Great Falls tribune. [volume] (Great Falls, Mont.) 1921-current, 1922-08-15
THE LONDON



~ was the theme of popular
songs in Berlin during the war. 1t
was no strange. Germany never
expected Great Britain to fight. 1t
was a new factor thrown into the
scale against them that upset all
their plans. 1t imprisoned the great
German fleet and %blockaded the
German coasts keeping out supplies
they sorely needed to win the war.
In those days they felt far more
kindly toward the French than they
did toward England and British
prisoners were made to feel the
difference.
And now three years later it
seems at the London conference
that England is about the only
friend that Germany has left IN
Europe. They have announced
their willingness to give up their
share of the war indemnity due
from Germany if France will cut
down her claims to an amount that
Germany a pay without utter
ruin. The feeling against Ger
many in England is strangely mod
fled. Not so in France. They are
determined to give up nothing.
They would gladly see their ancient
enemy ruined, and they would even
forfeit their alliance with Great
Britain to accomplish this if nee
essary The Springfield Repub-
lican in a very comprehensive and
interesting review Of the present
~s.-lation has this to say:
Political rather than economic
considerations inspire that part OF
rremier Poincare's project which
provides for extending the customs
barriers along the Rhine which were
set up as a penalty last year, and
i.r increasing the control of Ger
r1any's internal affairs by the allies
which; was undertaken by the COM
mittee on guarantees sitting in Ber-
lin in accordance with the repara-
tons commissions ultimatum OF
May 81. A certain amount OF ready
money l.,ay be yielded, for a toll
gate can hardly be erected on any
road without some profit, as was
discovered by the robber barons
whose ruined castles still add to
the picturesqueness of the Rhine.
But the parons were but pix
ers'; the big money come with the
suppression of the toll gates, the
removal of obstacles to trade, and
the development of industry on a
great scale. AS a producing unit
modern Germany has great and for
its size unequaled capacity; by
working at top speed under the
most favorable conditions it can
produce out of its savings a surplus
that within a few decades will 60
far toward meeting the cost Of
re~parations. If the conditions are
made unfavorable, if production is
cut down to something less than top
speed, if the narrow enough margin
between consumption and produc-
ton is wiped out, no substantial
payments can be made, ever if for
eien control we're to continue for
centuries.
1.-THE British view seems to be
that the economic penalties applied
last year have proved worthless so
far as the extraction of reparations
is concerned, and have had a HARM
full effect which their proposed ex-
tension would a%ggravate. To cut
the Rhineland off from Germany
by a customs barrier may promote
the political program of dismem-
bering the German reich of which
Premier Poincare has been the
IlOSl CIIAIAACht ooSONoNCs out ~ 40
not helpful to propose it at a con-
ference assembled to deal with the
growing peril of European bank
ruptcy. For the economic salvation
of Europe the prime essential is
to keep intact and make available
the productive forces of its eco.
nomically strongest nation.
This result is not likely to be
brought about by putting the affairs
of Germany, as Premier Poincare
proposes, under the control OF the
allies. Foreign control is rarely ef'
ficient, even when its sole aid il
the welfare of the subject nation;
it MAJ straighten out the affairs OF
a nation fallen into decay and
plagued with an incompetent and
spendthrift government, but It can
6ly harass and cramp s49BtronS ma
ton striving to function with full