New-York tribune. [volume] (New York [N.Y.]) 1866-1924, 1921-07-03
From a Special Corrcanondent

to France the mutual state Of
suspicion and distrust must end before
1t becomes a chronic, incurable disease,
warns Macmillan Harden, fighting edi-
tor of Zukunft, whose analysis of the
situation appearing in Elcelsior here
has created no little comment.
Harden believes that the psychology
ca! moment has come when Premier
BRAND can begin to pat" Herr Wirth
q little bit on his "mane" and, instead
Of bombarding him with barrages of
ultimatums, can make more real prog
ress by sending an occasional cour-
tecus note.
What reaction such course on the
rart of BRAND might have in France
is as yet predetermined, but it is ad-
Harden is the very first Teuton of note
to express himself in the French press
with a real "horse. sense" view of the
Franco German treaty situation.
Most Germans are still convinced,
says Harden, that Germany was not
the author of the European war; that
her defeat came as the result of an
Internal conspiracy; that Wilson's
fourteen points left Germany the
I laughing stock of the world, and
through all she was disarmed after
having terrible terms dictated to her
Germans see France, says Harden,
as triumphant, militaristic giant;
pitiless to the vanquished and with but
one view, that of crushing Germany
On the other hand, he believes that
France mistrusts Germany so thor
oughly that it will be difficult to come
to any other view. He admits that
German governments up to the present
have committed every fault. They
have lacked frankness. And if to-day
they are granting France something it
is because of Frances force and her
threats" says the editor. Harden's
analysis continues: "Those responsible
You see my country are the Parliament
and the press. They have both worked
on this poor people to such an extent
that an impression prevails, or rather n
superstition, that everything France
says is terribly unjust For them the
Treaty of Versailles (of which | my
self have no opinion) is an infamy
They do not say to themselves that
during the war it was France who suf-
fered most and that now our turn has
come. AS to our chiefs, when they
signed they cried 'Good!' Now to every
one of your requests they repeat, They
are beheading us' What does that
mean? One cannot be beheaded twice
over. If we could have prevented the
Treaty of Versailles we ought to have
done SO, otherwise as long as it exists
we must submit to it. We have not
single party here who, now that the
wine is drawn, wishes to drink it. But
we must not figure as bad debtor in
the eyes of the world
Not Ability to Pay but
Sincerity That Counts, He Says
mo one can possibly tell whether
Germany can pay her debts" says Har-
aen. THAT is not the essential thing.
1t is sincerity that matters. The nego-
tiations should have been carried out
in such a way that the day our safes
were empty it would have been sufficient
for us to say: Our safes are empty.
Come and see. How shall we get out
of this difficulty? Give US some ad-
vice.
mo. The problem was tackled in a
childish and dishonest fashion. Hav-
ing signed, we ought not to resort to
trlckery The Simons conferences,
those appeals to humanity, those pa
thetic speeches had no justification Fig
ures alone ought to count.
Gust now there is the most pro-
found misconception in our country.
| Here France is pictured as being tyi-
unphant, superb, pitiless to the van
quished. She is not in need of the
money she demands; she wishes to an
initiate us. have never believed that
France wanted to annihilate us. But
ii our underground policy continues |
am afraid that, becoming eXasperated,
she will cry, 'One can do nothing with
these Germans! Let us bleed them as
much as we possibly cam
"My people believe that France is the
prey of militarism. Broken here, they
say, it has reconstructed itself there
When the names Foch, Poincare, the