Evening star., 1923-01-14
HOW PUBLICISTS OF THREE POWERS
MOST INVOLVED VIEW RUHR SEIZURE
BRITISH
Britain, Is AdUised
to Adopt Waiting
Policy on Ruhr.
BY A. C. GARDINER.


By Cable to The Star.
LONDON, January 13.-France is in
the Ruhr, and England awaits the
developments in the drama anxiously
but calmly.
The effect OF the breach with
France is beginning to operate
powerfully in the public mind. Hith-
erto the hypnotism OF the war has
obscured the realities of French
policy. Criticism of France has been
regarded as a sort of blasphemy.
The tide of this feeling has turned
solidly, but without anger and with
out hesitation. Not since the days
of the war has the voice of the press
been so unanimous in support of the
government. Today all events since
the armistice are being reviewed in
the light of this crowning act of
spoliation.
What course should England pursue
in the light of this challenge? That
question is occupying all minds. In
some quarters IL is urged that our
continuation in the occupied territory
is impossible in view of tho action
of France, which is not indorsed by
US, and is declared to be contrary to
the provisions of the peace treaty.
Says Troops should Remain.
1t is maintained that the presence
of British troops on the Rhine is in
consistent with the attitude of the
government. and renders US liable to
grave complications. On the other
hand. 1t is argued that withdrawal
of the troops at this stage would be
premature. 1t would accentuate the
breach beyond all hope of accommo-
dation, and deprive England of the
power to exercise a restraining in
nuence on the course of events.
l think the latter view Is the wiser.
Nothlng now can check the adventure,
and withdrawal would infiame France
to wilder courses. The prevailing
opinion is that France must be al
lowed to burn her fingers in the Ruhr
furnace until she RECEIVERS her sanity.
True. this may mean the final ruin
OF Germany, already on the brink of
the abyss, and with Germany goes
the last fragment OF the central nave
of Europe. But France will only be
cured by the discovery that her policy
doesn't pay and that Germany is as
empty as was Nine. Humbert's safe.
Moreover, the plain fact now is be-
ing realized that France is the mill
tary dictator of Europe and that no
power exists to resist her adyentures.
She and her allies have disarfned Ger
many almost to her last man and her
last gun. France has a larger army
is more powerful than all of the other
nations west of the Vistula. She
commands a practical monopoly of
the manufacture of ornaments in
Europe.
Half a million black troops are in
reserve with which to hold white Eu-
rope by the throat. All this is due
to the policies of the last four years,
but England refused to recognize this
significant fact. Now the Significance
factor OF the situation, and France is
conscious that her unchallenged
power can turn the screw without
fear of effective interference.
Advises Waiting Policy.
A confident feeling prevails that
France will experience a speedy dis
illusionment in the face of the passive
resistance of the German industrials
and that when she finds the cupboard
is bare and the franc begins to tumble
she will be more disposed to listen
to reason. Perhaps the wish is father
to the thought.
No action is possible. We can only
wait and see. Meanwhile Nittrs new
book on the decadence of Europe is
His somber and terrific indictment OF
French policy and his powerful anal
ysis of the catastrophe of the peace
of revenge is the first time that the
British public has been presented
with the full case against France, and
coming at this critical moment the
effect is terrific Especial feeling has
been aroused by his disclosure of the
infamies associated with the use of
black troops in the heart of white
European civilization.
This iniquity now is arousing deep
Indignation. 1t is felt to be an out
rage not on Germany alone but on
the whole OF European society. Nittis
appeal to America generally Is echoed
here. England has done her best to
check Europe's plunge to barbarism
but now is reduced to the role of an
idle spectator of the catastrophe. The
moral and material power of Amer
lea now is the only influence left to
save the wreck of the continent.
English opinion agrees with Nitti
that America is justified In refusing
help which only would be employed
in preparing armaments for a new
war. England, now free from en-
tanglementS, shares Nitti's views that
Anglo American cooperation in a
policy of peace, with a revision of the
treaty, solution of the Preparations
and restoration of sane economic con
ditions in Europe is the only hope OF
salving anything from the wreck OF
the old world.