KINGS AND PAWNS

For a thousand years and more the political chess game of Europe has been conducted on certain very definite rules and principles. And except when a people rose in its wrath to hand "les aristocrats" to the lampposts, they changed not at all. But the cataclysm of 1914 destroyed traditions of play as of rank. With the disintegration of political parties after the war, Europe has been dominated by individuals. By sheer force of personality Mussolini has gathered a national following, and Herr Hitler has apparently attempted to follow that precedent. Premier Poincare appears to be the government of France, as Lenin and Trotsky are of Russia. Indeed, it would seem that statecraft has suddenly become a manipulation of those personalities who can draw the mob to their sides by a cry of panem et circenses.

Among these many personal successes there must be some failures; but few have been as pitiable as that of General Erich Ludendorff, once high commander of the German armies of the West. The all-mightiness of the lord of the German war machine clothed him in the trappings of royalty, and as a result every peasant has marked his fall. To become guilty of treason is in itself a severe punishment for an officer; but to be associated with the fiasco of a brewery revolt is tragic.

The new rules have not only brought out the dominance of individuality; they have also made kings into puppets for the manipulation of plebian statesmen. King George of Greece has been requested to take a vacation for two months while the people of Greece decide a few matters; the Crown Prince has taken a trip from Holland to Silesia, said to be instigated by Chancellor Streseman in order to split the Monarchist party; and Mirabile dictu, the discarded Kaiser is reported on the verge of a return to the Fatherland. Although the Kaiser has lost every vestige of authority, Europeans are showing an increasing tendency to intrust their causes to a leader extraordinary which may give him sudden power. It, is plain that with the old rules so changed, wary statesmen nowadays must put all their attention on incipient leaders.