Evening star., 1920-03-07
BY FRANK II. SIMONDS.

Europe economically must be found
within the frontiers fixed at ver-
sailles. but within the limits. so far
as they can be attained, of 1914. 1t Is
to such a work that the liberals" of
whom Maynard Keynes Is a conspicu-
GUS spokesman. are inviting American
co-operation. and the fundamental
doctrine is that Germany must be
preserved.
ButSis there sufficient warrant for
this argument to lead Americans to
accept this British doctrine blindly? +?
Is not an examination of history es-
sential, and may not such an eXami-
nation reveal the fact that to re-
store to Germany certain things TAX
en- by the treaty of Versailles will in
evitably be to restore to Germany ex-
actly the ambitions. the appetites, the
'necessities' out of which came the
last and most terrible Of human con-
flicts?
How Territories Were Secured.
To restore Germany means, If it
| 'iSoHS aHy tHiHS. 10 return 10 1eTH1dny
certain territories whose products
were an essential circumstance in the
German Industrial development. But
now came Germany by these terri
tories? To begin at the beginning. in
1742 Frederick the Great, by one of
the foulest offenses against right and
justice and in reputation of his own
written pledge. attacked Austria and
| seized Silesia. One portion of Silesia
was inhabited by Poles. exactly the
district which the treaty of Yer
sailles assigns now to Poland, sub
ject to a plebiscite.
| Thirty years later the same sover-
eign engineered the first partition of
Poland, depriving them Of the lower
valley of the Vistula, and Frederick g
| successors continued the spoiiation of
Poland. acquiring as their share
Posen, Danzig, substantially the areas
which. under the treaty of Versailles
are returned to the Poles, although.
| because the Germans have been sue
cessful In colonizing Danzig, follow =
! ing their forcible seizure Of 1t, that
| town is placed under the league of
nations despite the fact that it is the
single sea-gate of the Poles.
| Took Sarre Coal Basin.
In 1914. following the first abdica-
| tion of Napoleon, Prussia took the
Sarre coal basin. north and east Of the
Sarre river. This territory had not
| been acquired by France at the ex-
pense of any neighbor or through
| war; 1t had been peaceably acquired
| as result OF an arrangement with
Austria. After Waterloo. Prussia ex-
tended her claims and annexted the bal
ance OF the Sarre basin. south of the
river and including Sarrelouis, which
was the birthplace of Marshal Ney.
| In 1871, after the Franco-Prussian
war, Germany became the new form
| OF Prussian power, annexed Alsace-
Lorraine, thus completing the ac-
raine and at the same time acquiring
| the vast iron regions north of Metz.
| In 1914, it is worth recalling, one
of the detectives of German policy
| was the acquisition of the remaining
| iron districts, just across the French
frontier about Briey.
| Finally, in 1864, Prussia led Austria
into an attack upon Denmark. which
| resulted in the seizure of -Schleswig
Holsfein, and in 1866 Prussia attack
ed Austria, and after successful war
annexed Schleswig- -Holstein, promis-
| wig to decide their nationality by
plebiscite. but never making good.
Were Economic Foundation.
! Now the acquisitions of Prussia and
Germany in these wars of conquest
| are precisely the foundations of the
economic development of Germany.
The coal taken in Upper Silesia and in
the Sarre. the iron taken in Lorraine.
! the agricultural regions Of Posen. the
port Of Danzig and the control of
| the commerce of the Vistula have
served to supply Germany with the
! opportunity to transform herself into
a great industrial nation. In 1870 her
population was no larger than that
| of France; in 1914 1t was almost twice
| as great.
| But the whole expansion was explt-
| cable in terms of stolen property. II
France still possessed the Sarre and
/! AlsAce- Lorraine. II Poland still kept
only the regions In which Poles pre-
| dominated, then Germany would be
! deprived of precisely those raw ma
| terials, the iron and the coal. which
! were in large measure responsible Tor
! her great expansion. Moreover, TINS
great expansion was accompanied oy
the rapid growth OF that spirit Whlcn
produced the war.
| Treaty Faces Facts.
The treaty of Versailles has faced
the facts Of the situation. 1t has by no
l means done full justice. 1t has not re-
stored to Poland all of the regions
stolen by the Germans. paying regard
| to the fact that in some the Ger
mans have by means Of brutal policy
succeeded in reducing the Polisn
population: but it has restored much'
and the things restored necessarily
iniure German economic possibilities.
| If the Poles get the Silesian coal II
will be the Polish factories which will
prosper and Poland will have an Coo
nomic development.
No real question has been raised
about the return of Alsace-Lorraine
to France, together with the iron dis
tricts. but a mighty protest has been
raised over the Sarre valley, yet both
were stolen from the French with
equal disregard of the wishes of the
inhabitants. Certain British econo-
mists would insist upon the return of
the Silesian and Sarre coal basins. and
while they hesitate to urge the return
of Alsace-Lorraine they suggest a
contract on the part of the French to
turn over to the Germans enough iron
ore to keep the German factories at
work. receiving, on this condition a
commensurate amount Of coal.
This argument. of course, disregards
the desire of the French to replace the
Germans in the world steel market, to
gain the position which would have
been theirs measureably but for the
German stealing of 1871 and beyond
question but for the combined steal
jngs Of 1S14-15 and 1871. AS for the
Polish industry-and Ledz has vast
possibilities and Pollard the popula
tion for economic expansion-this Is
set aside and the decision based upon
the assertion that the Poles have
never been an orderly people.
Discusses Political Eject.
But, granted that the restoration of
Germany on the economic side would
solve many cotemporary economic
problems, what would be the political
effect? In any event the Germans
will find themselves with the same
dense population. capable of main
tanning itself only by foreign COM
merce and more completely at the
mercy Of the British sea power. They