A BELLOW FROM THE BALKANS

A more or less substantiated rumor has it that the Rumanian government, before adopting trade reprisals against Germany, will refer the commercial dispute to arbitration by competent American authorities.

This is a different thing altogether from American participation in the reparation conferences, even though Owen Young did originate the Dawes Plan. Germany is not a member of the League of Nations, and it may be for this reason that Rumania is resorting to American arbitration. This will naturally not be the last time America is called on for similar services, since the reasons behind Rumania's action will hold for other nations.

This will inevitably place the United States in an extremely delicate position. It may win back the prestige it held when Wilson was signing the Versailles Treaty, or it may, if it bungles, be placed in a most undesirable state of relationship with European nations. The situation is, in its potentialities, quite as serious as any since the war, for it is in its essence an attack on the policy of isolation. As such, it deserves profound consideration by the administration. Now that Hughes has left the cabinet, the possibilities of a repetition of the Opium Conference flasco are too serious to be overlooked and consequences immeasurably worse would be involved by another admitted failure.