Washington Journal., 1922-02-03
The Occupation
of the RhineIand.

10 the Editor OF the London Nation:
Sir,-Most of us will agree with
Mr.. Arnold-Forste in holding that
the Treaty gives no right to continue
the occupation of the Rhineland after
fifteen years. But what an intolerable
situation it is that the occupation
should continue at ALL The question.
we ought to be discussing is not
whether it should end in 1884, but
whether it should end in 1921. 1t is
now fairly certain that, if an English
policy were being pursued, and the
wishes of Englishmen, including our
statesmen and soldiers, were being
taken into account, it would not con-
tinue for a month longer.
| have just returned from a journey
through the occupied districts. The
principal feature of life at Mainz. the
French Headquarters, is the large
number of French troops, as com
pared with the comparatively small
number in the other districts. You
are hardly ever out of sight of a party
of them, frequently occupying the
whole pavement. A very large num-
Der of them are colored people. | saw
no negroes, but there were many dii-
ferent types of North Africans, and
a very large number of men with OBJ
viously Monaghan features, | presume
from Tonkin or AMMAN. Walking
about in this painfully o~vercrowded
city, one could not help a%ppreciating
the point Of view of the average citi-
zen. The presence of these colored
troops is regarded by Germans, as it
would be by Englishmen, as a gratui-
tous insult, and it is one which is
forced upon everyone's attention at
every hour of the day.
Elaborate notices and DEGREES of the
Rhineland Commission are posted
everywhere on the walls. On a
steamer on the Rhine, the first thing
we saw was a notice prohibiting any
demonstration" against the Allied
troops or authorities; and underneath
this was an equally conspicuous no
tice by the steamship company re-
questing passengers on no account to
sing patriotic songs, as these songs
had been held to be a demonstration
against the Allied authorities.
At Coblentz the Americans have
certainly made an impression, for
over the great fortress of E%hrenbreit-
stein there waves the largest Star
Spangled Banner which it has ever
been my lot to see. But why they
should be there to enforce a Treaty
to which they were not parties, or
why they should continue there after
they have made a peace with Ger
many which says nothing about oc-
cupation, is a problem Of American
logic which the ordinary European
cannot be expected to understand.
The Allied troops have yet other
other functions to perform. In
Cologne, for instance, though | was
only there for two days, | had to
pay no less than three visits to the
military police officials at the railway
station. Everyone, from the officer
in charge to the ~privates employed i'll
the Office, was politeness itself, but
this only heightened the absurdity OF
the whole business.
There is also the policing Of the
town, to add to the diversion. Or
the one side Of the main square sits
a handsome English cavalryman or
a handsome horse, while on the oppo-
site side, facing him, about one hun
dred yards away, sits an equally
handsome German mounted police
man on an equally handsome horse.
There is a considerable difference
between the effect of the British and
the French occupation. One ought
to make due allowance for the in
tenser feelings, both of hatred and
fear, which permeate the French
Press, and doubtless filter down to
the rank and file. But however this
may be, the conduct of the British
authorities is more correct, and the
demeanor of the British soldier more
modest and friendly, with the result
that the British are markedly popu-
lar by contrast with their Allies.
| have mentioned the perpetual Of
fence to the feelings Of the popula-
ton which the occupation involves
The material evils are equally great
The position as regards overcrowdinq
is well-nigh intolerable. The popula.
ton was already suffering from Z
house famine similar to ours, anc
then, on top of this, ar Army of some
$50, 900 men was superimposed. Ac
commodation had to be provided fol
it by the requisitioning of dwelling.
on all hands, the billeting of officer.
and their families in private houses
and the co%nhscation of schools anc
other institutions. The results may
be imagined.
In one way or another the sore i
p%erpetually kept open. Every paper
in unoccupied Germany has its al
most daily paragraph headed "Fron
the Occupied District" The friction
is continually beginning anew. Th'
occupation is, in fact, doing precisei,
the opposite Of what it was intended
to do. 1t is creating a sense of griev
ance, of bitter and intense resentment
which is making another war NOR
probable.
Since the Armistice and the Revolu
ton, the idea of war has been loathe,
and execrated by the mass of the Ger
man people. and this continues to b