The Washington herald., 1922-09-05
BY FRANK H. sIMoNDs.

In all the long procession Of In
cidents which disclose the divers-
ence of British and French policies
since the conference OF Paris in
1913. the recent speech. Of the
French prime minister at Bar-le-
Due marks q distinct stage. 1t H..
in reality. the ultimatum stage.
for what was there said constitutes
a definite commitment and thus
narrows down the area within
which in the future compromise
can be effected.
In substance the French premier
has now formally proclaimed the
doctrine that Germany cannot re-
cover IL she refuses to pay France.
and that France intends, in case
any temporary relief is granted to
Germany. to take adequate cages
of German performances. This means
that. since Germany, with the de-
sign of escaping payment to France.
has deliberately embraced bank
ruptcy, France means to enter the
premises of the bankrupt and seize
such assets as may be available.
Now make all due allowance for
the element of bluff and appreciate
that Poincare and Lloyd George are
necessarily engaging in a battle IN
which blum is an essential detail.
and II Is still clear that progress
of an alarming sort has been made
toward a crisis, which must spell
the ruin OF Germany and even of
Europe. At London Lloyd George
undertook to procure the fall of
Poincare, both by refusing all pro-
posals which might give the
French statesmaa any semblance
Of achievement and. even more, by
means Of the Balfour note. fore
closing in advance upon any real
French gain in London.
Response Carries Danger.
Poincare. on his side. has now re-
sponded and his response carries
with 1t real danger to George. be-
cause IL France goes into Germany,
then the whole campaign of the
British prime minister to restore
European markets must be con-
signed to the waste-basket. II
Poincare must get results. which
spell cash for France in her present
fiscal straits. George must get re-
suits in the form of trade for hi.
own country. staggering under the
burden of unemployment.
Poincare's single course. having
failed at London. was to declare
openly and tategorically for a Ger
man program which carried with
IL the extreme OF sanctions. Only
In this fashion could he satisfy his
home public and avoid a fall of his
ministry. In other times when
BRAND was prime minister, Lloyd
George. who liked him. was alawys
ready to recognize French political
conditions and permit BRAND a
show of success. Now. with q pre-
mier whom he detests, George Is
following a different course, but
the French answer is always pat
ent.
Failure at London has, then
driven Poincare to an extreme DO
sitfon; his Barbecue utterance
now nails up a pledge which he can
hardly avoid carrying out. This
pledge carries with 1t the occupa-
tien Of the Ruhr and of the Rhine
land generally. not for a limited
period. but for that indefinite time
during which Germany shall be
both unwilling and incapable of
meeting her obligations to France.
On Edge Of Crisfs-
Unless all signs fail then W.
are on the extreme edge of tn.
gravest European crisis since tn.
signing of the treaty of ver.
sailles and there Is no obviou.
line of escape. George, percefy.
ing the fact that he could no,
hope to obtain from Poincare con.
cessions such as he had been abl,
to extract from the former Presi-
dents predecessors has staked al
on getting rid Of Poincare b,
blocking every French plan. Poin
care on his side has countered b,
taking q line on which he will b.
followed by. the overwhelmins
mass of tn" French public and b,
almost a unanimous Parliament
exception being made for the So,
phatically do not count In con.
temporary French politics.
In the hope of procuring a new
French premier. who would be
more moderate and less obstinately
opposed to British views, George
smarting under the defeat o
Genoa due in his mind chiefly T.
the Frenchman, has Joined battle
with Poincare. But Poincare II
self-defense has been driven t.
adopt an extreme policy whicf
alike disarms home opponents and
spells ruin for the whole Georgian
foreign policy.
Actually we have been seeins
for the past six months a tire.
mendous duel between George anC
Poincare. a duel in which tn,
stakes are the master of Europe
When the conflict opened at tht
moment of the Cannes conferenc,
which marked the success Of
George In asserting his contro
over BRAND. the premier Of that
hour British mastery Of Europ,
was unmistakable and British al
plomacy at Washington had adroit.
ly alienated American sympath,
from France. January. 1922. mark
the high water point In the for
eign policy of Lloyd George ans
at that moment he planned to z,
before the British people at q new