Omaha daily bee. (Omaha [Neb.]) 187?-1922, 1919-05-19
The War Indemnatu
From the New York Post.

1t has been evident in all discussion of the
indemnity to be imposed on Germany, that three
separate questions were involved in it; all OF
them more or less debatabe. What requsi-
ton would be just and equitable? How much
would Germany be able to pay without being
economically crushed? In what way could it
make payments to foreign governments of any
sum running into the billions and with what
economic results? 1t is these questions with
which the committee reparation has been
wrestling ever since its appointment by the
Paris conference in January They are partly,
but not wholly, settled by the terms of the
treaty.
In various declarations during the war, a
punitive indemnity pure and simple has been
dlscountenanced by the allied statesmen Pre-
cedent in the settlement of great wars is rather
strongly against it; such indemnities as those
imposed on France after Waterloo, on Turkey
after the war of 1878, and on China after the
Boxer rebellion, having been based either on
damage unlawfully done by the enemy or on
the cost OF the war to the victorious states 1t
so happens that Germany itself is the one gov
eminent which, in the century past, has gone
beyond that limitation. The indemnity of 5,000,-
100000 francs exacted from France in 1871,
much exceeded the cost of the Franco Prussian
war to Germany. and it was imposed by a
government whose own territories had not been
invaded by the enemy.
Lloyd George last December publicly as
serted the right and purpose of demanding from
Germany the whole cost of the war to the en-
tente allies: The treaty does not make this de-
mand; on the contrary, all its specific provisions
in the reparation section are directed towards
the payment for damage done to individuals or
property. Merchant ships destroyed must be
paid for in kind, ton for ton. Destruction of
private property; levies or fines imposed on
provinces or cities occupied during the war; per-
10 cfyi1ior hxya hNy,
bardment, forced labor, maltreatment of pris-
oners, exposure at sea or cruelty on landau
these, together with pensions and separation
allowances" for. damages to the allied peoples"
must be paid for These specific acquisitions
of 100000 100000 marks, or, in gold value $23,-
8OO0OO,000. But the treaty does not expressly
limit the indemnity to this sum- The total obi
cation "is to be determined and notified to it
after fair hearing by the reparaton commit
tee and within two years. This, however, may
eventually mean decrease, not increase, of the
total sum.
Will Germany be able to pay this immense
indemnity? There are several ways of judging.
One thousand million pounds sterling. or ap-
proximately $4,760,000,00O, must be paid within
two years "in either gold goods, ships or other
specific forms of payment The rest must be
paid in S per cent German government bonds
with a | per cent annual sinking fund. Now,
so far as concerns raising the first cash in
stament and paying interest and sinking fund
on the others, it is to be observed that Ger
many has been spending upwards of $l0,0OO,000
600 annually on the war, and raising $6,OOO,OOO,-
900 to $7,O00,00O,O00 annually in war loans,
placed with its own people.
From these enormous public expenditures,
Germany will in the nature of the case be free
hereafter; indeed, the very terms of the treaty
vii rel release an it from the greater part Of the
$5O0,000,00O which it was spending annually on
army and navy before the war. If the second
installment of 10000 100000 marks were made in
30-year bonds, no greater annual burden would
be created than was imposed on France in
1871, through requirement of cash payment of
resources for such payments are vastly greater
today than they were 48 years ago. y
The immediate source of perplexity will con-
Germ the initial payment in cash or its equivalent,
within two years, of $4760000,0O0. Germany's
be heh m
ent holds practically all the gold in the country
has barely $4S000000O, and much of this will
have to be paid for food Undoubtedly part
of this payment will be made in securities of
foreign countries held in Germany; as to which,
the committee on reparation has undoubtedly
made thorough inquiry How much the total
value of such holdings would run to, is dis
puted point
A dozen years ago, German government
report reckoned such holdings as more than 16,-
000000,000 marks, or $4,8O0,000,000. If that es-
innate was right the present holdings should
be larger, notwithstanding the heavy sales to
foreign countries at the outbreak of the war.
1t was probably over-estimate. But what
ever the actual sum might be, it would be pos
sible for the German government to require the
exchange of all private holdings of the sort for
government obligations, as the British govern
ment did when arranging to put up collateral Sc
curity for its American borrowings in 1916 and
1917