Abilene weekly reflector., 1922-03-30

|thatyl; esnsay y. Eiss-sp alislker navy
TINS leaving Great Britain the un-
disputed mistress Of the seas, al
WAYS her chief national policy. Ihe
te: ms 6f the peace gave Great br1t-
ain "A, 3olutc control OF the Mediter-
ranean. the Dardanelles and the
Rlack Sea, a thing for which she had
plotted and fought for generations.
The peace treaty also awarded 10
Great Britain mandates which vir-
tually put her in possession OF ihc
rich oil fields OF MesOp0famia ana
vast areas OF potentially valuable
territory In Africa. The actual valne
az the domains added to the BRITISH
Empire as a result OF the war should
not fall far II any short or equal
ing every dollar the war cost her'
France got back the tremendous rich
proyince Of Alsace- Lorraine, the val
Low of the Saar, rich In coal and MIN
cral deposits. mandates covering Vas'
and valuable territory, and the pledge
Prom Germany of billions OF dollars
In cash. The United States got out
of the war an equal right with ia
nan in n cable landing on the island
Of zap!
even while the war was on our
Allies did not forget to keep DOCKS
on MS. Great Britain charged us
messenger rates for the ships win
which our soldiers were transported
TO the battle front, the front where
Britain was standing, as the chieI
OF her armies declared, with her
back TO the wall. Fance charged us
rent for the trenches our soldiers
occupied while they fought. More
over when the war was over ana the
United States prepared to return to
this country the machinery ana sup
plies which had been sent TO
France with the American forces
without which the war would nave
been lost and France today wouid
be German province, France IN
formed the American government
that IL such equipment ana supphes
were removed she would charge the
United States import tariff on all
the goods. and would also levy all
export duty for their removal, Doth
sums together amounting to sohle-
thing like half billion dollars
Rather than pay this extOrtiOnate
exaction the United States govern
ment gave to France equipment
machinery, supplies OF all sorts, 10
the total value of 81, ,OOO,ooo,
and took her note for $4OO,OO0,ooo
payable in ten years In return thefe'
for. A part Of the agreement was
that France should use these sup
rlies in rebuilding her devastated
territory, but as a matter or 1act the
supplies were sold to J0bbers ana
have been hawked about Europe
and some OF them actually shipped
back to America, to the detrlment
OF American trade.
I'm order to compel Germany TO
live up to the terms Of the YER
sailles treaty, allied troops were
:, ..."ned on German soil. When
we began to talk about bringing
our boys home because America
did not ratify the treaty, England
France and Belgium all joined IN
nm urgent plea that this be not done
because it would weaken the posi-
tion of the Allies and encourage
Germany to violate the treaty. 1t
was explicitly agreed that this coun-
trv should be reimbursed out OF the
first money received from Germany
for the expense incurred In this oc-
cupation. But when it appeared
few days ago that Germany was
about to make payment and our
sent in a bill for relm-
bursement, British and French news
papers fairly exploded IN wrath as
10 we were demanding an unheard of