The Barre daily times. (Barre, Vt.) 1897-1959, 1921-02-05
Burden Imposed on Ger
many Is Not for the First
Few Years Equal to the
Pension Bills of Great
Britain and France
Lloyd George Suspects
Old Regime.

Birmingham, England Feb. 5.-Pre-
mer Llovd George, in a speech here to-
day dealing with the recent meeting IN
Paris Of the allied supreme council, said
that before the last election he laid 1T
down that Germany was morally bound
- pay for the wanton damage she had
inflicted, but that one could only get
from debtor what he was capable OF
paying. He asserted, in this conneo-
ton, that Germany must not be al
lowed to pay in way that would in
iure the country receiving payment-by
cheap goods, for example.
Mr., Lloyd George pointed out, with
regard to the problem of exchanges,
that Germany being temporarily bank
rupt, represented a battling difficulty to
the experts when they came to the
QUESTION of paying outside her own
frontier. With all these difficulties in
mind, he said the allies had reached
certain conclusions last week and had
presented a bill which was framed on
The basis of Germany prosperity. If
Germany were not prosperous, she could
not pay, and if she were prosperous she
could and must
DR.. Simons, the German foreign min
lister. was an honest and sincere spokes-
I,4 hn MI IN rrN II
out Gerfhany's obligations if he possi-
bly, could, continued the premier. Once
The German people got their minds off
the war and onto peace, they would
soon become prosperous, the premier
predicted.
Mr.. Lloyd George said his advice to
Germany would be to accept the bill
and not allow herself to be misled by
passion and repeat the follies of 1914.
Germany, he pointed out, had not yet
taxed herself TO the level Of Great
Britain and France and he considered
il intolerable that the guilty country,
which had escaped damage during the
war, should also bear a lighter burden
of taxation than her victims.
The burden imposed upon Germany
bv the allied council, he said, was not
.extravagant For the first few years,
he declared, il was not equal to the
pensions bills of England and France.
II was not question of imposing eco
.nomic slavery on the German workers,
he insisted Somebody had to pay
for the devastation of France and
should it, he asked, be the workers of
France who had resisted the foe.
DR.. Simons had the right to present
alternative proposals. Mr.. Lloyd George
conceded, but if these proposals repre-
sented mere attempt to avoid pay
ment the allies would not tolerate
them. At Spa, he said, he had had an
uneasy feeling that behind Simons
were the men Of 1914 but the assump-
tion of power by the provokers OF the
war could not be permitted. The sword
must be sheathed for all time, he de-
elarcd. Nothing would harden the al
lied peoples against Germany more
than the feeling that she was still ami
mated by the idea of treating treaties
as they treated those of 80 or 90 years
oge-as scraps Of paper"
Our claim is a righteous one and we
must enforce it, Mr.. Lloyd George ex-
claimed
He declared that Germany must full
FIJI her obligations as 10 disarmament
Since the armistice she had made great
progress in disarming, he conceded, but
she still had too many war materials
and too many men trained in arms
LANDED together in irregular combina.
tiuns. France had been terribly raw
ishcd and had the right 10 say that she
could not take the risk OF similar
things occurring again.