Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1921-02-05
BR|T|SHPREM|ER
DEFENDS PLAN Of
SUPREME COUNCIL
Says Reparation Claim Is
Righteous One and Must Be
Paid if Possible.
BASED ON PROBABILITY
OF GERMAN PROSPERITY
Cannot Place Burden of Wars
Ravages on French Workers,
Lloyd George Declares.
By the Associated Press.

by the Associated Press.
BIRMINGHAM, England, February
5.-Premier Lloyd George, in a speech
here today dealing with the recent
meeting of the allied supreme coun-
Gil, said that before the last election
he laid it down that Germany was
morally bound to pay for the wanton
damage she had inflicted. but that one
could get from a debtor only what
he was capable of paying. He assert
cd, in this connection, that Germany
must not be allowed to pay in a way
that would injure the country receiv-
ing payment-by cheap goods, for eX-
ample.
The occasion of the premier's
speech was his receiving the freedom
of the city. Mr.. Lloyd George pointed
out that Germany, being temporarily
bankrupt, represented battling diff
Guilty to the experts when it came to
the question of her paying outside
difficulties in mind. he said, the allies
had reached certain conclusions last
week and had presented bill which
was framed on the basis of German
prosperity. If Germany were not
prosperous she could not pay. and if
she were prosperous she could and
must.
DIR. Simons, the German foreign
minister, was an honest and sincere
statesman, he had said, and announc-
ed that he meant to carry out Ger
manys obligations if he possibly
could. DR.. Simons complained that he
had not received the bill in full, but
he could have it at any time, for it
was ready. Mr.. Lloyd George declared.
Once the German people got their
minds off the war and on to peace
they would soon become prosperous,
the premier declared.
France Should Not Pay.
Mr.. Lloyd George said his advice to
Germany would be to accept the bill
and not allow herself to be misled by
passion and repeat the foIlies of 1914
Germany, he pointed out. had not yet
taxed herself to the level of Great
Britain and France, and he consid-
cred it intolerable that the guilty
country, which had escaped damage
during the war. should also bear a
lighter burden Of taxation than her
victims.
7'- The burden imposed upon Germany
by the allied council, he said, was not
extravagant. For the first few years.
the premier declared, it was not equal
to the pension bills of England and
France. 1t was not a question Of i'm
posing ecopomic slavery on the Ger
man workers, he insisted. Somebody
had to pay for the devastation of
France. Should it. he asked, be the
workers Of France, who had resisted
the foe?
DR.. Simons had the right to present
alternative proposals. Lloyd George
conceded, but if these proposals rep
resented a mere attempt to avoid pay
ment the allies would not tolerate
them. At Spa, he said, he had had an
uneasy feeling that behind Smons
were the men Of 1914, but the assump-
ton Of power by the provokers of the
war could not be permitted The
sword must be sheathed for all time,
he declared. Nothing would harden
the allied peoples against Germany
more than the feeling that she was
still animated by the idea of handling
treaties as she did those of five or
six years ago-as scraps Of paper"
Our claim is a righteous one and
we must enforce it, Mr.. Lloyd George
exclaimed.
The premier declared that Germany
must fulfill her obligations as to dis
armament. Since the armistice she
had made great progress in disarm-
ing, he conceded, but she still had
too much war material and too many
men trained in arms banded together
in irregular combinations.