Great Falls tribune., 1921-03-13
The German record for performing

their treaty contracts are not such
as to awaken any great confidence
in their sincere desire to keep their
pledges up to date. The allies re-
call the fact that under the treaty
they promised to surrender to the
allies their warships at Scapa Flow,
and that they took advantage Of the
British confidence in their honor
which permitted the German naval
officers and men to remain aboard
of them to sink them as they lay
in anchor. They recall that an
other clause Of this treaty called
for the surrender to. France Of her
battle flags captured by the Ger
mans, and that instead Of doing SO
they were burned at Berlin to pre-
vent the possibility Of their pledge
Of return being performed. They
recall that the kaiser. addressing a
cheering body Of statesmen in the
Reichstag in 1917, declared that the
enemies of Germany would have to
pay to them five hundred billion
gold marks before they got peace,
sum equivalent to 100 billion gold
dollars. They recall that in 1918
the German secretary of the treas
ury declared that the allies would
have to pay to Germany every
penny Of the cost of the war, and
added "We will compel them to
drag the chain for a hundred
years"
Recalling these facts it is not
strange that the damages charged
against Germany for the war which
she admitted responsibility for was
placed at four hundred million gold
marks. That was one fifth less
than the kaiser declared he would
demand from the allies if he won
as he could not fail to do with God
on his side. But even then it was
appreciated that Germany could
never pay that sum though she
ought to pay it, and the allies re-
ferred the matter to experts to
find out what she could pay. The
Bologne conference placed that
sum at 2z6 billion gold marks (64H
billion dollars) payable in 80 years.
A little more than month ago in
to German protests the sum
was further reduced and the time
to AZ years for payment
without interest SO that the value
of the indemnity was reduced from
~ billions to about 20 billions in
cash, or this sum with five per
cent interest in installments scat
tered over AZ years. If Germany
returned to France, Italy and Bel
gium the cost Of the damage done
their property alone, it would come
to that sum. It would not nearly
pay the United States alone for our
direct expenses in the war. The
sum was small enough in all con-
science viewed from the standpoint
of justice. It was only one sixth
of the sum the kaiser proposed to
extract from the defeated allies if
he won the war.
The Germans say it is too large
and they cannot pay it. Perhaps
that may be true. Yet the French
recall that at the peace conference,
Count Won Brockdorff Rantzau ad-
mitted that Germany could pay four
billion gold marks year as in
demnity. The sum demanded by
the allies in az years amounts to
a trifle over five billion gold marks
per year.
Of course the ability of Germany
to pay may have declined rather
than increased since then. 1t is
not question of what she ought
to pay, but what she can pay.
France is raising by taxation about
two billion dollars a year. Great
Britain is raising about twice that
sum by annual taxes. The United
States is raising about three times
as much as France, and Germany
with far larger population is only
raising about two thirds as much
revenue by taxes as France, with
much of her industrial resources
destroyed by war, now does. 1t
looks as though the victors in the
world war were carrying the heavy
end of the load. Austria can pay
nothing. She has 10 be fed by the
charity of her conquerors or starve
to death. The Turks can pay moth
ing because they were bankrupt be-
fore the war and doubly so since
the war. The Bulgarians can pay
very little, and SO there only re-
mains Germany to collect from.
And Germany is most reluctant
debtor. She wants to compromise
her debts at small margin, and
have the victors carry the balance