Evening star., 1920-02-15
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

i I is difficult not to feel that the
latest allied maneuver. that ex-
! pressed in the demand upon Hol
land for the extradition of the
! former German emperor and upon the
! German republic for the surrender of
long list Of officials of high and low
| degree. from Ludendorf and Hinden-
burg to the ma lefactors of small con-
sequence. guilty Of plundering invad-
! unmistakable blunder
| The world, outside of Germany and
| her former allied countries, is con-
WINGED that the war. which ended by
| The unconditional surrender of Ger
many on November IL, 1918, was of
German making. All the evidence
| which has been spread upon :he rec
ord since the close of the fighting has
! served to confirm the conviction which
; existed before the new documents be-
came available.
| On the subject of atrocities there is
not less clear evidence in any number
| of cases, the celebrated crimes of the
Germans. the murder of Edith Cavell
| the LuSItan1a massacre. Louvain and
I its Belgian analogies, the destruction
/ of Rheims. city and cathedral; the
execution of Capt. Fryatt. the depor-
tations of Lille, all of these remain
! just what they were. crimes against
| humanity and civilization. Nor has
/ time done anything to soften the judg-
ment of mankind as to the wrong
! which was the invasion of Belgium.
| the violation of international obliga-
| ton. the transformation of sacred
| treaty obligations into scraps of pa
per-
| Practical Questions.
| But. acknowledging all of this. there
are still practical questions to be
the day when Germany made her de-
mand for an armistice. a demand
which was in fact confession of de-
lfeat and the expression of readiness
: to surrender, Foch, speaking for the
allied governments. might have de-
manded in the list of things which
! must be done by Germany to obtain
an armistice that there should be sur
rendered those whose crimes were
known and whose names could be
specified in the document.
i At that moment there is small ques-
| tion as to the response of Germany:
she had no choice but to comply. To
| be sure the kaiser and the crown
prince. with the lesser kings and
kinglets, were in Belgium and Swift
zerland. and Ludendorff was in Swe-
den. 1t lay in Germany's power,
granted in the utmost good faith, to
deliver only a certain number. even
| of the prescribed still in Germany.
! for in the general confusion many of
these would have been able to es-
cape. aided by their compatriots.
But after the armistice had once
been signed-above all, when the
treaty of peace had been ratified and
/ put into operation-then to demand
| scores of Germans who must be sur
! rendered and turned over to an enc
III vol
granted that in the armistice and in
! the treaty provisions had been in
serted covering exactly this contln-
| lgency? Was not the evil which would
/ flow from this demand far greater
! than any possible benefit, either for
eternal Justice or national and human
/ satisfaction in seeing criminals. some
of them of the very basest sort. for
f; one can have no sympathy with many
/! of the offenders. meet just and well
merited punishment
After all. the main purpose which
all the inhabitants of all the victori-
| Gus countries must consider. must
work for. is to bring about real
restoration of peace. We snail All OF
us suspect the German for decades 10
come. even if. thing wholly unhkelF.
| he changes his character in that time
and turns to ideas and methods which
are in accord with those of the west
ern nations. The time is long distant
| when civilization can feel for the
Germans the same emotions that IT
! felt before 1914 when Germany was
suddenly revealed as a thing abhor-
rent to all the democratic and humane
countries in the world
| Not to Punish. But to Restore.
| Nor is it less true that for that ma
,erial destruction which Germany has
w,.oueht she must be made to pay.
The purpose of this payment is not TO
| nunjSh but to restore: either Ger
/ mans or French or Belgians must pay
! for the vast and incredible devasta-
| tions which remain a desert OF desc
i Iation in all of northern France and
Belgian Flanders The sole proper
| question is here: How much can
| Germany pay?" To ask more is to
i destroy the chance of getting any
thing: to ask less is to do intolera Bile
| Injustice to the people of France and
! Belgium.
f! We are all agreed that because the
! German national sentiment may be
offended, the German military or even
patriotic emotions may be aroused TO
J the peril of future world peace. there
lis no lust excuse for sacrificing either
the recognized claims of the countries
! which have been invaded nor the
! right of the recently liberated popu-
i lations. the Poles the habitants OF
| Alsace Lorraine, the population OIL
! Danish districts Of Schle svig.
! But. having agreed that Germany
must pay as much as she can that
| there must be no sacrifice OF the
fn N