Evening star., 1920-02-15
DEMAND FOR GERMAN .
LEADERS HELD ERROR
Restoration of Peace, Not Desire of Pun
ishment, Should Be Allies Motive, $ 8
Mr.. Simonds Says.

mistaken desire to conciliate the Gers
man people, it still remains true that
there are questions which may be ap.
preached with a certain degree OF
moderation. The allied governments
and peoples must consider in what
direction their ultimate interests lie.
II seems to me that the question OF
the black list is one x
| What will be the effect of insisting
upon the delivery of the prescribed.
i the properly prescribed? obviousis
this: The Germans will not now or
! hereafter accept the view that their
national heroes. Hindenburg, Luden-
dorff even old Kluck, whose ma
neuver at the Ourcq called forth
, praise from Joffre, should be punished
Eject ON German People. -
No matter what guilt is ,scribeh
! justly TO these men, the German peo-
pie will see them being punished be-
cause they fought the enemy in the
struggle. which was war. because
they were the conspicuous soldiers of
Germany. The course Of the allies in
lSl3 in insisting upon the execution
of Marshal Ney was one of the his
! torical circumstances of the over
throw of Napoleon which has re-
mained unforgiven by the French
people. To be sure. Ney was shot be-
| cause he turned back to Napoleon
after accepting Louis XVIII. but then.
thousand battlefields. the "bravest Of
the brave. and even a betrayal Of
his king was nothing but a human
fauit in noble hero. I am not cons
pairing Ney to kluck. which would
| be an unforgivable offense: I am
merely trying to point out that the
German people think of Kluck, think
| or their other prescribed generals as
France thought and thinks of Ney -
! Now to demand that these heroes
4 hn1 81
+ hostile court and. as must be done
/ II the action is in accordance with
| the evidence. thereafter be sent to
an enemy firing squad. is thing
! forever intolerable to the Germans
! Even If the sentence is rema nded IL
viii merely be accepted as an elev,
! enth hour loss of nerve on the allied
part: the desire will he disclosed in
the decision. only lack of courage
will explain the failure to carry out
| the sentence. r.
/; And what will be the result? An
| intensification of the German hatred
! of France and Great Britain. who
=, will be held responsible, of France
| primarily. and the inception of a
new bitterness. or. if she please. an
| intensification of the old. No mat
i ter what the evidence. which will be
read. Germans will believe that Luz
dendorff was punished for his vic
! tories in the great battles of the
spring of 1918. HindenburE because
of his patriotic services. The thing
| is inevita BILE Vac victis." the Ger
mans will say and turn to the con-
struction of a new army which shall
| not fail in the end, :
{ And the kaiser and the kinglets.
what difference, save only that i'm
/ their cases the allies are insisting
/ upon what amounts to violation
! of the neutrality of Holland to pun
! ish the kaiser for his crime against
! civilization in invading Belgium. To
| be sure. the insistence will hardly
| go to the point of attacking Holland,
! of blockading her ports. but with the
! demand for the kaiser have gone
many threats in all the allied press
of the world empty and unofficial.
| let US agree. but to the German mind.
which knows only press directed by
the government actual and official
| threats.
| And there is something that goes
i almost deeper. We are not going To
get the kaiser. we are not going TO
get Hindenburg and Ludendorff and
| Kluck because no government in Ger
! many hwich agreed to surrender thNnl
. and undertook to arrest them and des
liver them to Marshal Foch could
; live an hour. Since no German gov
ernment will surrender them, neither
the British mr. the French nor the
American pub les will tolerate another
war however certainly victorious. fo
gain possession of these distinguished
! culprits Yet his is what will be re-
! ouired. an Invasion of Germany. a
| march to Berlin. with the moral Ger
tainty that how ,ver futile German re-
sistance, the consequences viii be the
j collapse of such order as survives IN
/ Germany and a rush either to bolshe-
vism or to kaiserism.
| Suggestion to Allies.
| Now that the W.T. is over. in my
! Judgment wise allied policy lies in the
direction of taking from Germany only
j that which is essential to allied re
! cuperation and essential because or
/ German devastation. Locking up or
| hanging the men guilty OF the hideous
! crimes which were conmitted in Bel
! gium. in France and on the high seas
will not contribute one least measure
to this recuperation. but viii actually
: contribute to postpone 1t. both ny
| leading the Germans to decline 10
! make payments and to cherish new
| convictions of allied crimes and crlmi-
| nal purposes.
| But il the other view prevail. then
| il is time the allies decided to show
| the same obstinacy in the performance
, of a duty which they continue TO re-
veal in the discussion OF IT. stupid or
wise. the policy of pursuing the "Ar
criminals is supreme stupidity, II tne
pursuit is to be by ultimatums alone.
each uItimatum couched in more VlE-
orous and hatred-breeding LANGUAGE
and followed by more hur,iiafinE
and contempt exciting SURRENDER
,Cccrrisht 1sa0 Mcclure Newspaper Svndi~aie