New-York tribune., 1920-04-11
BY Frank II. Simonds

Dy FRANK n. ClmondS
a MOTHER week of German
AZ disorder has served to con-
K "A firm the earlier impress
sions which l analyzcd in
my article of last Sunday. More
and more the Ebert government has
been led to rely upon the old mill
tary group for it's real support, and
with this progress of policy the re-
turn of the military party to actual
control has been unmistakable save
only in western Germany and no.
tably in the Ruhr coal basin.
Since it is from this same Ruhr
coal basin that France must draw
her coal contributions, provided
under the Treaty of Versailles, it is
at once plain that the domestic dis
order in Germany has an 'interna-
tional aspect.
But there is a much more i'm
portant international aspect. Quite
as was to be expected, the Germans
have seized upon the recent counter
revolution, provoked by the military
clements, as basis for the claim
that Germany should not be forced
to disarm, as was provided in the
Treaty of Versailles. Thus the sit
uaton comes down to this: The mill
tary party, hopeful of regaining
complete control of Germany, pro-
vcked a domestic revolt. In the
course of this revolt the militarists
were checked by the proclamation
of a general strike. After the check
there was corresponding activity of
the liberal democratic, radical ele-
ments. Now the military party in
sists that this radical activity war
rants maintaining the army at a
strength forbidden by the Paris
treaty
An Obvious Maneuver
Such maneuver should be too
obvious TO deceive, and yet it is
plain that it has by no means failed
in certain Allied countries. Only
the French, nearest at hand and best
informed about German conditions
as consequence, have at last taken
q firm stand, refused to be deceived
by the German maneuver, declined
to permit German troops, led by the
cid military crowd, to occupy the
Ruhr region, in defiance of the
Treaty of Paris, and similarly de- |
clined to permit the Germans to de-
lay rehabilitation by reason of ex-
ist;ng disturbed conditions in Ger
many.
French policy is clear The
French have always in mind the sue
cess of Prussia. after the defeat at
Jena in the Napoleonic time, in
lodging the restrictions placed upon
her military establishment and by
hook and crook building up that
army which played decisive part
in both the Battle of Leipsic and
that Of Waterloo. French security
can be attained only if the German
military machine is scrapped, if the
German military forces are reduced
TO verv moderate limits
But despite the fact that we arc
now nearly eighteen months away
from the armistce Of Rethondes,
which ended the fighting, and almost
a year distant from the delivery Of
the peace terms to the Germans, no
real disarmament has taken place in
Germany. On one preteXt and an
other large bodies of troops have
heen kept standing in Germany, and
new formations, Noske's army, for
example, have been raised. Always
this process of cvading the treaty
necessary. in view of the peril of
Bolshevism
Use the ''Red" Specter
Thus the German has sought by
continual use of the specter of the
"Red" catastrophe to bcguie the
Allies into permitting him to main
tain his military strength. Now the
kapp revolution, which was in real
ity move on the part of the old
military crowd to regain complete
control, has once more supplied the
German with arguments which he is
employing to defend his course in
maintaining a large army and in oc-
cupyng regions near the Rhine, two
actions which constitute very impor-
tant evasions of the provisions of
the Treaty of Versailles.
More than this, the German has been
successful in pcrsuadng the British
and the French of course, Ital-
ian sympathy with the German mill
tary elements goes without saying
that such policy is essential to the
preservation of economic order in
Germany and to the prevention Of
the spread of Bolshevism nll over
('Anfra1 Errope EropLlx, +bo Q,.;4