T Foreign Opinion HE LAST Great War started in the Balkans. Suppose another conflict should break out there, suggests the semi-official "Bulgarie," issued at Sofia under the auspices of the Bulgarian Government. How would matters stand under the Kellogg treaty pledging the Powers to renounce war -with its preamble recognizing the right of each nation to decide what circumstances require action in “legitimate self-defense"? At first glance the abolition of war would seem to depend on the individual states, argues the editor in a leading article which affords a perfect contrast of certain typical European and American ways of thinking. A state considering itself menaced could always justify armed action to safeguard itself. "A deeper study," he continues, “will show the difficulties in the way of a definition of legitimate defense, in the vast range of international relations . . . All the wars of more than a century have been waged in the name of self-defense. And each case has required extensive special researches. by historians to determine the responsibility... A classic example is the Balkan War of 1912-13 which was the prelude to the World War." Recalling that the struggle was variously interpreted as an aggressive attack on the Turkish Empire and as a valiant defense against the Turks, the newspaper quotes I. E. Geshov, the former Bulgarian Premier, to the effect. that Turkish policies designed to decimate and expel the Bulgarian population of Macedonia, led to a decision to unite Bulgaria with her Balkan neighbors against Turkey. Consequently, the conclusion is that the war was one of self-defense for the Balkans, and the Balkan treaties of alliance for offense as well as defense were really defensive in character. A definition of legitimate self-defense must comprise some elements of aggression-of which one of the most common is a treaty of alliance for offense! "But will the absence of a definition of legitimate defense lessen the value of the pact? No, for Mr. Kellog is convinced that causes for self-defense will not arise if the contracting parties bind themselves solemnly to renounce war. This may seem to European politicians a slightly exaggerated idea, By MALCOLM W. DAVIS but Americans attach particular importance to the pledged word and to the worth of a signature." ONE LONE British cavalry regiment took part recently in some French army maneuvers in the zone of occupation on the Rhine. And as if to furnish a contrast to the situation just ten years ago, Liberal papers in Great Britain-loyal adherents of the War Prime Minister, Lloyd George, and now opposed to the Conservative Cabinet of Prime Minister Baldwintook it as an occasion to attack the Government, calling it a needless pinprick to German feelings calculated to retard European progress toward reconciliation. Englishmen want both their troops. and French and Belgian troops withdrawn from the Rhine at the earliest possible moment. The "Manchester Guardian," the veteran leader of the Liberal press, considered the incident a blunder of the Ministry of War or the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. It classed these maneuvers on the Rhine with the breakdown of the Geneva conference on limitation of armaments and the resignation of Viscount Cecil. The Anglo-French naval agreement and the secrecy surrounding it, the paper charges, represent a mishandling of British foreign affairs that is gravely disturbing to British friends of peace. "What will America think?" asks the "Daily News" and the "Star," regarding the incident as calculated to accentuate American distrust after the re ported Anglo-French accord on military and naval strength and distribution of fleets. Honduranian newspapers have rejected the idea in equally bitter terms. Their attitude evidently reflects disappointment over this response to the proposal of Honduras that the problem be submitted to the President of the United States for arbitration in accordance with an agreement made five years ago. Secretary Kellogg's plan, which grew out of the failure of the Boundary Commission to arrive at any common understanding, has been accepted by Guatemala which has apparently raised Honduranian uneasiness to fever pitch. M ODERNISM in religion is invad ing the Mohammedan world, and in both Egypt and Turkey the issue is already joined as surely as between Fundamentalists and Liberals in America. Under the leadership of Mustapha Kemal, the Turkish Nationlists according to the "Manchester Guardian"-have set about the reform of the ancestral faith in the land where formerly the Sultans ruled also as Caliphs, spiritual heads of Islam. "Religion," declares a Commission of the Faculty of Theology of Stamboul University, created by the revolutionary Nationalist Government, "must enter into the new era of vitality, and be reformed. . . by means of scientific procedure and by aid of reason, so that it may move forward in line with other social institutions." The Commission proceeds to lay down principles for a theological reformation. The first of these are scientific direction and national character, as the bases for all institutions; and from them is derived the further idea of democracy. The Commission further specifies forms and methods of worship including a provision that prayer must be in the Turkish language and "simple and clear, such as to stir the souls of the faithful. For this reason muezzins and imams capable of chanting melodiously should be chos What the Country Is Thinking UR Presi dential Campaign is go A Review of Editorial Opinion ing to cost, it is estimated, some thirteen By ERNEST HAMLIN ABBOTT By ERNEST HAMLIN ABBOTT million dollars. Our crime bill this year will be, it is estimated, some thirteen billion dollars. That means that we could go on electing Presidents at the present rate for over five thousand years for the price we pay each year for crime. If money is a measure of importance -and it is supposed to be in America -it is not surprising that even in the midst of a Presidential Campaign the press should regard crime as worth disCriminals constitute only a cussing. very small minority of the total population but they cost us, as the Kansas City "Star" puts it, "an enormous, almost incomprehensible sum, amounting to about two-thirds of the Nation's war debt and to one-seventh of the country's total yearly income." We are an extravagant people, but we are beginning to wonder if we really can afford to spend all that each year in stolen goods, in police, in courts, in jails, and in whatever else crime costs us. Yet we are a good natured people and do not get angry about it. Stickup men continue to ply their business and our press remains calm, except when politics or local pride is touched. Cities do not like to have their lawlessness advertised. Chicago, for example has become very touchy. The "world's greatest newspaper," the Chicago "Tribune," reassures visitors from other cities, on the authority of a professor, "that crimes of violence which have been sensationally advertised to our detriment have had their source and scene in the underworld, and that they do not mean that the safety of our law abiding inhabitants or that of reputable visitors has been or is likely to be imperiled." No, we are assured, other cities are as bad, and "the timidity felt by a few travelers is ridiculous." Other cities feel the same way. So we soft-pedal crime. I do not see much evidence of what the Louisville "Courier-Journal" contemptuously calls the "fevered brow of public alarm.” Yet the American press is recognizing that in this country crime has become a big business. "In England," says the Baltimore "Sun," 'a criminal is pretty much of an outlaw, a lone and What is the reason? Our courts? After all, however, as the writer of Adolescence is the period in which note of general parently growing disrespect for law. In the end lawlessness in America seems to be attributable to what might be called the adolescent mind of the ordinary American adult. To him law seems something like a school regulation to be broken. Mere drastic treatment of convicts, as one newspaper shows by figures, does not make any change in the common American attitude toward law. As long as the American thinks of law, including traffic regulations for safety on street and road, as an inconvenience to be avoided or evaded, and law-violation as an art, courts and prisons will be crowded. When, however, he begins to consider the cost $13,000,000,000-the American citizen may join the press in asking, Is it worth it? T Sick HREE months ago, a bride and groom arrived in New York. They belonged to a strange race, and looked with shy, uncomprehensive gaze at the skyscrapers, towering above their beads, and the hard streets stretching in front of them. The memor ries of these two were of cool wooded carpets, of dense and leafy walls, of the clear, untroubled sounds of waters. the still retreats where they had found each other. For they were a pair of Gazelles in captivity-the only ones in the great city of New York-and their destination was a caged enclosure in the Bronx Zoo. Those whose place it was to welcome and care for these gentle animals were charmei This was the lovliest and most graceful pair that adorned the park. How could any creature bear its weight. on ankles so slender and Loofs so light? Where had the pretty animals learned that beauty of quick ness, and that artless grace of motion? Beyond everything else, what bad trained them in their attitude towards each other? one It was a delight to watch them. If they were startled, they looked q-kly at another, and moved Coser together. It was as if they had spoken. I am still here. Together we cannot be frightened." They encourazed each other within the narrow boundaries of their new captivity. With their velvet noses, pressed one to the other, they whispered silently their gentle endearments. "Life is not so dreadful. You are all there is of loveliLess, and the grass and leaves around Ls are still green." "Look at them," the passing observers would exclaim; "those two funny animals with the big eyes. They act just like married folks!" Day by day, too, they grew bolder lightheartedness. They learned to run and leap within the small space which was theirs. They had their own diversions of pretense and adventure together, and through the nameless instinct of old memories they companioned each other and created their own world. They were at home at last because the other was there. Day by day, too they grew bolder in their new and miniature adventures. From the Life By IBBY HALL There came an evening finally, when be started off to explore the foliage alone. With beating heart she stayed behind to wait for his return. This was a new game. She knew he could not wander far, they had explored it all together. He could pretend for a while under the darkness of night, that this strip of city foliage was an endless expanse of forest. The city lights, for this one evening. might be stars that had fallen to hang on trees around his wanderings. He had never been this far from her before. He knew how fast her heart was beating with expectancy. He would turn soon-he would go leaping back to her-and they would stand quite still and near that she might know of all his breathless adventures in an untracked forest. Now he would turn-what was that watching him silently beyond the foliage? For a second he was as silent and as still as It. For a second cold terror stabbed his heart like an old pain. Where had he known this Thing before? Silence and danger and threat. Where was she? Always beside him until this moment-waiting for him now until this game of adventure should be over-in a few bounds he would reach her. With one great leap. And still the Terror held him fixed. Desperately he sprang away from it. And in that spring it caught him. What it was, he could not see. What had snared him and drawn him from her side, he would never know. But in his very breath, it caught and strangled him. She would never feel that gentle breathing at her side. With a bullet in his lungs he fell, on the dark earth of the city, hidden only by a few strips of foliage, from the garish, stony street. All night long she waited for him and with dawn the heartedness left her forever. Suddenly, those slender ankles and tiny hoofs would bear her weight no longer. She sank down on her side within the narrow enclosure and gazed through wire at a terrible city. She was alone. In the morning the keepers found his body where the unknown killer had left it. The sun rose higher and the daily visitors came wandering to the Zoo. They walked idly by the cages. stopping occasionally, to survey the animals within. within. Occasionally, they would speak a coaxing word and hold out an encouraging hand. But in an enclosure there lay a creature all unheeding. The great mysterious eyes were fixed on nothing. Except for the faint movement of her side, one would have said there was no breath to stir her body. After a few seconds of futile coaxing, the friendly visitors would hesitate doubtfully. "It's sick," they would say, and pass on by. D Reward small OWN in Kentucky in a hamlet lives a man who believes steadfastly in the gods of the past. He is old and poor and alone. But he still believes that God rewards the righteous and punishes the wicked. The other morning he woke up in his solitary habitation with a strange feeling creping through his bones. It was a feeling, mixed evenly of doubt and hunger. His solitary life held one companion but he avoided looking at this companion while he thought. How and was he going to eat that day where was he to find food enough for two? He had just asked himself this question when the companion of his loneliness lost patience. The companion, having waited all this time for a look or word of greeting, rose to his feet, stretched his lank body, shook his long ears, and howled. The old man turned his eyes for the first time towards his friend. “All right, all right," he said comfortingly, "you and me, we'll go take ourselves a walk.” The old man and his dog stepped out into a beautiful summer's day. The sky and the grass and the air of Kentucky cajoled and caressed them like a warm and friendly heaven. They look at each other with a peace and understanding troubled only by the pangs of hunger. There was nowhere in particular to go, but the dog started for it confidently. The man, still touched by misgiving, stumbled and followed along. They were crossing an open field (Please turn to page 758) dimensional, latter day Mencken character. On the contrary, he is very close to George Ade's picture of Father, two decades ago. He is awful, but he is real. He is provincial, but he is shrewd and penetrating. He is David Harum and Babbitt combined. Nor is the American girl merely a flapper, with superficial emotions and a purely objective mind. As drawn by these playwrights she is romantic but emotionally potent. She chafes against the American man's world of golf, business and money. She is set on securing somehow a romantic lover who can dominate her. She will not sell herself for a half emotion. She is the protest of woman against man's ego. Consider these two people in Venice-whither Father has been dragged by Mother now that he is a millionaire. Bring on a romantic Frenchman of good family, ruined by the war and rehabilitating his fortunes as a Courier to rich Americans in Italy. Color generously with moonlight, Venetian serenades, mediaeval palaces and art. Add the inevitable Boyhood Friend from Ohio-and you have the first act of the "Big Pond." things as Venice, art, romance-all these have become things of the past. Ego, in the form of success in the rubber business, has captured Pierre. And love and romance apparently no longer exist for him. The part of romantic lover clearly was only one he played on the Italian stage. Business, once more, has robbed her of her man. It is a bitter defeat for Barbara. She has loved Pierre. And the moment when she turns to her Boyhood Friend and pretends to an engagement which does not exist, in order to cover her disaster, brings on as dramatic a scene as light comedy is able to stand. For Pierre has really loved her all along, and has doggedly persevered at business in this strange country only to make money enough to enable him to marry her. And the discovery that now he is to lose her transforms him once more into as genuinely romantic and passionate a lover as any girl could wish for. "Ah, ha!" said we, as we settled back and awaited the rise of the curtain on the third act. "What a magnificent last act we are now going to see!" ND then the curtain rose, ΑΝ and if you can believe it, Mr. Thomas and Mr. Middleton pulled a genuine Rotary Club finale on us. No For eigner shall get an American girl in one of OUR plays, they informed us. No matter how gallant this Kenneth MacKenna had made Pierre appear the Boyhood Friend is the Boy Patriot and Barbara ought to wake up to it. The thing fell to pieces like an old Ford. Why, they had the Boyhood Friend nearly lose his job because he, too, had fallen in love with Barbara, and had studied the Encyclopedia on Art, and so was deserving of sympathy as a romantic lover, too. And Barbara believed it all, and as the curtain fell she was even believing in his artistic soul and his business ability combined, because he had invented a Rubber Venus for little tots to play with. We knew, as we left the theatre, that Barbara was due, after the first year, to run away with the first Greenwich Village artist who came along-and then throw herself in the river. THAT a shame!" we said. WHAT And it is. Kenneth MacKenna as the Frenchman, and Harlan Briggs as the Father make the play worth more than any other new play on Broadway. Lucile Nikolas as Barbara gives promise of developing into as lovely and appealing an ingenue as any theatre-goer can want. The first act curtain is one of the cleverest ever devised. If the playwrights had merely allowed the characters to follow the natural course of events, one of the best comedies of recent years might have resulted. Reluctantly, we recommend this play. "The Patriot" Ο NE of the screen's finest actors is Lewis Stone. In scene after scene of "The Patriot" he holds his audience motionless by the strength of his portrayal, only to have every eye leave him on the entrance of a greater one than he. Comparisons are odious, but Mr. Stone, artist that he is, would be the first to admit that he and every other of his profession must bow the knee to Jannings. Criticism of "The Patriot" could be, and should be, limited to the bare statement that the picture, the acting, the direction and the photography have never been excelled in the history of the cinema. is To say more merely to burble along on a stimulating subject. To read what we, and better critics than we, have to say about such a picture with a view to deciding whether or not to see it, is to put a poor valuation on your time. A reviewer might properly call your attention to those technical excellencies which it is his business to study; he could inform you that the sympathy engendered by Jannings for the mad Czar Paul I is one of the great histrionic achievements of all time; it would not be amiss for him to tell you that all possible doubt of the preeminence of Ernest Lubitsch must be dispelled by what he has given the world in this picture: words, words - all hollow words. You'll find all this out for yourself when you see "The Patriot," and the excessive blather which is in us, begging to be hurled into print, could do nothing more than perhaps spoil for you some small detail of a marvelous experience. There are sound effects with "The Patriot"-and good sound effects, too, because they are under intelligent restraint. The Movies By A. M. SHERWOOD, JR. Here, dear friends, is the picture of the year, and the picture of many years. We urge that nothing be allowed to keep you from seeing it. "Out of the Ruins" A picture of which we expected little and which pleased us from start to finish was "Out of the Ruins" with Richard Barthelmess and Marian EMIL JANNINGS IN "THE PATRIOT" Nixon. This is a war story, with the scenes laid in Paris and at the front; but don't let that keep you away. Originality marks nearly every bit of the presentation, and John Francis Dillon's direction makes up for the not-so-original portions. Mr. Barthelmess' part is that of a young lieutenant who finds while he is in the line that his sweetheart is in grave danger of being married off to a rich and elderly civilian whose services to her father have been such that the girl's consent to marry him is practically a sacred obligation. Desperate Desperate at the thought of losing her, Lieutenant Pierre sticks his hand up over the parapet of a trench, with the idea that the minor wound thus received will get him a leave to go to Paris and make her his wife before it is too late. This doesn't work, for his commanding officer sees through the ruse and refuses the leave. So our hero deserts and joins his sweetheart secretly, only to find that no man can get a marriage certificate unless he has his military papers in good order, and this, of course, would be impossible in the case of a deserter. So he goes back to his regiment only to be refused permission to get into a particularly hot scrap and to be told that he must face a courtmartial. What happens from then on is of such a nature that advance publicity would lessen your interest in it. We were impressed with Richard Barthel mess' acting and very much so by the performance of Marian Nixon. We had seen this actress only in light comedy roles be fore and were filled with admiration at her handling of an emotional part. The love scenes between the two principals were extremely well done and there was a passionate intensity to the whole picture which is rarely achieved. "Four Walls" John Gilbert is never anything but vivid and interesting, and his performance in "Four Walls" is both of these things. Assisted by Joan Crawford, he manages to turn a so-so picture into pretty good entertainment. The venerable crook-who-reforms motif forms the basis for the story. There have been too many good crook pictures of late for a mediocre one to stand much chance. John Gilbert is cast as a Jewish boy. There is no reason why he should not be, but we are getting a little tired of sitting through Hebraic religious observances on the screen, just as we should if they were Catholic, Methodist or Episcopal. Let's have some Zoroastrian or Seventh Day Adventist heroes for a change. |