Imperial Valley press., 1923-08-22
FLATLY DENIES
BRITISH POINTS
ON OCCUPATION
Continued from page ~

Continued from page y
ply declared, adding that COM
missi III of experts to pass upon the
capacity of Reich would be useless.
"Does England wish entirely to
suppress Gemany'S debt on the
prettxt her capacity TO pay tenn
porat1lv is zero?'f Poineare asked.
Needs No Reminder -.
Referring to the British allusion
to "the rights of Others" -. the re-
ply sasd:
"Frsnce does not need to be re-
minded of her duties
~ regret our lack of accord
with England,' Poincare said, re-
ferring briefly to the British claim
that eeIpation of the additional
German territory is illegal. He
dismissed the idea of referring the
reparatiOns questions to the perman-
! ent court or international justice at
The Hague ly asserting: "We have
no need to defer to the jurisdiction
of anybody
Poineare dismissed the charge
that occupation of the Ruhr is en-
dangering Europe by declaring:
We have des troyed nothing in
the Ruhr. It's capacity for indus
trial production IS stronger than
ever. +"
Poineare only envisaged contin-
uance of negotiations bv suggesting
that If they were carried on either
immediately or after cessation of
resistance by Germany it would be
! probable that conve1 Sations be
more discreet and given less pub.
licity.
No Annexation Aims
Poincare said France does not de
sire to remain in the Ruhr longer
than necessary and has no political
! or annexation aims.
1t is not a fact, the premier
said, that the French claims are If
a nature 10 crash Germany or e1.
ceed her ability to pay.
France s propositions admit of
amendments, provided her principles
are not infringed upon.
The reply was generally consid-
cred as maintaining inflexibly the
previous French attitude It does
not change the demand for cessa-
tion of passive resistance in the
! Ruhr, refuses az international com
mission, asks twenty six billion
I gold marks FOR France. and sug-
| gests friendly discussion between
Britain and the allies to reach Il
basis for an early settlement of
! portion of the German debt to cor
respond TO the amount of devasta-
suffered by each country.
The commission on reparations
has duly assessed Germany s obliga-
tions, and there is no need to re
consider this question, the premier
said. Furthermore the obligations
cannot be revised except by unani-
| nous consent. The idea OF not
estimating Germany's capacity to
/ pay once for al never entered the
heads Of the trainers of the treaty. -
2efelds Debt Commission
Poincarc defended the votes of
the commission on reparations in
overriding Britain continually by
! pointing out that France and Bel
GUM hold sixty per cent of the
claims against Germany.
The reply concluded with a de
| mand to permit the commission of
reparations 10 ''fulfill its mission,
/ strengthening instead of weaken
ing it, - and permitting il to study
the situa tion in Germany, evaluate
Germany 5 capacity to pay period
ically, and modify dates of pay
ments as IFS judges saw fit.
"We wish to pay our debts to
the United States as well as to Eng
land, - POineare said, "and we
could not grant preference to the
/ ore over the other
Pcineare reiterate his former sta
tements that rance is unable to
pay England even the interest on
her debt to that country until Ger
many has made sufficient payments
to restore the French devastated
/ regions.
, The reply said France would be
willing TO study a method for the
rehabilitation of Germany and re
eoncile it with payments, the day
when resistance ceased, but that
restoration should not be 'too fast
or too easy because this would
result in GermoHy's industrial re-
construction Mt the expense of
! France and Others.