Grand Forks herald. [volume] (Grand Forks, N.D.) 1916-1955, 1921-04-28
sY1ffATHY FoArnE AFFLICTED.

The world has become pretty well informed Of the
IA condfeon Of the unfortunate Germans. Germany has
had = distressing experience. Her great military adven-
ture fAtled. Cherished territory has been taken away
from her. The great military establishment, under the
burden of which her people had struggled for I genera
ton, had brought only disaster upon her. Her industrieA
have been disrupted. and foreign market connections
which she'had created with care and industry have been
obsiterased. Upon the load Of taxation imposed prior to
the war has been imposed the still greater burden Of war
costs. Her families have been deprived Of many things
which families need and oueh. to have. And. needing
all her resources for the support 81 her own people, she
faces the demand that she shall pay incalculable sums Of
money and deliver incredible quantities Of goods to for
eisners who are her rivals in industry and commerce
Truly the lot Of the Germans is a hard one. appealing
strongly to the syrpathies Of the world.
AL this has a familiar sound. No :isle ingenuity has
been devoted to the task Of making ii Familiar. But it
may be veil enough to inquire whether or not sympathy
may not properly be extended in other directions, O:hes
nations have borne the burden Of excessive taxation in
anticipation of war, an anticipation created largely BY
the attitude OF the German government; to which the Ger
mar people submitted themselves with apparent willing
ness. That this anticipation was not unwarranted is DEM
onstrsted by the fact that war actually came upon them.
and the verdict OF the world and the admissions of Ger
many place responsibility for that war directly on Ger
many.
Other peoples have cent their sons TO battle. have
seen their peaceful activities demcralised, have been re-
quired to bear enormous expenditure for war equipment.
have had ships bound to their shores with carSces Of food
for their women and children sent to rho bottom Of the
ocean. and are now staggering under loads Of taxation
the end of which this generation will not see. all because
et German ambition TO impose its yoke upon the world.
There have been SailinE and lamentatiou because
certain thousan ds Of mich COWS were demanded from
Germany. and the pitiful plight "t the German children
who were to be deprived Of the milk of those cows has
been pathetically Get forth. Thi. picture has been set
before US so conspicuously that it has tended to obscure
that other picture of the families Of FTaFce. from whom
similar thousands of cattle were deliberately stolen by
the German invaders. German industry will be paralrzsd,
we arc told. If the demands for uachinerv 10 re-equip
factories in France and Belgium are met: but We are
apparently expected to forget that the need for this re:
placement was caueed by tire carefully arranged theft Of
the delivery OF coal because it will cause her people hard
ship. But the appeal for sympathy makes no mention of
the deliberate and scientifically exact destruction OF the
mines of Lens which cannot be repaired for years and
many things, we are told, in order that the health and
happiness Of the German people may be conserved. But
! French peasants are still srubbins about amid the ruins
Of their vineyards and orchards, which suffered not alone
the unavoidable wreckaSe of war. But the organized de-
&ructiveness of German soldiers who we're commissioned
to make a desert Of the land which they were forced to
abandon after Invading it.
Devastated fields, ruined cities. intolerable taxation
denorali7ed business. industrial unrest, enormous Twins
costs, menace Of the destruction Of the forms OF civilized
government. some or all Of these are the experiences OF
France, Britain, Italy and Belgium. because a German
government chose to make war and a German people
backed it up in doing 50. and so perastently has the sym
pathetic propa sanda been carried on that the one fact
that stands out most conspicuously is that Germany is in
hard straits and cannot pay any portion Of her debts
without some inconvenienee.
sympathy for human suffering does US honor: but
let it not be misplaced. Let us not make the mistake OF
assuming that all the suffering is in Germany. A fair
study at the case verifies the conclusion long since reach
ed by the Allies and now supported by the United statea
sovernmeht that, Germany ,heins responsible for the wal
and its results, she must pay, not for the damage which
she has wrought, for that is impossible. but up to the
limit OF her capacity.