Evening star., 1922-07-23
BY OLIVER OWEN KUHN.
HE French peasant is one Of
the most frugal persons in the
world That 10 aviop,ot rio

ne fTencn peasant Is one OF
the most frugal persons in the
| world. That is automatic
| He skimps and he saves and
he protects every living thing tina,
| will enhance his state of financial and
/ domestic safety. When he needs fire.
places and ruthlessly My ak and
I saw and snun out the lives OF the
| trees that they may meet temporary
| necessity. Far from 1t. Instead, he
| cuts or the limbs. The trunk of the
! tree is left. gaunt and stark, but II
| lives. The life of the tree is pre-
served. Each year it sends out new
i shoots, and when seasonable these
| again are cut and placed into little
bundles to supply family needs. The
tree lives on and on. ever an asset
Dead It would meet but temporary
| needs. Living it furnishes fuel
through the years.
1t is this spirit. this knowledge
| that 1t is better to each year take
small measure Of return rather than
| destroy the source of supply. that is
| expected to spring paramount in the
! minds of the French people as a
whole and eventually lead to a safe
| man reparations problem which to-
| day is the chief issue before Europe,
the question upon which the immedi-
ate progress of many nations and
more than 25o,o0o.s00 of people rests.
Paves Way for Changes.
The government in Paris is paving
| the way for radical changes in regard
| to exactions from Germany. Already
people generally are being led to be-
lieve that the present agreement
whereby Germany is committed to
pay to the allies the total sum of 332.-
600. 100000 gold marks never can be
i realized and that to enforce military
sanctions against the Teutons will.
| fguratively speaking. spill the apple
cart" Germany cannot pay it. Fur
thermore. military sanctions will only
go to increase the strained condit1on
of the French treasury without jog
ging Germany whit or jot. In
| fact, the people are more and more
being prepared for a reduction of the
total reparations figures in order
that something of material import
may be realized without SO Gripping
Germany that scarcely anything can
be taken.
In short. the French are beginning
to adopt the British viewpoint in re-
gard to reparations. 1t cannot be
said. however, that France has COM
pletely given in to the heretofore
much abused theory of Lloyd George
that there must be curtailment IN
order that there be some need of
realization. Heretofore Poincare has
ratified the saber and shouted loudly
and long against any attempt to re-
adjust reparations figures. But with
the stand of the reparations commits
fcn C
that Germany, if she is saved, must
be granted a moratorium and that
payments be made in kind II Ger
many is not to collapse and drag
other nations with her, has Influenced
the French government to consider
other ways and means of collecting
Germany's war debt than the applf-
cation of military sanctions and con
seouent seizure of valuable Germany
territories.
Must Have Guarantees.
One thing must be taken for
granted by all those closely Follow
ing the trend of events in Europe.
France will never consent to any ar
rangement that does not first OF all
provide for the security of France.
It is therefore not strange that In the
informal approaches between France
and England in recent weeks that the
French should insist that Great Brit
a in promise to defend France IN case
she is attacked. In other words, the
French are demanding that Lioyo
George live up to spoken promises
during the conference OF peace IN
paris where a defensive alliance was
held out to the French for conces-
sions in other directions. That de-
fensiye alliance never has been rati-
6ed hy Britain. but that 1t VIII De
before there is any definite agreement
as to revision of reparations is taken
for granted. ,..,. s,.,o.
in bringing the French and BRUSH
viewpoints as to reparations closer
together in recent weeks. ana II Is
reliably reported that the French
government, provided Britain VIII
cross of Frances debt 10 Eng iano
and wave Britain's 22 per cent OF tne
allotted repara tions. will agree 10 ane
radmct;on OF the total reparations fg-
ures to something like 5o.0Oo.000.o 900
gold marks, which would pc scattereu
Through the years and consist largely
of payment in kind.
Premiers Confer Soon.
Premiers Poincare and Lloyd George
ore soon to confer in London on the
reparations question. One OF the sew
teral plans looking toward reduction
Of reparations and mutually agree
ah,e concessions otherwise will be
adopted. Great Britain would not De