Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-12-31
FRENCH FINANCIAL
CRISIS Threatened
As NEW WAR LOOMS
New Year Holds Dark Posi-.
bilities for France; Franco
British Gap Widens.
nv ANDRE TARDiEU
snacial Dispatch to The Tribune:
,rxtobt 1000 by The Great Fails Tribu

Tnnyrirbt. W.. Dy iib IN
Paris, Dec. 3O.-Does the wear snu
better than it began! Ne!ihef 10
France nor for Europe can the CUES
t;on he answered affirmatively.
throughout 1922 France continued
"a horrow TO repair the ruins caused
III German aggression. She alfeaus
has speut in this way for recohsltus-
ion and pensions more than eighty pli-
lion francs. plus expenses OF the army
Of occupation. The debt absorbs over
thirteen billion francs annually, NOT
counting our foreign debt, upon when
we have not yet paid any interest;
All that we have collected from ser
many is 1,720,O00 gold marks. lhese
receipts which amounted to an aEeTase
~ az coo. 600 monthly in 1901 tell 20
% 900 600 in 1922. Reparation in
kind, except coal, are gong badiy anu
az a consequence France must borrow
continually while taxes have risen from
fo1r and one-half million francs IN
1913 TO twenty-one billions IN W..
They cannot be increased indefinitely.
Even so the debt service shows a
deficit in 1928 budget of over touf
billions.
Finances Uncertain
This shows Our situation during the
mast wear grew worse instead OF pet
Ter VIII the coming Paris conference
show mnrovemen either financial or
noljtical? The discord between France
and Britain has been demonstrated IN
the reports commission where BRAD
bury. the English representative with
strange partially, refused to agree
with his colleagues that GERMANY mas
failed in deliveries in kind although TINS
fact was obvious. :.
LLOYD George, by imposing sacrifices
m France for two years without of
fering the slightest compensation il
the prime author Of the crisis in Anglo
French relations. France. by her pro
Turkish attitude in 1922, committed
similar errors which happily were
some what retrieved at Lausanne. New
ertheless London and Paris are far
from intimate agreement which is an
indispensable condition to European
stability. This disassociation of the
entente, Premier Mussolini asked, not
without reason wherein the disagree
ment consisted.
Disquieting Activity
Those conquered in 1918 are show
ing disquieting activity in 1872. The
Rapallo treaty revealed the ~closeness
IF Moscow's relations with Berlin
whereof a thousand new symptoms are
coming into evidence. There also is a
close relationship between the Kemalists
and the soviet and through them with
Berlin. Worse yet. the revenge idea
which course has animated these three
governments seems capable of prac-
teal realization since the Turks
effaced their defeat, reinstated them
selves in Europe, retook C~onstantinople
and Thrace and eliminated effective
control of the Straits by the western
powers.
Russian and German n%ationalism,
encouraged by kemalist leaders is
awake. The German press is filled
with provocative paragraphs. Tchit-
cberin's attitude at Lausanne is equally
disturbing.
All this is happening in an inorganic
Europe. Only the little entente coun-
t,ies seem to understand that safety
lies in unity and this unity enables
them. moyerover. to restore them
selves economically. The status of the
relations between them and the west
crn powers, England. France. italy
and Belgium, is underlined. We have
lived from day to day without defining
:ny base for argument and not pre-
1aring for any. There is no continental
n,licy I'M more than a policy between
tbe continent and the Anglo-Saxons.
In 1914, Europe, despite its shakiness
was better ordered than in 1922.
There is ample room in this chaos
for great efforts and great results
bnt, there can't be results until there
il a win for them. Wll. 1923 bring til
ZE