New-York tribune., 1920-07-18
The Plan Of the I eutons viii Be II
Play for Time While the Ties Of
the Allies Are Weakened

possibly after a fresh occupatio, :.
German territory.
The alternative is always thu :,
tentative Of men like Keynes. ubo
denounce the treaty az econom;e.il,.
unsound and morally indefens;b.
and then propose to rectify all tsa
errors by making the United Stat.
pay the costs which were in n.
treaty assessed upon Germany. Th.t
was ali there was, in fact, to II.
much discussed Keynes pronoss,
Germany was to pay, not $4,000.
100000 as some fnanciers su,
gested, not 10000, 900 900, as Other,
urged, not even $4,000 ,OoO0oo
which even American financial ev
perts held to be possible, but g.
00,000,000, stretched over a per;oa
Of time without interest. in such
manner as to have a present value
of less than $4,000, 600, 900. and n.
United States was 70 pay s100oo
000, 900, the payment to be in tse
form Of a cancellation of all Al6e5
Indebtedness to us.
Keynes, and every other student
has recognized that the most evil
single circumstance in The Treaty Of
Versailles is its continuing charae.
ter-lies in the n9anner in which :.
prolongs for thirty years a state
which, if it is not war, is certainly
not peace. But Keynes, like every
one else, recognizes that this va,
the consequence Of Germany's acts
in the war, a consequence Of the
fact that Germany did more damage
of wanton nature than could be
paid for at once or in less than
generation.
The Treaty of Versailles, recog-
nizing this fact, put the burden Of
the thing on the German. Keynes
would transfer it to America.
''For the Common Good"
We are rich; Europe is in a bad
way and will hardly get out Of her
situation easily, if at all, if eco
nomic conditions continue to be ham,
pered by political; therefore, Keynes
would have US contribute sl0.0O0.-
100000 to the common good. For
the rest, the German payments
which were left would be so slight,
S250,O0O,000 a year for thirty years,
that it would be simpler for the Ger
mans to pay than to make a fuss
about it.
But apart from the Keynes
method, which has awakened no real
enthusiasm in the United States,
where it had to be adopted to be
applied, no one has suggested any
method of abolishing the continuing
circumstance, and the result has
been and must be for the long future
a perpetuation of exactly the con-
ditions which have kept the world
IN turmoil ever since the end Of
the actual fighting.
And the League of Nations, as it
was formed at Paris, was, among
other things, an association Of
creditors for the collection of a g.
gantic debt and for the enforcement
OF certain conditions which would
make the debt collection safe and
sure; above all, for the disarming Of
Germany. If Germany is disarmed
she cannot resist payment by open
methods; she may seek to evade, but
If evasion brings invasion, then the
method will hardly stand the test.
Therefore, it is logical to insist first
upon disarmament. If Germany is
totally disarmed it will be relatively
simple to collect, and neither France
nor Britain will have to set aside
large armies to watch the German,
And, quite as naturally, Germany
resists disarmament, because with
each division eliminated her potsil-
tial ability to exploit Allied differ
eRces or take advantage Of Allied
embarrassments in other parts OF
the world is reduced proportlonateiy'
And resisting, she naturally argues
that her domestic situation Is such
that if she does not have soldiers
to preserve order she cannot keep
her industry going and thus earn
the money necessary to disehafgs
her financial obligations. This is hef
only maneuver up to date, because
she does not dare to risk open %
fance.
Time, Foe of Alliances
But for the future she may have
other weapons. Time must certainls
be on her side, because time Is tns
fatal foe of all alliances. And onls
the preservation of the Angio-F -Frenee