Arizona republican., 1919-02-07
SAYS HUN |S FAk|NG R|S
 bANKRUP TCY CRY.
Making Utmost Effort To Have Allies Believe He Is Broke-M Military Occupa- tion Favored Until Last Payment Made Let Him Go Slowly.

PARIS, Feb. 6.-CBy The Associated Press) is making utmost ef- forts to have the allies believe that she is nearing bankruptcy, declared Raoul Peret, chairman of the budget commit tee of the chamber of deputies, and former minister of justice, in discuss ing today the financial problem facing the peace conference. The first meas ures of the conference, along financial lines, he added, should be to take f.-eas- ures to prevent Germany from declar- ing herself an insolvent debtor or a ! bankrupt state
 Then" seret continued, ''we should immeSiately fix the amount of our ac- count against Germany, which she must be made to pay to the full limit of her financial ability, without consid- eration for her feelings. It will be time enough then to decide about the meth cd of payment. She may pay either in capital or in yearly installments.
 T do not believe that Germany at the present time is in the position to | pay a large amount in cash. We must not demand from her too heavy pay ment now, so as not to place her in a i position where she might argue that we are strangling her and killing the goose
 
 Use Military Until Paid
 "Whether the installments we shall demand from Germany be twenty, thir- | ty or forty billions of francs yearlly, 1 depends entirely on our decision after an investigation, as to what amount Germany will be able to pay. These payments would be guaranteed by GUS | toms tariffs decided on at the confer ence, reserving for ourselves the right to raise such tariffs, should Germany fail to meet her obligations.
 This would act as a means of coer- cion, because l do not believe that we should occupy Germany with a military force until her debt is paid It is my | opinion that once our armies of occu- patton return from Germany all meas tres should be taken to make reoccu- patton unnecessary.
 T believe in the creation of ffnan- cial society of nations, and that all ex- penses incurred by each nation should be put in a common and an interna- tional tax, levied unon all, until such debts are paid Neutrals should be included in this fnancal society of na- tons, especially those neutrals who profted by the war As a matter of fact | we are fighting for the neutrals as wei . as for ourselves, for had the German l pan -Germanist dream been realized, il would not have been long before Hol- | land, Sweden, Norway, Denmark l Switzerland and other neutrals would } have felt the weight of Germanys iroI fist"
 Just Enough Raw Material } Discussing the question whether } Germany should be permitted to i'm ) port raw material, so as to enable hel to resume her manufacturing industry l NJ. Peret said:
 [ q do not believe that all importa tions of raw material to the German should be forbidden, because their in dustry would then be at a standstill and they would be unable to pay. Nei ther do I believe that they should h permitted to import without limitation because, with their lower wages. longe working hours and undepleted supple . of machinery, they would be able ( undersell any other country on tn market, which would be quite as g~a a calamity as being unable to pay . However, it will be a long time befor any European country can export an raw material and the question mainl
 interests America.
 T should suggest that preferentie
 treatment be given the allied countrie! as France, Belgium and Serbia hay
 suffered the greatest damage. Ra'
 material from America should be ser
 to these three countries first, the over
 flow being allowed to revert to Ger
 many. so as to enable her to keep he machinry working without enabling he
 to undersell us
 Is Momentous Problem
 ''The financial problem is the mo!
 momentous one before the peace cor
 ference, and I am greatly surprise
 that it has not been considered befol
 this The first thing usually dor
 when a society is founded, is to elect
 treasurer. Thus, if a -ociety of nation . is founded. a treasurer should at ont . be appointed by the creation of f Eancial society of nations. The solutio
 of the problem, to my mind, is u
 foundation of a financial society of ns
 tions, in which the expenses of evel
 belligerent opposed to Germany sha 's be compiled into one sum. An invel T. tory of Germanys resources shou |, then be made, and she should be mat l. to pay by every mark she can g $. together. Then there should be inte
 national tax, including the neutrals, ct make up the balance"