Show c S I Will a Word Endanger Peace I IBy Ii i e By CHESTER H H. H ROWE ROWELL L. L S Let Iet t be hoped that the peace of Europe Europ is no not L again to be Jeopardized d by a single mistranslated I. I word That happened already In the treaty of Versailles Versailles Ver Ver- sailles sallies and and the Dawes plan Both these documents documents docu docu- documents ments turned on a single word and in both that tha t tone one word was the only one In which the French 1 and English versions seriously differed Now come reports which may be cleared up ui before this reaches print that a similar difference differ ence exists on the pivotal word of of the proposed propose I security pact France and England nearly broke and the peace a of the world orld was endangered because the French I version of the treaty seemed to authorize while r the English version clearly did not the separate S i invasion of ot the Ruhr fluhr Warned by this the Dawes commission spent spen i I several se extra days going over the two texts o of C the report word by word to make sure that n no such thing occurred again They might have confined their attention to a L single word since it was known beforehand that tha t this was the only point which dispute could arise Yet somehow this was the only word mistranslated In the whole report On the question what should be done in case cas S of flagrant failure by Germany the English version version ver ver- sion said that It is plainly for the creditor governments govern govern- ments acting with th the consciousness of Joint trusteeship trustee trustee- ship then ship then to determine the nature of sanctions t to s be applied This word then was omitted from the French version and the plan nearly failed tailed of ot adoption and an I Europe narrowly escaped collapse in Ia the inevitable a dispute over the difference An Interested statesman asked how it happened t. t said Let us charitably charitably- hope that It was an over over- sight sigh t. t S Now come com reports that in the proposed security y S SS pact the Fre French ch understand that they are to have hay a the right separately E on their own decision t to 0 cross the Rhine and go to the aid of Poland if It its S borders are are threatened The British however emphatically understand 1 that such a move could only be made by of the league of nations and if made oth other r- r wise would be an act of aggression by France which h would obligate England to intervene on the German Germa ri side S Doubtless the present unofficial r reports ports ar are e mostly politics to save the faces of the S But it should be made certain especially after after two two- experiences that these differences are not re reflected reflected re- re in the official texts It is far cheaper to arg argue e it out dut now even if some politician has hasto to lose his Job for telling the truth than to fight it out later in bl blood od and fire |