Evening star., 1923-12-09
BY FRANCIS J. wAHLEN,
Former London Editor OF De Mas
bOde of Rotterdam, an Important
Daily OF the Netherlands.


TNHERE is not the slightest
doubt, but that the world,
with the social and economic
disorders of the European
communities, and particularly with
the rapid return of the "class-war'
upon the foreground. is on the eve
of big and momentuous events. If
the gestatory symptoms of this past
years preoccupations and worries in
the national life of the German reich,
OF France and Great Britain, to men,
tion only the most directly concerned.
are well observed. they foretell the
birth of q. new crisis in Europe's evo-
luton with tolerable certainty. "Hu-
man history is. in essence a history
of IDEAS" said we'll known writer,
and the last five years are no more
than history of the development and
succession of tes-of-mind and of
acts arising out of them. Indeed, In
the past nine years there must have
been destruction of fixed ideas, of
preJudices and mental limitations,
unparalleled in all history. Think
only of the now -obscuring secular
OF all the fading "dynastic traditions; /;
of the idea of "naNonalism'' super
Sedlng gradually that of empire" and
Kingdom i'll the old world.
Framework of Ideas.
The historical parallels, therefore.
are no more than the bare frame
work of root-ideas. So we see now
Gen. Won Seeckt, commander-in-chi
of the German reichswehr, relentless
ly hunting down German commun-
81 nfb ra6 10
after the peace treaty of Versailles;
whilst President Ebert, from the ranks
OF pre-war German socialism. is just
as tired of his hard job as Mr.. Theirs
Vas Vas four ont years after the peace OF
Marshal MacMahon:s encourage, in
1875, kept the fast-rising French re-
publican leader, Gambetta, at d safe
distance. And Gambetta had a great
dislike for the "legitimist clique"
and-ah! the traditional "fSninine
note" in French politcs!-Mme. la
Marechale MacMahon) and her
friends.
Gambetta professed confidence in
being able to keep the extreme radi-
Gals in order. He said that the red
flag was obnoxious to him the
white flag QegitimisO. That he was
not inclined to grant a general am
nesty to the (Paris) communists and
rnent of the National Guard (sus-
pected of Bonapartist sympathies).
He also professed himself in favor of
free trade and asserted that the COM
Inercial treaty with England) con-
cluded by Napoleon III accounted for
many of the BonapartiSts' political
successes.
France After the Prussian War.
The economic life of France five
years after the Franco-Prussian war
had developed in an astonishingly
quick time to normalcy, as we stated.
1t is true that the upper classes in
France continued to look forward to
the future with undiminished appre-
henSion. French capital, reversing
tho present-day process, began to
pour steadily into England. Holland
and the United Sattes, and it was
stated the rich radicals were not the
last In sending their money abroad.
This was probably under the infiu-
ence of Bismarck's war scare" C1S75).
Marshal MacMahon was, in his roy
alist convictions, somewhat like
minded, perhaps, with the present
German Gen. Won Seeckt. The French
marshal-preSident of the republic was
a simple and amiable soldier, how
ever. who knew nothing about politics.
He was credited with an overwhelm-
his private secretary, Emmanuel
dHarcourt. Upon one occasion the
question OF applying for the extradi-
tfon of a criminal who had fled to
America was being discussed in his
presence.
WELL" said the marshal, 1--WE must
telegraph at once to San Francisco"
Pardon, NJ. lie Marecha," interposed
d.Harcourt, Washington. not San
Francisco, is the capital of the United
States"
The marshal was so astounded at
the profundity of his private secre-
tary's knowledge that he was only
able to calculate:
''Ce diable d'Harcourt, II salt toutw
'That devil of d Harcourt! He knows
everythingD
Abnormal German Life Today.
It is, of course the totally abnormal
economic life of the German reich of
today-whether the causes ought to
be sought in the huge credit with.
drawals for reparations payments dur
ing the past years, or (concomi-
tantly) with the criminal operations
on the Berlin nancy market, each
time the government had to buy new
separations remittances-that is the
German factor in the French paral-
lei. This appalling currency situa-
tion everybody now has learned to
see through the joke!
why don't you pick up that bill?"
asked recently a traveller in Germany,
seeing a native drop a 10,000-mark-
Schein, knowingly.
"Ach," replied the German, wearily.
Last week 1 stopped to pick up such
q bill and lost a suspender button.
And you couldn't get a suspender but
ton then under $4,000 marks. Heaven
only knows what they would soak
me for 1t today. So, there you