations t

an alliance against Germany or r<

tiring from Poland, surrendering

to Germany and by this sacrifi«

clearing the way for a "healir

peace" with Germany.

(Copyright, 131?. by th« McCiur« >*«.«-

papar Syndic-ate )

-. ar« Î

Living Skeletons'*

"The first thing that strikes the ob¬

server who enters Petrograd is the

mournful solemnity of the streets. It

is like walking through some long dis¬

used and greatly neglected cemetery.

The streets at all times of the day are

very, very quiet, while one can walk

for hours in the evening without meet¬

ing a soul. It is impossible to find in

Petrograd a man or woman with even

an ounce of fat. It is a city of living

skeletons. Protracted starvation has

ended in the skin shrivelling up and

everybody looking exceedingly old and

tired.

"In the streets there is little traffic

of any sort. Every now and then a

tramway

«ailles, now or hereafter, except a

H is steadily faced with force guai

snteeing this treaty which make

it Onwisfl to challenge it. Mor«

»?er, nothing is more certain tha

that this force will not endure,

alrtsady beginning to crumble. In ti

united State«, in Great Britaii

there i» an ever-growing protest, w

.gaiwet the treaty on moral ground

Primarily, but against it as a do«

Oment which impose«, a eontinuin

borden upon the American and Bri

¦k publics, compels them to mail

car stumbles along. The

Teutons Not Expected to Accept

tain a state of armed preparation

against some infringement by Ger¬

many of the agreement of Paris.

In so far, then, the charge that

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