The sun. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1916-1920, 1919-04-01
ALLIES APPROACH
CRITICAL MOMENT
Continued from First Page.

development, and energetic finance has
already reduced the British war debt
Pertinax continues:
| Position OF France Weak.
| THE picture is seductive, but neverthe-
less we feel that 1t Is deceptive To
begin with. look at France. She has
sacrificed the greatest number of men.
Her richest provinces have been ruined
To- many years. Her specially created
war factories will be able TO start the
work Of peace only after long process
| Of adoption. She possesses no indepen-
dent merchant marine. Largely as the
effect Of invasion foreign creditors have
taken the place of her former foreign
debtors. Her finance has been mediocre.
| She has the ear OF an ever near military
! menace and feels that her victory Is un-
stable. The restoration OF France will
take at least twenty years. It can be
| accomplished only at Germany's expense
| with the active help of the Allies Strong
indemnity. financial and economic 1--WE
do not mean arms good frontiers and
good military agreements-is It toward
this that we are tending?
Pert!nax expresses the fear that such
is not the tendency OF the Council OF
-Four
Demands OH Germany.
What lie II France demands from
peace? First of all she requires mill
tary security and secondly that Ger
many shall be unable to derive Indirect
profit from the havoc she has wrought
in France, industriaily and up to the
limits of her capacity she shall make
good the we'll nigh ruinous losses she
has inflicted.
Her first requirement aims at pre-
venting any possibility of a recurrence
OF the attack of 1914. but the French
demands in this connection are In no
way inspired by territorial appetites.
Any soldier will agree that only the
possession by Germany of the Rhine
bridges made her aggression of 1914
possible. Without the bridges her light
ming onslaught would have been stemmed
at the outset. Possession of those
bridges enables her to use this left
bank as springboard of invasion.
The whole history since 1915 shows
this. IT is the point OF view which was
supported by more than one British
statesman when Great Britain was aid
ing Prussia in the great coalition
against Napoleon. Thus Pitt in 1906
wanted Prussia TO extend on the left
bank of the Rhine so as to be more
efficient military policeman.
Great War Machine Struck Quickly
German military writer's can be found
In complete agreement on the point and
the whole teaching of the German Cen
eral .Staff IL there to show that Ger
many's power of aggression depends
upon the tremendous railway system OF
military nature which she has built up
on that bank and that system in its turn
Is entirely dependent upon the rapidity
with which troops can be moved across
the Rhine throughout It's frontiers
length. 1t is Sointed out by the French
that. thanks TO the possession of the
Rhine bridges, France was invaded in
less than three weeks. In 1914. before
the war had even been declared. the
Briey district was occupied and France
was deprived of 90 per cent. Of her ores,
nearly Sc per cent. of her iron output
and nearly three-quarters of her steel
output.
France thus weakened. her greatest
military resources and her war indus
trial capacity came within an ace OF see
Ing the capital occupied In the summer
OF 1914. and largely for the same cause
the Channel ports were imperiled in the
autumn OF the same year Had these
TWO disasters happened British aid
would have been perilousiy delayed and
the arrival OF American aid would have
been hampered tremendously by the con-
centration OF the French west OF Paris.
In order to meet the French desire for
security Of frontiers! an object which Is
essential not only to France but all her
friends and allies, the Peace Conference
has taken number OF decisions which
are embodied In the military terms OF
the peace treaty.
Under those clauses all military works
on the left bank OF the Rhine are to be
destroyed and no Notifications are TO be
permitted thirty miles to the east OF the
Rhine. The German army is to be re-
duced TO 100000 men and her arma-
ments are TO be controlled.
The French don't feel that these quar-
antees and what guarantees the League
or Nations can give are sufficient The
control OF ornaments and Of military
strength was attempted by Napoleon
and failed utterly even though II was
applied only TO a country OF 5000. 900
inhabitants. Is II likely to be effective
when applied to the Germany of to-day,
who Will have as the result Of this war
Tor many years to come all available
trained material for the rapid creation
anu VIII pOSstss fnllllOnS OF
men who have been trained in war.
The League OF Nations has SO far
rejected the idea of an international
police force and 1t is quite certain that
there will be an inevta BILE delay in get
ting the armed forces of the league ar.
rayed against Germany In the event OF
another German aggression. Indeed that
delay will make time a factor even moro
important than before in any plans OF
aggression and II is vital 70 Frances
security that she shall be able TO create
a zone OF safety on land similar TO that
which has been established by Great
Britain at sea when she obtained the
surrender OF the German fleet.
Back TO the Rhine.
In order to do this II Is in Fronch
opinion essential that the Allies should
occupy the Rhine bridges and that Ger
msny's western frontier should ha
formed by the Rhine. This doesn't mean
that France desires to annex ALI that
region OF the left bank, and no doubt
some scheme of insuring political
economy for those regions will be sc-
ceptable to the French. Whether. how
ever. any such scheme will be found
workable Is another matter. By occuny-
ing the Rhine bridges Germany's high
road of invasion will be barred.
That disappointment will be Increased
II In dealing with reparation the peace