class of men, such as writers, poets, and graduates of foreign universities. But many of them managed to escape and are now taking the lead in revolution. Several of them have been officers in the Turkish army and know something about war tactics. If they had the ammunition and the equipment that the French have, I wonder what the result would be. It is a struggle of life and death, a struggle for liberty and for their rights. One would think that after this terrible example the people would be as meek and submissive as lambs, but, on the contrary, the whole section of Medan (a portion of Damascus) that was so severely punished has become revolutionist. Nobody dares to enter it, and not a French soldier or a policeman is left there.

A few days ago one of the important sheiks, Emir Fahour, joined the socalled bandits with his eight thousand men because his only son was killed by the French soldiers. He also succeeded in persuading another sheik

to join with several thousand men. These alone would make more than Sultan Attrash and Prince Zein. The other day from forty to fifty airplanes were sent to the Druse mountains to bombard their villages, but the Druses had all hidden in the underground dwelling-places.

You have probably heard of the wonderful underground dwellings which their legends say were built about four thousand years ago by a giant race from which the Druses have supposedly descended. There are almost whole cities extending about sixteen miles in a stretch, with wells and a system of ventilation. The entrances and passages are known only to the Druses. Besides that, the mountains are almost inaccessible except on foot or horseback. It is impossible to reach them with tanks or heavy cannon. Although the cities and villages of the Druses have been destroyed by the airplanes, the Druses do not yet consider themselves conquered, but are still sitting like eagles in their nests.

1

HERE is M. Briand, back in Paris after ten days of laborious international negotiations. He has made his ministerial statement. According to him, the Locarno spirit is still alive. The European group that concluded the Accord of last October is still in agreement. If Germany's admission to the Council of the League has been ad

1From L'Europe Nouvelle (Paris Liberal foreign-affairs weekly), March 20

journed until September, it is merely because certain revisions of that body's constitution have proved necessary.

But the general public, which as a rule is uninformed of the details of the Locarno treaties and their relations to the League Covenant, and which knows still less of the actual internal functioning of the League, does not understand the successive phases through which the discussions have

passed, and therefore sums up the situation in this simple fashion: Germany was booked to join the League; she has not joined; ergo, the Locarno Pact has failed. As generally happens, the simplest statement of the case is the farthest wrong.

France thought that Poland ought to enter the Council at the same time as Germany. Germany did not agree with this, and was not willing to promise to vote for Poland after she herself became a member of the Council. England officially agreed in principle with France. Czechoslovakia supported Poland's claim. Sweden opposed any enlargement of the Council. Spain and Brazil, on the other hand, wanted the Council enlarged in the hope that it would benefit them.

We favored Poland's joining the Council because we thought that her presence there would enable France to relinquish to some extent her post as attorney of the young Slav republic and, without betraying Warsaw, to settle her own outstanding questions with Germany more easily.

But as soon as the session opened, the delegates discovered that serious mistakes had been made that interfered with their discussions and threatened to make them futile.

First of all, the Prime Ministers and Foreign Ministers present at Geneva had promised their Parliaments at home to get certain specific advantages there for their own countries. The press grew irritable. Editors insisted that the representatives of their Governments should not yield an inch. Needless to say, no negotiation is possible if all the negotiators are rigidly bound not to negotiate.

In the second place, the Great Powers are inclined to overlook the fact that the League of Nations is not a docile instrument in their hands. They

found themselves facing small Powers who understand quite well that Germany must be a member of the Council if the League is to have any vitality, but who are not inclined to follow the Great Powers blindly when the question of their own representation in the governing bodies of the League is at stake. If you enlarge the Council by adding new seats, you will weaken the Assembly to precisely that extent. Now a strong Assembly is the safeguard of democracy in international politics. It is also an automatic barrier against the imperialism of the stronger nations.

So it was evident at once that the Foreign Offices of the Great Powers had not taken the precaution to prepare the way for an immediate settlement of all the questions raised by Germany's entry into the League. Undoubtedly the Secretariat of the League foresaw these difficulties; but the functionaries of the Quai d'Orsay, of Wilhelmstrasse, of Downing Street, and of the Palazzo Chigi did not take them seriously. Persuaded that the last word rested with the 'Big Four,' they let their Foreign Ministers set out for Geneva-full of good intentions, but sadly unfurnished with dossiers.

Negotiations began. Luther and Stresemann, surrounded by a corps of remarkably able journalists in their citadel at the Hôtel Métropole, held out against Poland's admission. We must bear in mind that the Locarno Agreement, while protecting the rights of Poland, originated in Germany's proposal of a Rhine Pact, which Berlin designed should guarantee France upon the Rhine but leave Germany free to treat with Warsaw. Therefore it would have been very difficult for her to grant Poland advantages not specifically stipulated at Locarno.

Briand, Boncour, and Loucheur, at the Hôtel des Bergues, decided to defend Poland's claim to a Council seat. The French press enthusiastically supported them. Our journalists were familiar with all the details of the matter. They had had a long experience with the League of Nations. They put themselves out to win over to

their opinion their journalistic colleagues from other countries.

But it was evident at once that the Powers that had signed at Locarno had no intention of permitting the Assembly to divide into a pro-French and a pro-German party and thus to revive the antagonisms of the war. Every one of them was ready to make concessions to the limit. They approached closer to an agreement every day.

A sort of European Parliament, foreshadowed at Locarno, became a living reality at Geneva. Herr Luther quickly saw that he would get nothing by adopting a recalcitrant attitude toward Briand and Beneš and Skrzynski; that they were worth conciliating; that he must make compromises with them as he would with his own parliamentary colleagues. On the other hand, the former Allies were keenly appreciative of the prodigious effort that the Chancellor of the Reich was making to cultivate the spirit of peace in his country, and they too were ready to make concessions. So they all agreed upon a formula, and Brazil's obstinacy is the only reason why it is necessary to wait until September to apply it.

Now there is a big lesson in this last fact. With every week that passes the continent of Europe is becoming more keenly alive to its common interests interests that are symbolized in a certain group of statesmen. Then there is another lesson: Germany, who chose at Locarno between Russia and

Western Europe, stood true to her choice. She proved a second time that she had decided to remain one of us.

Even Mr. Unden, the crystalline Swede, cold as an iceberg, whose moral position was very strong indeed, abandoned his original attitude in the interest of a European understanding. And Señor Quinones de Leon of Spain, who had received strong assurances of support from England, pocketed his disappointment.

During the last days of the meeting the press of the entire world, including that of countries who are not represented in the Council and did not expect to be, waited breathlessly for the final decision. We could all feel it approaching. We expected every instant to see the column of smoke rising, as it does from the Vatican, to indicate that the conclave was ended and the election concluded.

But no. Brazil stood out. It was necessary to adjourn until September.

A thousand secret motives have been imagined for the unyielding attitude of Senhor Mello Franco. Did the United States of America encourage Brazil to insist that the Western Hemisphere should be represented at Geneva? Was Latin America jealous of Spain? Was Italy, who had made engagements at Locarno without a quid pro quo, trying to undermine the League by bringing pressure to bear through her thousands of immigrants in Brazil? These and numerous other conjectures even more fantastic were whispered about.

But first of all, there was not time for such elaborate combinations. Then why should the United States, which has shown so little sympathy with the League, suddenly become passionately interested in its constitution? And what possible practical advantage could Italy derive from encouraging

Rio de Janeiro to resist to the end?

The truth is much simpler, much more convincing, and much more significant. A great ocean separates Europe from America a seventeen days' sea journey. While Europe attaches more importance to peace than to national prestige, America, as

represented by Brazil, values a personal success more than order in Europe. She does not feel as we do the vital necessity of the Locarno Accord. She is not willing to make the sacrifices that the Powers of Europe are ready to make. That is the whole thing in a nutshell.

A PERSON can travel extensively in South Africa without realizing the presence of the Boers. For example, he can ride on the train from Cape Town to Johannesburg, and from there down to the coast at Durban, without hearing Afrikaans once. He will see Dutch words; he will notice by the side of 'Look and Listen' at every railwaycrossing 'Kijkenlois'; and wherever the sign 'Office' appears on a public building 'Kaantor' stands just to the left of it. All official printing is in both languages, from railway tickets, trunk checks, telegraph blanks, and diningcar menus to the revised statutes and the reports of Parliament. But on city streets, in banks, in corporation offices, in big hotels and fashionable tearooms, at movie shows, and on the street cars, he hears only English.

I traveled from Cape Town to Johannesburg on South Africa's fastest train, the famous Union Express. Nevertheless, the trip took thirty-nine hours, during almost twenty of which we were crossing practically uninhabited coun

1 From Berliner Tageblatt (Liberal daily), November 27

try either mountains, or else boundless plains where it was rare for more than two or three houses to be in sight at one time. Once or twice I caught a glimpse of a traditional Boer wagon with twenty yoke of oxen in front; but the old pad has long since become an automobile highway, and one sees ten Fords, Dodges, or Studebakers for every oxcart. At the little stations I occasionally saw men who reminded me remotely of peasants in the German coast provinces, or who at least did not resemble Anglo-American farmers. But they did not patronize the expensive express train. In fact I convinced myself that one cannot see South Africa from a car window.

So I visited Pretoria, the capital of the Transvaal, expressly to see the Boers celebrate the hundredth anniversary of the birth of their greatest leader, Oom Paul Kruger. Even there it required an observant eye, up to the day of the celebration itself, to discover any difference from other towns, although the broad vocals and the gutteral consonants of the Boer taal, though not strongly in evidence, were

occasionally audible. The physical type was likewise slightly different, the English vertical succumbing somewhat to the Dutch horizontal. One noticed this most in case of the ladies. English girls were tall and slender; Boer girls, plump and stocky. English girls almost without exception bobbed their hair; Boer girls wore long hair done up in rolls over their ears. The English girls painted their faces white and red without much discrimination; the Boer girls were both less elegant and less artificial. In case of the men the difference was not so striking; but the broad-shouldered, heavy-walking, hardfisted Boer type was none the less easy to distinguish from the slenderer and more athletic English figure.

Directly in front of the railway station stood Kruger's monument, which General Hertzog, the Union Premier, was to unveil. Its wrappings showed the Vierkleur, — Holland's blue, white, and red, besides a rich green and the orange of the sister republic. Shop windows displayed Kruger mementos -old photographs of incidents during his administration, and several wellintended but not very successful paintings commemorating his achievements as an officer against the Zulus. But I did not see a single reminder of his fight against England or of his exile. The great inflow of visitors had not yet begun when I arrived, but here and there I saw scenes that made the old Boer life I had read about when a boy come back to life again. On one of the principal streets of Pretoria stands a little red-brick church in the centre of a rather large grassy square. Here half a dozen camp fires were burning within fifty feet of the nearest electric poles. Boer families coming from somewhere far away out in die dorp had parked their huge wagons in the shadow of the church, had put out their oxen and mules to graze on the green, and had

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bivouacked there for the duration of their stay. Later in the evening I heard a clatter of hoofs and saw tired men on tired horses ride past in military order, their cartridge-belts slung across their chests and the butts of their rifles resting on their knees. It was a bürger kommando just in from a twelve hours' ride from Johannesburg for the parade next day.

A pilgrimage to Kruger's grave began early the following morning, with a constant stream of street cars, buses, and automobiles moving out toward the churchyard. The grave itself was completely buried under flowers and wreaths, for every visitor brought his contribution. The huge crowd was packed densely around the spot, a bust of the dead patriot on a tall black pedestal towering over them and his country's banner flying above. A great chorus sang hymns in his mother tongue. It was a simple, informal ceremony, but dignified and impressive.

Directly opposite the cemetery were the Fair Grounds, where the forenoon's exercises were held. They were an excellent site for such an event, for the Boers fitted perfectly into the picture in the great open grassy paddock that once a year served for the live-stock exhibits. The crowd resembled a great family gathering — not a single policeman or a marshal or other master of ceremonies was visible. Everything went forward naturally and quietly in an atmosphere of perfect ease and equality. A visitor saw at once that these people were accustomed to settle their affairs as freemen. Here was democracy in its primitive purity.

Next to the Fair Grounds was the race-course, where the bürger kommandos mustered. They came riding in from every direction, and looked a trifle sloppy at a first glance. Most of the young fellows wore business suits and laced boots-in fact, many had on