Evening star., 1921-06-19
BY ANDRE TARDIEU,
Former French High Commissioner
to America.


Former French High Commissioner
to America.
By Cable to The star.
PARIS. June 1s.-Direct negotia-
tions between two nations often are
advantageous, but 1t is very doubtful
if that will prove the case in the
meeting this week between Ministers
Loucheur and Rathenau. For the
first time since 1870 a French minis
ter has had a two-day conference
with German minister. NJ Lou
cheur. minister of construction for
France. which has been devastated,
and Herr Rathenau. minister of re-
construction for Germany, which is
intact, have met at Weisbaden, and
tSeir meeting has provoked widely
diverse comments.
NV doubt as to the benefit of the
discussions is based upon the fact
that 1 had occasion to view Rath-
enau'S influence on German policy
before the war at close range. for he
was in Paris during the Franco-Ger-
man discussions about Morocco. in the
spring of 1910.
Rathenau's career resembles in
many points that of Loucheur. Both
are engineers. Both first specialized
In electricity. then entered the big
industrial trusts. and then turned to
politics. Rathenau, however. differs
from Loucheur in that he takes an in
terest in the general ideas of the
philosophical systems, which are a
closed book to Loucheur.
Rathenau was. with Ballin. Helner-
ich and Gwinner. one of the planners
Of that well known economic pan
German idea
Only yesterday Rathenau was de-
clsring that the London agreement
could not be met by Germany. and
to the other shoulder and says that
Germany can and must pay all that
the London agreement imposes.
Confidence In Germany Lacking.
Such about-faces are frequent in
politics, but they do not increase
public confidence in those who make
them. i can assert positively. after
a trip during which l talked with
Frenchmen of every class and every
profession. that French opinion lacks
the confidence and does not share the
optimism of the BRAND government
concerning Germany.
If you Americans will try. as the
saying goes, to put yourselves into
our shoes, you will readily under
stand this state of mind.
We are told that Rathenau and Lou
cheur talked about wooden houses
which Germany might deliver to our
devastated regions, and other such
subjects.
Fine,
But wooden houses can be made in
France as we'll as in Germany and
the real reparations problem is some-
thing quite different. 1t isn't merely
economical. 1t is financial. Still
more is it a political and moral prob
lem.
Does Germany intend to pay? Will
France permit her to evade paying
by following the tendency of the
French governments of the last eight
cen months?
These are questions which must
not remain unanswered and. the Weis-
baden conference has failed to shed
any light upon them. Let me cite a
few examples to illustrate the state
Of mind of enlightened Frenchmen:
Germany Taxed Lightly.
Frenchmen know that the indirect
taxes in Germany represent $50
francs per capita, while these same
taxes in France are $40 francs. or
thirteen times greater than the Ger
man people are paying. Germany's
import taxes are 40 francs per capt.
ia, while in France they are $3.50 or
eight times as great. Frenchmen also
know that the treaty of Versailles
proclaims that the German taxpayer
shall be assessed as heavily. at least.
as the most burdened of the allies.
No wonder they eXclaim:
Shall it go on thus? Shall France
allow it?''
German pensioners are receiving
generous allowances. Interest ana
advertisement regularly are met on
all internal loans Federal and state
properties produce large revenues,
which flow into the federal treasury.
F'renchmen know that one article
of the peace treaty says that repara-
tions must take precedence over ia
terest payments on internal loans in
Germany, and that another gives the
allies a first mortgage on all the
property and resources of the federal
and state governments,-andt that still
another obliges Germany, at the re-
quest of the allies. to promulgate the
plete the execution of the reparations
clauses,
French Discontented.
Knowing all this. Frenchmen see
that not once in eighteen months has
any effort been made to. put these
clauses into operation-clauses which
properly used would draw billions
out of Germany. Frenchmen can't
understand why their government
does not use these weapons. And
when they hear talk about Rathenaus 8 8
and Loucheur's wooden houses"
they shrug their shoulders and say
that is not the question.
There are only two solutions as to
how Germany shall be made to pay.
SPECIAL NOTICES. .