New-York tribune., 1920-02-15
the Allied Demand for German War Criminals
Intensification of Hatred Of
France and England Seen as
Result of the Move

Great Britain and In the United
States, he has now to face new da
mands, what seem to him new 40.
mands-the surrender of Germ,
soldiers for crimes In a war which 1.
finished, war in which in the end
he endured terrible hardships and
for which he is now condemned >.
ray to the limit of his capacity f.,
thirty years. What is the result,
Obviously the Germans are morn
and more coming to the belief that
the war was forced upon them to
ruin them; that William II was q,
much victim of cleverer politician.
who sought Germany's ruin as wa,
Napoleon III in the far-off time O,
the Ems despatch.
He feels that all his recent .r..
mics are seeking the total extinction
Of Germany; that the only limit on
their aspirations to destroy is found
in the unwillingness of their popu.
lations to do any more fighting. To
much he must still submit, but most
he may yet escape by wise defiance.
coupled with apparent submission.
Following this policy he can look
forward to the day when he can at
last throw off the mask and repeat
the achievement of 1918, when
Prussia attacked Napoleon in the
back, liberated Germany, despoiled
France and began the great page in
German history which was tempo
rarily closed on November II, 1918.
when German representatives signed
the armistice at Rethendes.
Creating New Menace
Perhaps all this was inevitable
anyway. Perhaps the German would
in any event have insisted upon an
Interpretation Of the war which did
violence to all the facts az we see
them. Nations do not change their
views about wars just because thew
lose them; they do not accept the
opinions of their conquerors merely
because they are forced to accent
their terms. But what seems to me
to stand out in recent months il
Allied policy is the fatal conrribu-
ton which Allied statesmen are
making to the stimulation Of a Ger
man state Of mind which must lead
to the creation of a new German
menace. They are doing this by max.
ing one demand after another. all
Just Of themselves but, in the nature
OF things, appearing mountains of
injustice to the Germans. And
while the harm is done in this direc.
ton they are doing even greater
harm in another by failing to en-
force their demands, not under con.
ditions which suggest wise modera,
ton or sober second thought, but in
circumstances which suggest to the
German that cowardice has been
combined with evil purpose.
In the relations between nations
the, facts are very frequently of
minor Importance, while the inter-
pretatlons placed upon the facts by
two great nations are of the utmost
Importance. If the German people
saw the men whom the Allies have
demanded be delivered to them as
the criminals we see them to be,
then the demand would in the end
find no serious German opposition.
If there were any least chance tha.
the Germans would some day see
these men as we see them, then still
our course would be rational But
of this, too, there is no chance.
Merely by taking these men, trying
them and executing them we shall
create totally different German
opinion of the men themselves and
OF our motives. The Germans will
think, therefore, not of the crimes
for which we punished the men, but
of the crime which our punishment
itself was.
The Wise Course
Now that the war is over, In my
Judgment, wise Allied policy lies in