f 
American Agriculturist, June 30,1923 
The Aftermath of the War 
A Summary of the Terrible Situation in Europe To 
By HENRY MORGENTHAU, SR. 
Ex-Ambassador to Turkey 
D uring the early part of the Great 
War, we occupied seats in the gal¬ 
leries set apart for neutrals and 
were deeply interested in watching 
the various gladiators, in the guise of na¬ 
tions, enter the arena and fight each other 
with great vim, determination, and an inex¬ 
orable hatred and barbaric vindictiveness. 
The outcome of the struggle was quite doubt¬ 
ful, and as the prospect of one or the other 
becoming victorious, constantly varied, the 
interest of the observers was sustained 
throughout the performance. In fact, no 
opera, drama, or moving picture ever had so 
many thrilling events to fasten the interest 
of the observer. A large part of 
our people led by such men as 
Col. Theodore Roosevelt, General 
Leonard Wood, and New York’s 
Mayor, JohnPurroyMitchel, were 
chafing from the very beginning 
to enter the lists and participate 
in the fight. While a large part 
of the American community 
thought that it was not our 
concern and that the European 
powers would have to settle this 
dispute amongst themselves, we 
felt that the unavoidable clash 
between the military establish¬ 
ments of Europe had come at last 
and that these countries were 
simply paying the penalty for be¬ 
lieving that disputes must be set¬ 
tled by force instead of by arbitra¬ 
tion or justice. It was hoped that 
the United States be allotted the 
grateful role of peace-maker, and 
as such enter the arena, stop the 
fighting, and adjust the differ¬ 
ences between the contending 
parties, and establish a perma¬ 
nent, peace which would prevent 
future wars. * 
It was only when Germany dis¬ 
puted our right to the free use of 
the sea, and also had the audacity 
to suggest our restricting our¬ 
selves to one ship per week, con¬ 
fine it to the one Germany would 
suggest, and finally proclaimed 
her right to a free and unre¬ 
stricted use of the submarine as 
a method of warfare, that our 
patience became exhausted. We 
ceased being neutrals, threw off 
our indifference, stripped for ac¬ 
tion, and entered the contest with 
as great a vim and determination 
to win as any of the original par¬ 
ticipants. From indifferent onlookers we 
were suddenly converted into enthusiastic 
and vigorous combatants. Our entrance 
threw the balance of power on the side of the 
allies and assured the victory. President 
Wilson through his proclamations put the 
dispute on a higher plane and-showed that it 
was not a mere struggle for commercial ad¬ 
vantages, but that it was a fight for civiliza¬ 
tion, and that it should be made a war to end 
war, and to make the world safe for de¬ 
mocracy. 
The great contestants had dug each other 
into their trenches and were waiting for the 
slow process of attrition to determine the 
contest or reduce both of them to a state of 
exhaustion and create a stale-mate. The 
western line of battle extended from the 
Swiss boundary to the North Sea. The entire 
Balkans were aflame; Russia was still active, 
both on the offensive and on the defensive; 
the British were valiantly fighting in Pales¬ 
tine to retrieve their defeat at the Darda¬ 
nelles. Such international commerce as re¬ 
mained was at the mercy of the German sub¬ 
marines. 
We fought with the allies a great and 
noble fight—our achievements amazed the 
world by their splendor and gigantic propor¬ 
tions—no short article such as this can even 
attempt to do justice to it. 
The next act in the drama was that of the 
Armistice and the Peace Conference. Al¬ 
though we took but a minor part in the war 
itself (owing to our late entrance) we took 
a most important part in the arranging of 
peace. This was largely due to the fact that 
we wanted no part of the territory of any 
of the defeated countries. We had no axes 
to grind as to future arrangements and our 
disinterestedness was apparent to all. Un¬ 
fortunately some of our most important re¬ 
quests were disregarded, and instead of ar¬ 
ranging for reparations that could be met 
by Germany, a method was adopted which 
instead of creating peace has left the rela¬ 
tions of many of the countries towards each 
other in a most inimical state, if not actually 
at war. 
It is difficult for us Americans to under¬ 
stand the tremendous effect the dissolution 
of four empires has upon the general condi¬ 
tion of the world, especially where the fate 
of each one differs so widely with that of the 
others. 
Russia, although an ally of the victors of 
the war, was ruined through its experiment 
of Bolshevism, and is now suffering the con¬ 
sequences of her futile attempt to apply the 
iconoclastic methods of a desperate revolu¬ 
tion instead of attempting by saner and legal 
methods to correct the evils under which she 
was suffering. 
Austria, deprived qf much of her territory 
•day—A Radio Message 
and reduced to a population of six million, 
proved such a pathetic figure that all her 
former enemies became sympathetic and 
have combined to give her another chance, 
not as a great empire and world-power, but 
as a State equivalent in size, but not in im¬ 
portance to Illinois, without however, the ad¬ 
vantages of free intercommunion with forty- 
seven other States. 
Turkey, at first, totally demoralized and 
deprived of Arabia, Mespotamia, Palestine, 
and Syria has now de^ed the decrees and 
treaties of the allies and is struggling des¬ 
perately and defiantly for her existence. 
Germany, which but five years ago de¬ 
fied all of the European powers 
is to-day prostrated—and her 
currency in a downhill race has 
passed Austria and Poland in its 
course, and like Russia is reach¬ 
ing the vanishing point, and is 
now under France’s military heel. 
It is almost impossible to realize 
the tremendous contrast of the 
present positions of these coun¬ 
tries with those they held six 
years ago. The fear of German 
world domination has been re¬ 
placed by the fear of France’s 
military supremacy on the Euro¬ 
pean continent. The forty million 
Frenchmen, having at present the 
best equipped and best officered 
army in the world, are about con¬ 
vincing Germany and her former 
allies that she is determined, i 
single-handed if necessary, to see 
that those provisions of the Ver¬ 
sailles Treaty, which cover the 
payment of her damages and her 
security for the future will be 
carried out. ^ 
Neither Germany, Great 
Britain, Italy, nor the United 
States ever suspected that France 
would possess the tenacity that 
she has recently displayed. It 
has taken them all this time to 
realize that it was not a case of 
French bluff but quite the con- ■ 
trary, idee fixe—what we would 
call in English, grim determination 
to the bitter end. Unfortunately, 
most of the countries are absorbed 
in attending to their own affairs. 
The United States Government 
publicly so acknowledges and has 
repeatedly asserted its belief in 
isolation and non-interference in 
European affairs. Our European 
friends accuse us of having failed to com¬ 
plete the performance of our part in this 
great world drama and of having quitted be¬ 
fore the completion of the last chapter which 
was not the Armistice, but the secure es¬ 
tablishment of peace. 
Great Britain is so completely engrossed 
in absorbing into her empire the territories 
that fell into her possession since the begin¬ 
ning of the war, and also in pacifying her dis¬ 
contented and unemployed laboring classes, 
that she, too, is abstaining from active partic¬ 
ipation in European continental disputes. 
It is generally believed that the present 
Russian Government has to restrict the use 
of her military forces for defensive purposes 
and that any offensive campaigns even 
against Lithuania or Poland, and certainly 
any conjunction with Germany would cause 
i^s downfall, so that at present it looks as 
though France, with Belgium’s approval and 
her friendly relations with the Little Entente, 
jointly controlling an active army of about 
two millions, is going to dominate the Euro¬ 
pean situation and intends to exercise hei^ 
{Continued on page 542) 
Great News! 
W E are very glad to announce that American Agriculturist has 
made cooperative arrangements with the New York City 
office of the New York State Department of Farms and Markets and 
the American Telephone and Telegraph Company’s broadcasting sta¬ 
tion WEAF, whereby we will furnish from the WEAF station a regu¬ 
lar radio market service. Last minute prices direct from the New 
York City markets will be broadcast from WEAF station on our 
program, every day except Monday and Saturday at 10:50 A. M. 
standard time. 
The State Department market experts study the market conditions 
and prices every day and every night. The ability of these experts 
insure absolute accuracy, and this arrangement will give every 
farmer, ,if he so desires, the very latest change in the market so that 
he can govern the shipments of his products accordingly. In every 
neighborhood there is now at least one radio. Make arrangements 
with your neighbor who has that radio to telephone you the informa¬ 
tion. If you can get these reports and act on the information, they 
will save you hundreds of dollars., The greatest problem of farmers 
is marketing; the greatest problem of marketing is to avoid gluts; 
accurate up-to-the-minute information will help to keep your stuff 
off the market when the market is over supplied. 
Remember that the time is 10:50 A. M. Men folks will be in the 
field at this time, but the women can take down the information 
as it comes out of the air. Special blanks on which the reports may 
be copied as you listen in will be furnished by American Agriculturist 
and the State Department free of charge on application. 
This arrangement is an outgrowth of the farm radio program which 
American Agriculturist has been conducting for months with WEAF. 
Farm speakers and experts, the best in the country, broadcast every 
Wednesday evening at 6.50 P. M. This service will also be continued. 
Tune in at 6:50 Wednesday evening for the best farm speakers, and 
at 10:50 A. M. Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday and Friday for the 
latest information and prices of the greatest market in the world. 
The wave length of WEAF is 492 meters. We believe this is a real 
opportunity for the broadcasting station, the Department of Farms 
and Markets and American Agriculturist to render extremely valuable 
service. Tune in and use it—and tell us how to make it better.— 
The Editors. 
>1 
