Evening star., 1923-01-19
France i'm Germany
BY ARCHIBALD HOPKINS.

newspapers are cr1ttciZtng france
for having sent troops. into Garmany.
There are two considerations which
make these criticisms open to ques-
tion and objection.
The first is that the French gov
ernment knows the situation in all
its bearings and possible outcome
much more fully than they can, and
is dealing with it after long and
patient waiting and careful delibera-
tion which no one else has given it.
Furthermore, that France is admit
tedly within her rights under the
treaty.
The second is that those who are
so ready to condemn France fail to
take the step imperativeIy necessary
in order to form q fair Judgment and
that is, to put themselves in the
place of the French people. In order
to understand their attitude we must
in the first place look back a little.
In 1870 in order to consolidate and
make prestige for the newly formed
German empire, as well as to extend
It's boundaries, Bismarck deliberately
provoked and brought on war with
France, which, after brief campaign,
ended with the Germans in Paris
ana the French unable to resist any
terms which the INSCRIPTIONS and
greedy conquerors chose to impose
ThoSe terms comprised the loss of
the two provinces of Alsace and Lor-
raine and the payment to Germany
OF billion dollars Neither of these
penalties was justifiable after defeat
IN an unproVoked and defensive war
ana the eXaction of the money was
nothing less than highway robbery
anu the amount should be added to
the feparatlons demanded from Ger
many. There was no basis for 1t in
any law or peace or war. Germany
had not been invaded or laid waste
II was simply stand and deliver!
your money or your life! And Ger
many, now so sensitive and Indignant
at having a French army on her soil.
kept her troops in Paris until the
money was paid. What right has
she, now that the tables are turned
!, 20 expect dlnerent treatment at the
ilanoS OF France, and who If France
mas concluded that that is the onIv
way TO get what is admittedly due
her, shall say her nay?
\ x Z
After more than forty years of un-
easy peace between the two countries
Germany, grown rich. populous and
arrogant, with the most formidable
and powerful of modern war ma
chinery at her back, deliberately
launched another war of unprovoked
aggression and conquest, for which
she had long been preparing, deter
mined to wipe France off the map as
hrst-class power and to become
herself the dictator of Europe. When
it became evident that she intended
to overrun Belgium in order the more
swiftly to accomplish her nefarious
purpose, and she was reminded of the
treaty, to which she was party,
which stood squarely in the way, she
thrust it scornfully aside as a mere
scrap of paper. In the face of which
act she now has the brazen assurance
to assert that France. proceeding as
every one knows strictly within the
provisions of the treaty of Versailles
in taking the steps 1t expressly au-
thorizes, to enforce IL. is violating it.,
and that consequently she is no
longer bound by it.
The German invasion this time was
no ordinary warfare. 1t was waged
with a systematic cruelty and delib-
crate, sweeping, wanton destruction,
the burning of villages, cutting down
of orchards and breaking up of roads,
clearly intended to leave France I'M
poverished and helpless under the
heel of the conqueror, never again
to hold up her head in the family or
nations For four long years OF bloody
agony. devastation and death, gallant
imperfshable France, with Great Brit
ain beside her. held back the German
y
WINGED at last that they We're not all
fighting for the same thing, allowed
US. long champing on the bit, to take
the field and our brave boys turned
the tide and saved the day.
Now. let us try to put ourselves IN
Frances place after this second es-
cane from a ruthless, implacable
enemy still living on her borders;
try to realize what she went through
and suffered during the war and the
wears of waiting since for the least
evidence of any desire or purpose TO
f,tIfllI the treaty. On the contrary,
Germany is manifesting-an has peeh
from the first-an unmistakaole de-
sire and purpose to evade ana dlsre-
card it. She has sent most or her
funds to Dutch. Swiss and Scandl-
navian banks, which are stuffed with
them. She is purposely, by means OF
a deprecated currency, throwing
herself into bankruptcy, in order to
get rid of all Indebtedness and start
afresh on a prosperous economic
career. This, competent, carerul, I'M
partial observers say, is true, and her
actual economic status today, with no
devastation in the land, is Infinitely
suparior to that of France, ravaged
as she has been, with an army of Grip
nles TO care for and Sorely burdened
with a debt which she can meet only
by collecting what is due her.
Let US try TO rea1ize aIt TINS anu Ia
stood in frances shoes we would
have waited, we'll knowing that Ger
many listens to no demand, however
rfghtfuI, not backed by force, as ION 9
"a she has before acting. / troW not
After France had made all her prep
arations to move we intimated- wheth-
er directly or indirectly seems not TO
be known, that If she would stlll
further delay we would try to ar
range a commission to settle the
amount of reparationS she was to re-
caiye but that was accompanied by
no assurance that any conclusion the
commission might reach would be
enforced. without which 1t would
have had little weight with Germany.
Many men in Congress are saying
that public opinion in this country is
opnosed to what France has done, and
| the sudden withdrawal of our troops
is unfortunately taken by the Ger
mans and elsewhere as an unfriendly
gesture by our government toward
France and an Endorsement of the
German attitude
x 4 n
have talked with a number OF
leading citizens here and with many
Army and Navy officers, every one OF