Evening star., 1923-02-11
ALL BRITAIN ACOC
FOR WORD ON RUHR
How Premier Will Break 81.
lence When Parliament
Opens Tuesday Question.
FRENCH LOSING GROUND
Extension of Activities to Baden
Indication of Abandonment
of Treaty.
FRENCH LOSING GROUND
BY A. G. GARDINER,

Britain's Foremost Liberal Editor.
| BY Cable to The Star.
! LONDON, February ylo.-Parliamen,
rcassembles Tuesday. The countrv
awaits with great anxiety the break
| ing or silence by the government on
| the tremendous situation confronting
! IL. During the recess Premier Bonar
Law could remain silent. Now he
| must speak.
| "hat VIII he say? The formula
Oh benevolent neutrality" no LONGER
| Is defensible. Neutrality, which is
pehVoient to one side, naturally must
oe ihaieVoient to the other. Neutral
| i'S mere is simply an evasion OF the
issue which remains while events
sweep the nation onward.
Day by day France sinks deener
INTO the Ruhr mire. Her failure to
secure the good will of the German
workmen has defeated her original
policy. Not more reparations but less.
NOT more coal but none. The stranele
nold on German industry has been
Iound TO be strangle hold on French
manufacturers.
The result is that all pretense of
ciVii occupation has disappeared.
| huthiessness is growing hourly. and
undisguised military occupation is i'm
minent. Shootings, suppression of
heeswspapers. deportations of leading
othcials. seventies of all kinds now
are daily occurrences.
Regard for Treaty Gone.
Extension of French activities 10
Baden, hundred miles distant from
the Ruhr. indicates that all regard for
the treaty and restraints of all kinds
have been abandoned The original
purpose of Poincare was to use the
Ruhr invasion to separate the Rhine
provinces from Germany and estab-
llsh them as a confederation under
French control He expected to do
this by capturing the machinery of
industry and using economic pressure
This expectation was defeated by the
attitude OF the workers. The Ruhr
miners hated the Prussia nism of Ber-
lin, and. having got rid of that. were
not willing TO welcome Purssianism
from Paris.
Having failed to carry through the
means. Poincare now is faced with the
alternative of Withdrawing and con-
Tossing defeat or Of adopting naked
force to achieve his end. il seems Clear
his present intention Is TO go on re-
gardless Of consequences. The alterna-
tive would mean political extinction,
and Poincare has no such desire.
Can Bonar Law continue benevolently
neutral in the face Of these develop
ments? Can England leave her troops
in Cologne while France tramples on
the policy which their presence there
represents1 Can England suffer longer
the humiliation of being represented on
the reparations commission which has
become mere department of the Quai
d'Orsay? Impossible. But how shall
we withdraw and what action will fol-
low?
The answer is not easy. The bedrock
r. T. n
undiscussed. But il is in all minds
France has established unchallenged the
military dominance OF Europe. SO far
as force Is concerned she is able to do
as she pleases She knows this. We
know II. Hence our sense OF impo-
tence.
Moral Consideration.
But France cannot rely exclusively
on the authority OF force. There are
moral considerations. Still more i'm
portant, there are economic considera-
tions. Signs are not wanting that the
the United States and England are ere
ating an effect in French minds. France
owes money to England as well as to
America. and realizes she cannot per-
manently ignore that fact and retain
her place among nations which respect
their liabilities.
The English position is clear. She
cannot pay her debt to America and
cancel that which France owes her.
This consideration may assume a new
aspect in view OF the French opera
tions in Germany. There she not only
is destroying British trade, but any
prospect of Britain ever collecting
England, therefore, has
a many-sided interest in the Ruhr
drama
France is staying her own goose as
well as ours and killing 1t with money
which belongs to England and Amer
lea. This grotesque situation cannot
continue indefinitely. England sees
one of her debtors reduced to bank
ruptcy by another Of her debtors who
pleads she is too poor to pay. but is
able to maintain the greatest army
any nation ever kept in Europe in
peace times.
The nation expects the premier to
approach the situation from this
angle. Since France ignores our ad.
vice and our interests she must pay
her way as we pay ours. This aspect
of the matter has taken strong hold
In the minds OF the public. Parlia-
ment will look to Bonar Law to face
it courageously.
Copyright. 1929