The Brunswick news., 1922-07-14

nal, may be counted upon as bitter op
poneflts of the republic and the poll
cy of fulfilment.
Is this reactionary bloc Germany!
If it is, then those people are right
who claim that e'anrmG'y' (Uofipul( { (-cl
who claim that Germany is plotting
to evade her obligations. But this
bloc is obviously not Germany. The
working classes have now twice prov.
ed themselves loyal to the republic
once during the Kapp Putsch and
again after the murder of Rathenau
The name of Rathenau is additional
evidence that the reactionary bloc is
big-business man and he was Foreign
Minister in a Cabinet representing a
rniddle-class coalition. He was killed
by the reactionaries precisely because
he stood for an attempt to fulfil Ger
many's obligations. M Poincare has
testified to Rathenau's sincerity. The
reactionaries provide it by shooting
Elm to death.
There is then a struggle in Germany
between the democratic and liberal
-orces who stand for a republic and
fulfilment and the reactionaries who
l, 70 DIrf hn A0t1a
cratic forces who can only fulfil what
$ possible. If they try to do the i'm
possible they will fail and be over
thrown. The controlling majority in
Germany is not trying to provoke dis
order in order to evade, but it will
cease to be the controlling majority if
it is too heavily burdened
We must ask ourselves then, wheth-
er the assertion made by statesmen of
the German Republic is true or false.
Is the burden too heavy? We can ig-
more the overwhelming testimony of
neutral experts throughout the world.
We need turn only to the Reparation
Commission and to the report of the
Paris bankers conference, for here is
I Judgment of the highest practical
value and without the slightest uncon-
scious taint of pro-Germanism. On
the Reparation Commission France
alone opposes a reduction Of the Ger
man debt. In the bankers report the
French representative alone did not
agree with the opinion that Germany
could have no credit standing without
4 reduction of the debt.
But. the final proof is in the position
now taken by M. Poincare. He is pro
posing to reduce Germa1ly's obliga-
tion if England will cancel Frances
debt. This is complete confession
that the German obligation is too
high. For if M. Poincare saw the
slightest possibility of collecting the
total from Germany he would not put
his country in the position of asking
for the forgiveness of her debts. Ev-
ely instinct of pride would make him
prefer to collect from Germany and
pay to England.
We have therefore at last reached
The point where opinion is unanimous
on the necessity of reducing the de-
upon Germany. 1t has taken
three years to secure an acknowledge
ment of this fundamental fact, but at
last it exists.
The problem now takes new form.
The problem now is not Franco.Ger
man but Franco-British in the first in
stance and British-American in the
second The immediate question is
Britain will cancel Frances
debt
This is a. great sacrifice for the
British. simultaneously they re ask
ell to forgive the French debt to them
cut the German debt to them (for
they are a 22-per-cent creditor of Ger
many's) and pay interest on theiI
debt to America. They will be some
thing more than good sports if they
do all that for the sake of peace in Eu