The Birmingham age-herald., 1921-11-02

power; economic clauses In which the victor imposed upon the vanquished tho most favored nation clause! A peace treaty had certain classic out lines which were filled In according to more or less settled traditions.
 Beliigerents' Resources Exhausted
 The may of the world had to be re- made. and under what conditions. {. Germany's persistent sayagery had left more ruins in the victorious countries than the invasions of the barbarians had ever made in the lands they overran and conquered. The resources of all the belligerents had been equally exhausted by the duration of the struggle. and as the damages rightly demanded by the creditors rose, the capacity for pay ment of the debtors fell. MT. Lloyd George had said Tn 1918. Germany shall pay for everything" When the conference met 1t was of necessity obliged to ascertain how much and in what manner Germany could pay. And ways had to be devised to ex- tend the time of payment: for 1t was quite evident a country. no matter how rich, could not pay hundreds of millions In few months. and no matter how criminal could not have undergone sov prolonged a strain without diminishing. its. resources. The execution of the peace terms thus became not matter of months but of years. It implied a lasting union of the forces which had won the war. Not the vietors alone, but the whole world. had to be. given the certainty that Germany. would not repeat her offense.f The fundamental aims of liberty and justice. which for 52 months had furnished the moral strength and stimulus of the nations in arms. had to be, realised. Finally the unity of the allies. which had led to their victory, had to be maintained and made closer, so that they might be as. well prepared for common ac- ton in the future as they had been In the past. Failing this, the peace would be lacking in the essential factor that had won the victory.
 qs Expression of Public Opinion
 < The history of the war foreshad- owed the nature of the peace as much by the official acts of governments as by the spontaneous expression of public opinion. When France knew that she was being attacked by Ger many, shn proclaimed her war aims with a single voice. They were the defense of her frontiers. the redemp- ton of Alsace- Lorraine and the maintenance of national liberty as opposed to. policy of aggression and domination. In the Parliament and in the press there was not a dis cordant note. France had bought this unanimity. the essential condition of success. with 43 years of anguish It was the memory of those dark days which gave substance to Frances conception of peace and war At tackled once more France was once more going to fight for right. Such is our entry into the war-now for the other. nations. Serbia. having made every possible concession, can not tolerate the substitution of an- other power for her own on her own soil. Russia. refusing to renounce the Slav gospel by abandoning Serbia to Austrta's extortion. Belgium spurning the cynical offer to betray her word and hcr friends. Great Britain. too. accepting tss challenge to keep faith with q scrap of pa- per" Group these facts. link them to the past, compare them with Ger many's aggression and her methods. knows no law" It Is a conflict betwe cen two opposing pEin- ciples. On one side the nations who put their faith in might. on the other those 'who~ believe in right. On one side the people who seek to ensiave, on the other the free peoples who. whether they defend. themselves against aggression or whether they come to the: assistance of those att tackled. are ready to sacrifice their lives to remain Independent masters of their own Affairs at home and of their destinies abroad.
 (xo n continued.l