Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1924-12-28


decision of the various nations OF
the European continent return to the
pre-war period of peace. Just as
1928 was the year of the Ruhr war
and must be remembered in the fu-
ture as time of great crisis and
grave apprehension, 1924 will hereafter
be recalled as the year of the Dawes
plan and the period of general improve
ment
That Improvement which character
ICES the closing twelve months, move
over, has been marked by a series
of elections which have been its
most striking political circumstance.
Counting the British election of De-
cenber, 1923, the resaits of which
were really to be felt only in the
following January, there have been a
series of national referendums which
serve as a surprising barometer of
the state of the public minds in many
country.
MacDOna1d's Work Hailed.
To look at these elections for a
moment: 1t was the British cleo
ton of just a year ago, which sud-
denly transformed the whole face
of British politics by transferring the
control of foreign relations to a man
who not only had not been con-
cerned either in the war or post
war cabinets, but had opposed the war
itself. Thus Ramsay Macdonald
brought new and an unexhausted
state of mind to the international
situation And to his influence at
home and abroad was due, almost
Immediately, the Improvement of
Anglo-French relations.
Four months later an election in
France produced a similar overturn.
Poincare, the man of the Ruhr, was
oVerthrown, together with the Ma
tional bloc, and France, like Britain,
passed to the control of men with
different views upon international
problems. Thus Herriot, in Paris,
and Macdonald, in London, were
within a short time able to bridge
the gulf which had opened between
France and Britain, and by Midsum-
mer the heads of the two govern
ments We're approaching the discus
SION OF the great question with a
mutual confidence and understand
Ing which had been lacking in Anglo
French relations since the Paris con-
ference which made peace
Just preceding the French election
came the German. On the surface
the result was unpromising: the
Weimar bloc, the three parties which
had steadily supported the republic
the Social Democrats, the Clericals
by a disastrous defeat. This defeat
was itself a direct consequence of
the Ruhr invasion, for Germany last
Spring voted under the influence of
tnat bitter experience and in the
mood of hopelessness and resentment.
AS a consequence the gains were
made by the Communists and the
extreme Nationalists and the repub-
lie seemed in danger
Change in Attitude.
Yet the double circumstance. the
triumph of the liberal parties in
france and Britain and of the re-
sctionarles in Germany, served it's
useful purpose, for in the presence
OF German reaction nothing was more
natural than that the Liberal cab
1nets Of France and Britain should
draw together, and, as was to be ex
pected, the association of France and
britain in common views and COM
mon action left German reaction with
no remedy
by Midsummer, then, the stageswas
set Tor the London conference, the
most important single International
Edtherlng since the making of peace.
The Dawes committee, working with
out political interference, had ar
rived at its decisions. 1t was mani
1est that these decisions were to be
accepted by France and by Britain. 1t
was even plain that American official
interest was engaged and that Ger
many was now to be confronted with
reunited combination of powers
agreed upon a policy and prepared to
support this policy.
but 1t was not less clear that Ger
many, summoned to new interna-
tional conference. was to he received
not as a helpless vanquished nation
upon which were to be served decis-
tons which could not even be dis
cussed, but, by contrast, GERMANY
was to be permitted to share in dis
@usslons which were directed at
program of adjustment which in
every detail advantaged her position
by conditioning the whole problem Of
PREPARATIONS upon the restoration of
German finance and adjusting future
payments to unQuestioned CAPACITY to
pay.
Politician Leaves Scene.
In reality, the conference of London
marked the retirement of the poli-
tician from the scene; indeed, 1t was
measurably the elimination of all the
circumstances of war. For the Dawes
plan, as 1t was finally modified and
accepted at the London conferences:
represented no more than the appli-
ton to the German problem of the
Drinciplez of business and of finance.
The discussion was between creditors
and debtor whose present capacity
10 pay was slight, whose ultimate
capacity to pay could not be meas
ured.-
Thus the conquerors of Germany
accepted the principle that German
restoration must precede German
payment and German restoration
must include the return to Germany
of her Industrial machinery, the evac-
uation of the Ruhr, first as to ex-
ploitation, then as to garrisoning. In
the same sense system of future
German payments was made contin-
gent upon the restoration of Ger
man currency by loans coming from
the nations which were entitled to
PREPARATIONS.
1t was clear from the outset that
the ultimate success of the Dawes
plan would be problematical, that,
in reality, 1t was not a solution of the
vast problem of PREPARATIONS, that it
was at best no more than a method.
But what the Dawes plan imm edia g.
1y proved itself to be was bridge
between Europe at war and Europe
a peace. Over this bridge could pass
the nations which, few months
before, had been on the edge of the
abyss of a new struggle.
Peace Demand Grows.
One may question whether the
. statesmen of any one of the three
nations directly concerned, France,
Germany or Britain, believed or now
believe In the Dawes plan as a final
solution, as the last word, perhaps
even as permanently workable
affair. But what was the fact in
Midsummer was that the statesmen
Of all three nations believed in peace,