Evening star., 1921-03-13
BY RENE NlSIANl.
Former Premier Of France.

BY Cabie to The Star.
PARIS. March 1c.-It was not
necessary to be a prophet to fore
see the collapse of the n"Sotia-
tions in London between the al
lies and Germany. When man,
no matter how great he IS. nor
wha; his business or profession IS,
prefacss d business deal by IN
sulting those with whom he IS
about to dickcr, it is pTacicailS
certain that " hen the time for dis
cuSSion arrives 1t VIII nol nave
the necessary open -nlnd,dhtSs
and authority to deal iruItfuiiy.
That was what happened TO l'f.
Simons Never before did DIP
lomat. on the eve of great inter-
national conference. which invoiN
ed the fate Of his country and thc
peac. of the whole world. make
such incendiary and provocative
speeches. +! there is one RUE III
diplomacy it is discretion. o.
viously, Germany l"ariItd ro'ni"S
from ti!e w.ir a..d her present a.
tIiude reveals ine s.s:'y p-Acho-
logical de iCc.s Inat IRA ca i'f
10 Ia. ;IuS -.
In Is lI.IlC ''' i'''''''
could slns II IN, bul thus" whose
ciiminal loi.! toward ihc.r own
country has undoHe the accom-
piiShmentS Of GerBlanyS greatest
man and broken the empire when
he forged with powerful hahd'
have no right TO take the same
tone Bismarck. at least, thought
before he spoke. Simons reversed
this rule.
Simons went to London thinking
he would make great stroke and
that the allies, carried away by
his rhetoric, would be only TOO
glad to accept his conditions. For
it should be noted that Germany
did not offer any proposal, but
imposed conditions, forgetting
that she was conquered and was
responsible for the war.
Simons' Desire TO Win Votes.
The only possible explanation OF
the strange attitude OF the Ger
man delegation is that to win
few miserable votes-wh Incl
Geutally, it failed to get in the
Prussiap elec.ions-SimonS did
not hesitate to asitate his country
and arouse wild hopes. even
though he realized they would be
shattered the next day in contact
with realities. He did his JOB
we'll. For reasons of internal poll
tics he worked himself into
nationalistic fury, rashly riskinS
an already dangerous foreign SIT
nation to strengthen reactlonary
political parties at home. Ihe
foreign situation was further
COMPROMISED but the reactionary
parties were not strengthened
The reichstag now appears IN
ferment. and as every defeat re-
uuires a scapegoat. the storm is
cantering around Simons. Ihls
time, anyhow, German opinion IS
not mistaken.
Eut world opinion must not pe
deceived either. If our transat-
lantic friends regret the present
chaos in Europe they must seek
the responsibility elsewhere 'hah
from us They must particularly
understand that any continuous
policy is impossible toward Ger
many, because it is not known
which party is the strongest. nor
whether the promises OF TO-DAY
government will be kept by To-
morrow's.
Simons' government. or any
other government in Germany
will be placed between the FORCES
of the great reactionary lndus-
tries which are represented o9
SHINES. who owns most OF lhe
newspapers So there exists no
real public opinion in terha any
MiIitarism is more arrogant tndh
ever, because it wants revenge ior
it's defeat. And on the other hand.
the surviving democratic forces
within the country are weakened
by division and, therefore. are
inactive.
German Policies Unreliable.
No serious purpose. no definite
plan of contract that comes out or
the shapeless chaos of German
opinion will hold good for tomor-
row. and so long as things are in
such condition we are not gong 10
be reproached for defending our
rights and taking action 10 in
sure our just dues.
These actions are. first. military.
consisting of the occupation of
three Rhine cities; second. economic.
,yithout which military actions
are futile. After all, we are apply
ing only the principle of private
law. everywhere recognized. which
authorizes the use of force to COM
pel respect for law when good
faith is lacking on one side. Thus
far. the allies have begun by exer-
cising those treaty rights. which
Germany accepted, to seize the
customhouses and erect d barrier
between Germany and the Rhine
land. The proceeds derived from
this revenue would be turned into