The New York herald., 1921-05-01
France in Particular Will Be Bankrupt Unless
Adequate Reparations Are Collected
Either Peacefully or by Force
By FRANK Fl. SIMONDS.

THE arrival OF May for Europe al
ways a date OF anxety-brings in
- more than usual apprehensions this
year. for it is the day fixed in the Treaty
Of Versailles for the completion of the first
series of payments by Germany and the
adoption of the further programme which
should provide for the liquidation Of Ger
many's debt to her war victims. The recent
German appeal TO President Harding to act
as an umpire and his prompt refusal to act
IN that capacity serve to bring home to the
United States the gravity of the situation
4bout the whole subject Of reparations
there has waged, since the armistice,
battle which shows no sign Of abatement.
a battle between the Germans seeking to
evade all payment and their French credit
ors seeking restoration for their ruins. In
addition, a hardly less sharp debate has
persisted in allied quarters over the sum
considered reasonable and possible for Ger
many to pay. At this decisive moment,
then, perhaps it is worth while briefly to
review the questions at issue.
We have, first of all. to note the differ
ence between the world war and the con-
flicts of the past. Given the immensity of
the struggle, its length and the correspond
ing vastness Of the destruction peace, when
it did come. revealed instantly the stagger-
ing fact that there could be no adequate
reparation made by the aggressor that, to
put the thing blunty, the German had
wrought havoc far in excess of his capacity
TO restore. Whatever happened on the eco
nomic side, all the European participants in
the struggle were bound to be losers ire
spective of the battlefield decision.
Franco Prussian War Indemnity
Twice the Cost to Germans
BY contrast, when, after the relatively
brief period of fighting in the Franco
Prussan war Bismarck not only annexed
Alsace- Lorraine, but laid upon France a
tribute of five billions of francs. upward OF
S1,000000,000, he obtained for Germany a
sum at least twice as large as that actually
expended by the victors in the war. who
had no devastated areas to restore since
the war had been fought on French soil and
such destruction as had been incident to the
struggle had been at the expense of the con-
quered, This $1,000, 100000 which France
had to pay could be paid and was paid in
two years, and until the debt was discharged
German armies remained in occupation Of
the eastern departments of France.
But in 1919, as contrasted with 1871, il
was patent from the beginning in the Paris
conference that it was beyond the power of
Germany to undo all the injury in material
things which she had done and that for her
to make such partial payments are are in
evitable would take many years, at least a
generation. compared with the two years
within which France paid up. Two facts
then. altogether too little appreciated in the
United States, explain the present problem
First. the inability of Germany to pay all
she should pay as an aggressor. morally
.n- legally bofnd to make good the harm
done
Second. the inevitable prolongation of the
partial payment over at least a generation.
Frequently in talking with Americans
lbout tho whole subject find impatient pro-
test against the idea that the should be
prolonged after peace, and repeated declara-
tions are made that holding a whole people
to ransom or subjecting them to economic
slavery Is a vicious thing in itself and
positive menace to world peace.