Evening star., 1924-08-17
WHAT NATIONS YIELDED
FOR LONDON AGREEMENT
Concessions Made by France Do Not
+ Deprive Her of Right to Act in
htr, Coco of Dofo,,co
sSt. 1 NeASO VI A1OANAoOs

It is clear, however, why when the
Dawes report had been made and the
question of ita application arose the
British should concentrate all their
attention upon taking from the hands
of the reparation commission the
task of operating the Dawes plan
They desired above all that the COM
mission which they could not control
should be shorn of it's power to de-
clare Germany in default and they
We're equally determined that even
in case of German default no nation
should be allowed individually, and
no three nations against the Will or
the fourth, which actually happened
in the Ruhr case, should through the
reparaeions commission declare de-
fault and thereafter resort to mill
tary sanctions
The British were in the first place
opposed to military coercion from
both political and economic reasons
political because it would lead to new
wars, economic because 1T graVeiy
threatened British commerce with the
continent and threatened to increase
British unemployment. But their
strongest argument in the recent con-
ference lay in the fact that the Dawes
plan required the loan of $500. 100000
to Germany and the money would
have to be found by British and
American bankers. Since new in
vasion of Germany would tend to de-
stroy the security for this loan. as
well as interrupt German repayment,
and since American bankers naturally
took the same view. the British set
out to establish as a principle that
there should be no more military oc-
cupations and that the reparations
commission should not have the
power to decide as to defaults.
The French and Belgian purpose
was quite different: they were inter-
ested in getting reparationS and they
were totally unwilling to surrender
the power that they had through con-
troll of the reparationS commission
and by reason of their occupation of
the Ruhr for nothing. They were in
terested in loans to Germany, part of
the proceeds of which would come to
them: they were equally interested
in getting reparationS as proposed by
the Dawes plan, but they desired
some assurance that something would
be done if Germany again defaulted.
as they feared.
RecOncilinS Of Interests.
All the dispute at London then
turned on the question to how
you could reconcile perfectly legiti-
mate but wholly conflicting interests.
The British were anxious for the
restoration of Germany; whether
Germany paid France or Belgium
was not a material issue for them.
but if France and Belgium invaded
Germany to collect reparations
British trade would suffer, while
AngloAmerican loans under the
Dawes plan might be compromised.
The French and Belgians were re-
solved that Germany should not be
permitted to recover at their ex-
pense. and, having escaped the
danger of coercion, repudiate the
Dawes plan.
Now with this background consider
the actual London agreement. In the
first place the reparations commits
sion nominally retains it's control
over the whole field, but, when the
question of default is raised, then a
new member. an American, sits and
votes with the commission. Thus if
the French and Belgians voted that
Germany was in default. the Italians
and British that she was not. the
American would cast the deciding
vote in place of the French repre-
sentative.
This would not, however, have
affected the Ruhr incident, for then
France and Italy and Belgium voted
Germany to be in default; had
America been represented and had we
voted with the British. the majority
would have still been with the
French and the default would have
been declared. But under the new
London agreement Britain. for
example, to use the same illustra-
tion. would have had the right to
demand arbitration. and the question
would then go to a new arbitration
board, made up Of three neutrals,
one an American. this board to be
named either by the reparations
commission unanimously or by the
president of The Hague Court of
International Justice. The decision
of this court of arbitration will be
final.
Action In Default.
Assuming, however, that the court
decides that Germany is in voluntary
and therefore willful default. then the
nations in interest are left as they
were before, that is, free to take
such action as they may choose, al
though they are pledged to give
priority to the claims incident to the
loans of $200,000,000 to be raised
under the Dawes plan. Thus France
and Belgium might again occupy the
Ruhr, as they did in 1923, although
the British still insist that this
treaty of Versailles
1t is plain that what was done at
London between the allies was to
agree on compromise which did, in
effect, deprive the reparations COM
mission of the power to declare a
default absolutely and did deprive
the French of the advantage of the
casting vote by introducing an
American member. Thus there is alb
solute guarantee against any ma
licious declaration of default for DO
litical purposes by any Franco-Bel-
gian combination, to assume which
is, OF course, to indict both countries.
1t seems to me, without warrant. since in
the single case, that of 1922, Italy, as
well as Belgium and France, did
agree in declaring the default. So
far, however, the allies have deferred
to British wishes under the direct
pressure of Anglo-American bankers
Now in case there is a default, it
will first be passed upon by the repa-
rations commission with an American
sitting in, and then by an arbitra-
tion board Of neutrals. One may as
sumo then quite reasonably that a
default thus established will be a
real default. France and Belgium
have thus made full concession to
British anxieties, have insisted that
when the default is established, IL
the British do not choose to act with
them. they can still act as their in
terests seem to dictate. There is the
whole compromise. And it seems to
me this compounds satisfies the
legitimate interests os all the nations
concerned.
No Immunity for Invasion.
BY the compromise Germany, as
we'll as Britain, is protected against
any invasion or other coercion, as
long as she tries honestly to comply
with the terms of the Dawes plan,