The Washington herald. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1906-1939, 1922-04-01

WIHAT will be the eventual fate OF the Rhine-
w land?
French imperialists never will rest easy until
their dreams of Rhenish province incorporated in
the French Republic true. Nor are French
liberals likely to forego their hopes for a buffer
state between the Rhine and the Mouse, a grander
Luxembourg
persistent element OF unknown strength in
the population of the Rhineland itself favors the
establishment OF the republic to much of the
territory Of the old Palatinate. To Germany, Of
the loss OF this rich territory would be the
end OF all dreams OF recovery for centuries.
AIilitarists Of France if allowed to have their
way. would create only a constant cause for new
The Rhineand people, many of them bound
by close blood ties with France and Belgium would
never rest easy under the heel of Gallo military
governors. The conditions in Alsace- Lorraine I'M
der German dictatorship would be reproduced in
aggravated fashion. Ope OF the first steps would
be an effort to change the language from German
to French. The Rhinelanders are very we'll salts
ped with their language their German habits. their
entire German nationality.
The proposal for buffer would meet with
much favor among the people themselves and
with the public opinion OF the world outside France.
, This state hight be bound, Luxembourg, by
. close customs ties with the German Republic
and yet a neutral for the protection
OF France against the mtaristic ambitions OF re-
covered Germany
- Under occupation OF the allied armies this
-country OF vne-mantled crags meadow orchards
upland grain fields and low mountains covered with
pine forests has been comparatively contented 1t.
people have been prosperous, compared with their
fellow Germans IN less favored sections. Always
the Rhneland has been a country of small farmers
whose individual wealth probably exceeded that of
any other people of like estate in Europe The
would hold true for their individual living con-
ditions. They have submitted gracefully to the
flag OF whichever allied nation placed its soldiers
among them and have prohtcd thankfully from
whatever profit the troops brought them.
Regarding this problem the Christian Science
Monitor says: =
- Since the American Senate rejected the Yer
saillcs treaty, NJ. Clemenceau and his friends have
been bitterly attacked for their failure follow at
least Marshal Foch's advice with regard to the
Rhine instead of trusting to British and American
intervention but Andre Tardieu, one of the French
peace commissioners, has asserted that, under the
Versailles treaty, France has the right to remain on
the Rhine until the reparation provisions have been
fulfilled, which, they stand, would mean
forever. This Interpretation is not shared by all
Frenchmen Premier Poincare. who has been a
sharp critic OF NJ. Cemencesu,s Rhine policy, has
always favored serious and permanent "guaran-
tees" and put himself on record to that effect be-
fore the peace treaty was drawn,
in the meantime the French Nationalists for
whom Maurice Barres, the gifted Academician is
the most eminent literary spokesman continue their
campaign for what they call "deprussanization'
OF the Rhine country. They wish to create among
the native population a spontaneous preference for
FSench culture SO that if the Rhine is to beneither
, political military frontier, it will be least
"a moral one. France wishes to chain the spirit Of
force cultivated there by Prussia" writes NJ. Barres
in reply NJ. Laurel, "and to unchan the fettered
nstive spirit OF the country She does not wish the
Rhneland to be either French or Prussian, but
Rhenish." But later, in the same article, he also
writes: "In age the only effective guarantees
are economic We must have the Rhine eco
nomc guarantees that are effective and certain-it
is question of life and death for US to hold the
Rhine practical and effective guarantees that assure
u zone Of safety and the pacihcation of Ger
many Bluntly speaking, this means revival OF
the idea Of Rhcnish buffer state within the French
customs union, which the French proposed to the
peace conference.
., las harbingers OF French culture and hu-
manity, as opposed the Prussian theory of force
the French officials and militarsts are not ideally
equipped. Even NJ. Laurel, representing the French
liberal viewpoint writes: why does not the genius
OF France present herself there not as a mistress
not seeking exclude her rivals, but merely eager
TO be known and to know others?"