New-York tribune., 1920-05-16
Reasonable in Control


yielding.
Reasonable in Control
To-day real evidence that Cs,
many means to comply with anvnsr
of the Treaty of Versailles in goo
faith, where evasion IS not next :.
impossible, would give strength :,
the arguments of all reasonable mso
and the moment has arrived vbs,
the reasonable men are in contn
in all the Allied countries. But o.
the German side there is no eT
dence Of any reasonableness. Tn
German talks about regaining Net
with exactly the same passion tia,
he discusses the reoccupation Of
SaarbrUcken, although French ha;
been the tongue of Metz for thou.
sand years; and when the German,
took it less than half century ago
it was as French as Orleans Or
Tours.
San Reno was more or less q
taking of stock among the Allie:
The British and the French strucl
hands on a bargain wnich inyolyei
a new assurance on the part of the
French that they were not seeking
to use the Treaty Of Versailles as
preteXt for anneXing German terri
tory and on the part of the British
that they We're not using arguments
in favor of generosity to cover CON-
mercial ambitions in a rehabilitated
Germany.
1t was a taking of stock in ad
vance of what must be the first rea
conference between Germany ana
her great foes. At that conference
she will be asked to comply with
certain terms which will be fixed
and to cease from refusing to CON-
ply with certain terms which have
been fixed for many months but
have not been observed, not alone
in the matter of coal due Belgium
and France.
Must Come i'm New Spirit
If the German comes t0 Spa IL
the spirit in which he came 10 Yer
if he presents argument
which traverse not alone his capac1t
to pay but his obligation to pay; H.
like Erzberger at Rethondes, he
writes; if, like Brockdorff Rantzal
at Versailles, he remains seated, me
result will be the collapse OF tne
very general effort on the part o.
moderate men in all countries to g.
the world back to work again, to gs'
Germany on her feet and to avolo
terms so drastic as to IT.
sure not reparation but ruin WHICH
viii overleap the neighboring from
tiers.
And the collapse of this effort VIII
cad at no distant time to dlfferenA
course. For eighteen months We
nave been paralyzed by the comic.
between two different schools o.
,hought, the one holding the Ger
nan to be forever menace, crlhl-
nal beyond redemption, the oInel
insisting that all that was neeaeu
o restore the German TO the num-
Der Of good citizens was treatmeh'
which combined generosity with ]uS'
ice. Where the Treaty of Versailles
8 severe one school impressed 10
IDEAS; where it is less drastic the
'ther prevailed. Any one who was
1t Paris could record the ditferen'
waves of emotion with respect 10
Germany which passed one afIe'
mother during the long montns
And the same is true in the case O.
Russia.
A Victory for Moderates
The holding Of the conference o.
Spa itself will represent a victory
or the moderates. If the Germans
axe advantage Of it to present ths'
eal case, to discuss what they ca"
'ay in terms of reason, if they a'S
lose any spirit to comply at all u
nay prove the first step in the res
Grafton of international associatlo''
But, conversely, there is mVi'
han a passing danger that the ue''
mans will disarm the moderates anu
L = H..